Kobe Steel Adds Caster and Expands Bloom Mill Capacity at Kakogawa Works
01/27/2017 - Kobe Steel Ltd. has installed a new continuous caster and expanded a bloom mill at its integrated Kakogawa Works in western Japan, enabling a 65.5 billion yen consolidation (US$570 million) of its steelmaking operations.
The company is closing the primary end of its Kobe Works later this year and shifting production to Kakogawa, which is being upgraded to handle the additional production.
The new caster, designated as the No. 6 unit, will produce blooms to be rolled into bar and wire rod. At the No. 2 bloom mill, Kobe added a second reheat furnace, increasing its capacity to roll blooms into billets. The project also includes installation of a fourth RH vacuum degassing furnace, a second ladle refining furnace and improvements to the billet yard.
Additionally, Kobe is investing 9 billion yen (US$78.3 million) in a second dephosphorization furnace.
“The outstanding traditions and technology of Kobe Works will be extended to Kakogawa Works so that we can produce even better steel products,” said executive vice president Yoshinori Onoe said in a statement.
In December, the company completed a 20 billion yen (US$174 million) reline of the facility’s No.3 blast furnace, a project that also was undertaken in support of the consolidation.
Kobe shut down the furnace on 24 September 2016 and closed the book on a campaign that lasted 20 years and five months. According to Kobe, it was the longest campaign ever for a blast furnace of that size in Japan.
In addition to replacing the refractories at the bottom of the furnace, Kobe upgraded the charging system and installed what it described as an artificial intelligence system that monitors performance through a variety of sensors in the furnace.
The furnace has an interior volume of 4,844 cubic meters and is capable of producing 10,700 metric tons of iron per day.
The reline was completed in about 90 days.
The new caster, designated as the No. 6 unit, will produce blooms to be rolled into bar and wire rod. At the No. 2 bloom mill, Kobe added a second reheat furnace, increasing its capacity to roll blooms into billets. The project also includes installation of a fourth RH vacuum degassing furnace, a second ladle refining furnace and improvements to the billet yard.
Additionally, Kobe is investing 9 billion yen (US$78.3 million) in a second dephosphorization furnace.
“The outstanding traditions and technology of Kobe Works will be extended to Kakogawa Works so that we can produce even better steel products,” said executive vice president Yoshinori Onoe said in a statement.
In December, the company completed a 20 billion yen (US$174 million) reline of the facility’s No.3 blast furnace, a project that also was undertaken in support of the consolidation.
Kobe shut down the furnace on 24 September 2016 and closed the book on a campaign that lasted 20 years and five months. According to Kobe, it was the longest campaign ever for a blast furnace of that size in Japan.
In addition to replacing the refractories at the bottom of the furnace, Kobe upgraded the charging system and installed what it described as an artificial intelligence system that monitors performance through a variety of sensors in the furnace.
The furnace has an interior volume of 4,844 cubic meters and is capable of producing 10,700 metric tons of iron per day.
The reline was completed in about 90 days.
