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Kobe Steel to Make Capital Investments at Three Steelworks
12/12/2011 - Kobe Steel, Ltd. plans to make capital investments of approximately 36 billion yen to enhance the hot-metal treatment capacity at its Kakogawa Works and Kobe Works and the heat-treatment capacity for steel plate at the Kakogawa Works.
Kobe Steel, Ltd. plans to make capital investments of approximately 36 billion yen to enhance the hot-metal treatment capacity at its Kakogawa Works and Kobe Works and the heat-treatment capacity for steel plate at the Kakogawa Works to strengthen the competitiveness of the company's steel facilities.
The total investment at Kakogawa Works for the new hot-metal treatment plant will be 30 billion yen. This investment, which includes installation of desulfurization equipment and a dephosphurization furnace, will enable all the molten iron to be desulfurized and dephosphorized. Startup is expected by the end of June 2014.
New hot-metal treatment equipment at Kobe Works will result in a 2 billion yen investment. New desiliconization and desulfurization equipment will be installed. The existing hot-metal treatment furnace will be used only for dephosphurization. Startup is expected by the end of October 2012.
A new continuous heat treatment furnace will be installed at Kakogawa Works to double heat-treatment capacity—an investment of 4 billion yen. Startup is expected by the end of December 2012.
The company believes that these investments will support its Iron & Steel segment in increasing sales of "Only One" high-end products to comprise 50% of segment sales by fiscal 2015. In the coming years, steel plate for the energy industry is one of the products in which Kobe Steel intends to expand sales. Steel plate is used in tanks, pressure vessels, and line pipes—applications that require the steel to be desulfurized and dephosphorized.
The company says that the higher hot-metal treatment capacity will also lower costs. By increasing the reaction efficiency during desulfurization and dephosphorization, the amount of lime and other auxiliary materials is substantially reduced and yield is improved. As low-grade raw materials containing comparatively large amounts of sulfur and phosphorus can be used in larger quantities, the two steelworks will be able to save as much as 10 billion yen annually, according to Kobe Steel.
