The Ukrainian Electrometallurgical Works Dneprospetsstal named after A.N.Kuzmin (Dneprospetsstal) has announced that it has placed an order to Austria-based giant engineering and plantmaking company Siemens VAI Metals Technologies for the supply of a new electric arc furnace (EAF-60) for the smelting of special steel grades. The total cost of the order amounts to €10 million.
The new EAF-60 with an annual capacity of 540,000 mt will be installed at Dneprospetsstal's steelmaking shop No. 3, replacing the existing three furnaces of the shop, and is scheduled to be commissioned in Q1 2012.
Accordingly, the new EAF will allow Dneprospetsstal to decrease the average time for smelting from four hours to one hour, which will enable it to cut the production cost, due to the significant reduction in the consumption of electricity, electrodes and other utilities and materials.
Along with the new furnace, Dneprospetsstal will also build a modern gas cleaning system, which will have significant environmental benefits both for the industrial site and for Zaporizhia city, where the plant is located.
"The contract with Siemens VAI Metals Technologies is the first step of the project for the construction of a new furnace and of the steelmaking renovation process. The adoption of new equipment and technologies will improve the quality of our products and strengthen the position of the company in the special steels market," reads the company's release.
Dneprospetsstal is specialized in the production of stainless steel products. In 2009, the company registered a 46 percent decrease in its crude steel output to 261,000 mt and a 47.2 percent drop in its finished steel products output to 166,500 mt, both compared to 2008.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, Dneprospetsstal is also planning the construction and commissioning of a new vacuum induction furnace by 2011.