ArcelorMittal Shelby – Tubular Products of Ohio in the US, a North American market leader for seamless and welded tubular products for end user applications in markets such as automotive, oil and gas and construction, has declared excellent results from the conversion of a rotary hearth furnace by The Linde Group.
The company needed to boost the seamless tube mill output for larger billet dimensions while minimising energy and maintenance costs and in the second half of 2007, The Linde Group converted a rotary hearth furnace for billet reheating, on a turnkey basis. A compressed project timeline of four months, from contract signing to commissioning, was necessary to meet the objectives and time constraints of the project plan.
The formerly air fuel fired furnace was equipped with Linde’s REBOX oxyfuel solution, including flameless technology. The conversion was made in two steps, first using oxygen-enrichment for a short period of time before implementation of the flameless oxyfuel operation.
ArcelorMittal Shelby has noted that excellent results have been achieved, including a 25% increase in reheating capacity and a 50% reduction in fuel consumption, fulfilling the performance guarantees. Moreover, the temperature uniformity improved, producing better piercing results, while the scale formation was reduced by 50%, and emission levels of both NOX and CO2 have also been significantly minimised.
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