Austria-based giant engineering and plantmaking company Siemens VAI Mining and Metals Technologies has announced the receipt of an order from South Korean-based POSCO Gwangyang Works for the replacement of an existing caster with a new high-speed two-strand slab caster and for the supply of a new twin-station RH degassing plant at POSCO's Steel Making Plant No. 1.
The project, worth in the two-digit million euro range, will be implemented in a consortium with POSCO Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd (POSCO E&C).
The scope of the agreement includes Siemen's engineering and its supply of key components, equipment, systems and technological packages.
The new high-performance two-strand slab caster will be equipped with specialized equipment and a wide range of technological packages and will have an annual casting capacity of 3.2 million mt of carbon, alloyed and silicon steel grades. Thus, POSCO Gwangyang Works will be able to cast 70 percent more steel compared with its previous output.
The new twin-station RH degassing plant with 280 mt capacity, ordered by POSCO E&C, will allow the company to reduce the hydrogen and nitrogen gas content of the steel as required for more demanding product uses.
Both plants are scheduled to come into operation by the middle of 2009.