UK-based plantmaker Primetals Technologies has announced that it will supply a continuous slab caster, a twin ladle furnace with an alloying station, and the associated dedusting system to the Ukrainian steel producer Ilyich Metallurgical Combinate in Mariupol (MMKI). The two-strand caster will be designed to produce 2.5 million metric tons of slabs per annum. This will increase MMKI's annual production capacity to around four million metric tons, as well as enhancing and expanding its product portfolio.
The caster will cast slabs with thicknesses of 170 and 250 millimeters in widths ranging from 900 to 1,550 millimeters. The maximum casting speed will be 2.2 meters per minute. It will process peritectic alloyed steels, low, medium, high and ultra-high carbon grades, as well as medium-carbon alloyed steel for heavy plates for pipelines, shipbuilding, pressure vessels and the construction industry