The plant, with an annual production of 400,000 tons, produces steel with extremely low levels of inclusions and hydrogen content for the manufacturing of seamless steel tube.
 
With this plant, Tubos Reunidos fulfils the increasing demands on steel cleanness. Via the LF–RH product route, Tubos Reunidos will produce alloyed steel with low hydrogen content in its EAF steel plant in Amurrio, close to Bilbao. A convincing feature is the short cycle time of the metallurgical treatment, which is executed both in the ladle furnace and the RH plant, with further treatment for cleanness in a separate ladle treatment station. With a special arrangement of the plant components, developed specifically for Tubos Reunidos, a short treatment cycle time of less than 60 minutes is achieved.
 
The RH plant is one of two plants recently put into operation that make use of the new RH-RockerType® ladle lifting device developed by SMS Mevac, and the first to use two ladle transfer cars. With the new lifting device, the ladle is lifted out of the ladle car for the vacuum treatment. After the treatment, the second ladle car receives the ladle and takes it to the caster. Additional benefits of the ladle lifting concept are the short vacuum suction line and the direct access to the stationary vacuum vessel.
 
Within this project, SMS Mevac’s supplies included engineering and supervision services as well as the delivery of key components such as the ladle lifting system, vacuum vessel, vessel transfer car, vacuum pump, TOP-burner lance, electrics, instrumentation, and automation. Further, Tubos Reunidos will receive comprehensive consultation by SMS Mevac to achieve significantly improved metallurgical results.