Open / Close Advertisement

Oschatz to Modernize Second Cooling Stack at ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe

Plant constructor Oschatz announced a new order from ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe. After Oschatz had been entrusted with the modernization of the cooling system for converter 1 at the steel works in Duisburg-Bruckhausen in the beginning of 2012, ThyssenKrupp now continues to invest in the old-established steel works in Duisburg, Germany. In doing so, the company has decided to continue the cooperation with Oschatz, too: through mid-2014 the German plant constructor will modernize the second converter cooling stack as well.
The ThyssenKrupp location in Bruckhausen is one of the biggest steel works in Europe. Since 1969 the two converters with a batch weight of 380 tonnes each have been producing more than five million tonnes of liquid steel per year.
Using energy from waste heat
In times of rising energy costs, the optimization of energy and resource efficiency is inevitable — especially for energy-intensive sectors like the steel industry. Against this background, the recovery of energy from waste heat becomes ever more attractive. “Our converter cooling stacks are based upon the principle of evaporation cooling,” explains Dr. Jan-Christopher Schrag, head of sales at Oschatz. “That means the heat contained in the waste gas isn’t lost, but reused in order to produce industrially utilizable steam. This way we combine functionality, efficiency and sustainability for ThyssenKrupp.”
More than 40 years ago ThyssenKrupp was among the first companies to become aware of the potential of waste heat. That was when Oschatz first provided a cooling system with evaporation cooling for the steel works in Duisburg, thus making it one of the first works in the world to utilize the heat from waste gases for energy recovery in the end of the 1960s.
The new converter cooling stacks will continue to ensure most modern technology in energy recovery, thanks to which the Bruckhausen works will continue to lead the way in terms of energy efficiency. The hot exhaust gases from the converter are cooled from 1,650 °C to approx. 500–600 °C. In this process the cooling stack produces up to 240 tonnes of steam per hour, which can either be used as process steam or fed in the district heating system.
Reconstruction in Bruckhausen has started
In the meantime the modernization of converter cooling stack one runs at full speed. Preliminary work is already carried out at the steel works in Duisburg, the stack components which were manufactured at the Oschatz plant in Turkey, will be delivered in March 2013. The main downtime for the assembly of cooling stack one is scheduled for this year’s August.
The components for the second cooling stack will also be produced in the Oschatz manufacturing facility in Turkey in the course of this year. Delivery to Duisburg is scheduled for spring 2014.
Oschatz is an innovative company that operates globally in the fields of plant construction, energy recovery and environmental technology. With more than 160 years of experience, 1,400 employees, eleven subsidiaries as well as representative offices all over the world, Oschatz is market leader for waste heat systems in the product areas of iron and steel metallurgy, non-ferrous metallurgy, environmental and chemical technologies.