Wheeling-Pitt adds EAF to production facility
In late October, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp (WPSC) is expected to begin operations with a new electric arc furnace, making it the only integrated producer in the US to combine electric arc furnace with a traditional blast furnace. However, a small number of international firms have already achieved success by adding electric arc to their blast furnace
production, including one producer in
Canada and one in
China.
With the addition of the EAF, WPSC will have great flexibility because it will be able to produce steel from either 100%
scrap or as little as 60%
scrap mixed with blast furnace molten iron. WPSC's blast oven furnace uses only about 25%
scrap.
Furthermore, the addition of the electric arc furnace will allow the company to play the
scrap,
iron ore, and coke markets, securing the best cost structure and thereby obtaining a competitive advantage.
WPSC is also unique among
US steel producers in that it uses an innovative
scrap pre-heating process that saves energy and allows for continuous steel
production. This process, known as the Consteel Process, developed by Techint Technologies, uses the furnace off-gas to preheat the
scrap to over 1'000 degrees Fahrenheit.
The company forecasts that the EAF and BOF will combine almost equally to produce a liquid steel capacity of 2.9 million tons during the peak of the steel business cycle.