Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. announced that its ladle metallurgy furnace (LMF) completed its first heat on Friday, Oct. 1, just 14 months after the project was authorized. The LMF is part of Wheeling-Pittsburgh’s new Consteel(R) Electric Arc Furnace system.

"This is a major milestone for Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel's electric arc furnace construction," said James G. Bradley, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Chairman, President and CEO. "I am extremely excited for the future of our company and its employees as we approach the start of a new era in steelmaking for Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel and the Upper Ohio Valley."

The LMF used molten steel produced at the company's basic oxygen furnace in its first heat, since the EAF is not scheduled to begin production until later in the fourth quarter.

Startup of the LMF required major components of the EAF project be operational, including its 138,000-volt substation, water treatment facility, and ladle cars for transporting hot metal to and from the LMF. Each of these systems will be used by both the LMF and EAF. The shared baghouse, which is capable of cleaning 1.2 million cubic feet of air per minute, was also operational for the LMF startup. The total value of the systems successfully commissioned to date is approximately $60 million, representing about 50% of the total EAF project cost.

"The startup of the LMF went smoothly," said Harry Page, Vice President of Engineering, Technology and Metallurgy. "The successful completion of this milestone is a reflection of the hard work that went into planning and implementing the construction of this very complex project in and around an operating steelmaking complex. The experience level of our steelmaking operations personnel was instrumental in the success of this startup."

The Consteel EAF is a state-of-the-art continuous steelmaking process featuring the use of preheated scrap to charge the steelmaking furnace. With its new Consteel EAF, Wheeling-Pittsburgh will have the flexibility to charge 100% scrap or a mix of scrap and liquid iron from its operating blast furnaces.

Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp., together with its primary subsidiary, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp., is a metal products company with 3100 employees. Its facilities are in Steubenville, Mingo Junction, Yorkville, and Martins Ferry, Ohio; Beech Bottom and Follansbee, W.Va.; and Allenport, PA.