Baosteel Puts Large Diameter Longitudinal Welding Pipe Line into Production
10/01/2008 - Baosteel officially puts its Large Diameter Longitudinal Welding Pipe Production Line into production, the first such line in China.
Baosteel has officially put its Large Diameter Longitudinal Welding Pipe Production Line into production. The project is a major part of Baosteel’s 11th "Five-Year Plan," and is the first such line in China. It features the some of the most advanced equipment in the world at the current time.
The new line comprises the forming line, welding line and finishing line. It has a designed annual capacity of 500,000 million tonnes/year including 400,000 million tonnes/year pipeline pipe and 100,000 million tonnes/year of structural pipe, etc. The designed maximum steel grade of the products is X100.
Construction of the new line was started on Feb. 9, 2006. Since it was completed, Baosteel engineers and technicians have been taking a road of independent integration and innovation. Their cooperative work with engineering design, equipment manufacture, capital and material supply, metallurgic construction and the foreign supervisors helped to ensure the smooth progress of the project and put the whole line into combined hot commissioning on January 31, 2008.
In order to achieve volume production promptly, with great support from Baosteel Co., Ltd., Baosteel Branch and other relevant departments, Baosteel Branch Steel Pipe Plant carried out equipment function improvements focused on production, equipment and process engineering. As a result, they gradually mastered the manufacturing technology necessary for the consistent manufacture of large-diameter, high grade longitudinal welding pipe, and starting with the supply of X80 pipeline pipe to the West-to-East Gas Pipe Line No. 2 Project.
To date, the line has reached a monthly production of 20,000 million tonnes. It has passed the new product appraisal by the CNPC organizations, which marked that Baosteel’s Large Diameter Longitudinal Welding Pipe Production Line had entered the stage of volume production and supply.
Baosteel’s new line expands the field of high-grade, large diameter oil/gas transportation pipe production in China, including the technology for large diameter longitudinal submerged arc welding pipe. It also will have far-reaching significance in promoting development of China's energy source strategy, by forcefully promoting the construction of the West-to-East Gas Pipe Line No. 2 Project and other major projects of the country.
