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Siemens to Supply Vacuum Decarburization Plant for Foundry in Austria

07/05/2012 - The voestalpine Giesserei Linz GmbH, part of the Steel Division of the listed voestalpine corporation, ordered a 50-ton vacuum oxygen decarburization (VOD) plant with mechanical vacuum pumps from Siemens VAI Metals Technologies.

The voestalpine Giesserei Linz GmbH, part of the Steel Division of the listed voestalpine corporation, ordered a 50-ton vacuum oxygen decarburization (VOD) plant with mechanical vacuum pumps from Siemens VAI Metals Technologies. The Austrian company is thus supplementing its facilities for secondary metallurgical processing of cast steels for demanding applications in the energy industry and in the machine-building industry. The new vacuum decarburization plant is expected to be operational from the end of the calendar year. 
Siemens will handle the engineering, and will supply all the core components for the new vacuum decarburization plant of the voestalpine foundry in Linz. This includes, for example, a special ladle roof of copper-clad sheet steel that minimizes the formation of skull on the upper edge of the vessel and the roof. The scope of delivery also includes the vacuum roof, an oxygen blowing lance, a gas cooler, and filter system, mechanical vacuum pumps, the hydraulic system, a water management system matched to the overall plant, as well as all the automation and instrumentation. The project will be implemented jointly with Siemens AG Austria.
As one of the first VOD systems in the world, the plant in Linz will use a combination of electrically driven mechanical vacuum pumps to create the vacuum. This includes Roots blowers and screwtype compressors. In contrast to the conventional steam ejector pumps used in secondary metallurgy, these do not require any process steam. There is therefore no need for an external source of steam or for installing a separate boiler to generate steam. The new vacuum decarburization plant completes the secondary metallurgical processing options of the voestalpine foundry in Linz. This expands the product portfolio and will make a significant contribution towards cost-efficient production.
The Siemens Industry Sector (Erlangen, Germany) is the world’s leading supplier of innovative and environmentally friendly products and solutions for industrial customers. With end-to-end automation technology and industrial software, solid vertical-market expertise, and technology-based services, the Sector enhances its customers’ productivity, efficiency, and flexibility. 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.
As a leading company of the voestalpine foundry group, voestalpine Giesserei Linz GmbH is a 100-percent subsidiary of voestalpine Stahl GmbH, a company of the Steel Division of the listed voestalpine corporation. It has around 450 employees and encompasses two business fields: The Group operates sites in Linz and Traisen, Austria, as well as in Yinchuan and Shanghai, both in China, and it produces approximately 35,000 tons of cast steel, spherulitic graphite cast iron, and non-ferrous cast metals per year. The steel foundry is a global leader in the production of high-grade castings with unit weights of 10 to 200 metric tons. The castings are used above all in the energy industry and in the machine-building industry.