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Essar Commissions Two Relocated Corex Units
03/21/2012 - Essar Steel India recently commissioned two Corex C-2000 plants originally supplied by Siemens VAI Metals Technologies and relocated from Korea to India at the Hazira steelworks. The plants have been modernized by Siemens with new special equipment and automation systems.
Essar Steel India Ltd. recently commissioned two Corex C-2000 plants originally supplied by Siemens VAI Metals Technologies and relocated from Korea to India at the Hazira steelworks. The plants are designed for a total production of 1.7 million tonnes of hot metal per year, and have been modernized by Siemens with new special equipment and automation systems. Nominal hot metal production capacity was reportedly achieved within one week after start-up.
The Corex plants were started up on September 9, 2011 (Module 1) and December 18, 2011 (Module 2), respectively. Each plant produces approximately 2400 tonnes of hot metal per day, which is equivalent to a combined total of roughly 1.7 million tonnes per year. With the first heat following the start-up of Module 1, 236 tonnes of high-quality hot metal were tapped and processed to steel in the adjacent Steelmaking Plant No. 1 of Essar Steel.
Gabriel Lotter, Ironmaking Manager at Essar Steel, said: "We are extremely pleased with the start-up and operation of the Corex plants. The generated export gas from the process represents a valuable, cost-saving substitute for natural gas at our company." Corex export gas is currently used to produce DRI at the company's No. 5 and No. 6 direct-reduction plants, as well as for heating applications throughout the steelworks.
The project scope for Siemens VAI included basic and detailed engineering for the modernization of the relocated plants, the supply and installation of special equipment, and the supply of new automation systems. The special equipment comprised direct-reduced iron (DRI)-extraction screws for the reduction shaft of the Corex plant, and a pressure valve and burners for the melter gasifier. The previously installed third-party automation systems in the Hanbo Corex plants were replaced with Siemens hard- and software automation packages. In addition to Level 1 automation for plant operation, the supplied Level 2 automation is the basis for process evaluation, optimization and reporting. Advisory services for erection, commissioning, start-up, and initial production operations were also part of Siemens VAI’s supply scope for this project.
As part of its plan to expand its steel output from 4.6 million to 10 million tonnes per annum, Essar Steel purchased two Corex C-2000 plants that had been originally installed by Siemens VAI at Hanbo Iron & Steel Works Ltd., Asan Bay, South Korea. These plants never went into operation due to the bankruptcy of Hanbo Steel.
Essar Steel, part of Essar Group, is a 14 million tonnes-per-annum global producer of steel and a fully integrated flat carbon steel manufacturer, with presence in Canada, the U.S., India, and Indonesia. Indigenous iron ores are agglomerated to pellets in company-owned pelletizing plants for use in the two Corex plants and six direct-reduction plants.
The Siemens Industry Sector (Erlangen, Germany) is a leading supplier of innovative and environmentally friendly products and solutions for industrial customers. With a global workforce of more than 100,000 employees, the Industry Sector comprises the Divisions Industry Automation, Drive Technologies, and Customer Services, as well as the Business Unit Metals Technologies.
The Metals Technologies Business Unit (Linz, Austria), part of the Siemens Industry Sector, is one of the world’s leading suppliers of plant construction and engineering in the iron and steel industry as well as in the flat rolling segment of the aluminum industry. The business unit offers a comprehensive product and service portfolio for metallurgical plants and equipment as well as integrated automation and environmental solutions covering the entire lifecycle of plants.
