VAI Pomini GmbH recently received an order from Hangzhou Hanggang Foreign Economic Relations & Trade Co. Ltd., P.R. China, for a new 6-Strand Billet Caster to be installed at Zhejiang Hanggang Changxing EAF Co. Ltd.

After modifications to the liquid steel production route, the melting capacity will exceed one million tonnes per year, which also requires added capacity to the billet production. The new 6-Strand Billet Caster will be able to cope with this higher production. Design will be maintained for the majority of the components of the originally installed Billet Caster. This approach will allow the reuse of existing operational and maintenance spares and also reduces the capital investment costs.

VAI Pomini will perform engineering on the casting floor for new core equipment including new ladle capacity of 105 tonnes, increased tundish volume and an automatic mold powder feeder. Engineering will also include modifications to the strand guide, including secondary cooling and the discharge area. These will be designed to allow hot charging and retarded cooling in the future, but also for conventional cooling via a new cooling bed. For increased production capacity, the new cooling bed will be combined with the existing one. VAI Pomini’s scope of supply also includes Dynaflex Hydraulic Oscillators and the Level 1 Automation System.

VAI Pomini (VAI) built and started up Hanggang’s initial 3(+1)-strand billet caster in 1997 for casting 150x150 and 200x200 mm sections of carbon steel, alloy structural steel and spring steel, marking the first high-speed billet caster in China. VAI Pomini implemented the 4th Strand in 2000, increasing the capacity of their EAF Steel Plant from 500,000 to over 800.000 tons of high quality billets per year.

VAI Pomini is one of the leading long-product technology providers worldwide, and combines the rolling mill expertise of VAI, Pomini, Ashlow and GFM, with the billet casting experience of Rokop and VAI. VAI Pomini is jointly owned by Techint, Italy, and VAI, Austria, and has offices in Castellanza, Italy; Linz, Austria; Sheffield UK; Pittsburgh, USA; and Taicang, P.R. China.

Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau (VAI), a company of the listed VA Technologie AG, is one of the world’s leading engineering and plant-building companies for the iron, steel and aluminum industries with a multinational company structure and special focus on technology, automation and services. VAI achieved total sales of 976 million EUR in 2003 and employs approximately 3,400 people worldwide.