Celebration for a furnace
A TEESSIDE engineering firm is celebrating after completing work on India’s largest blast furnace.
Siemens VAI Metals Technologies, which employs 180 staff in Stockton, has been working on the £19m project to design and equip the blast furnace, which has been installed in the Toranagallu steelworks for the Indian company JSW Steel.
The contract was originally won in 2005 with the project involving plant engineering and the supply of diverse core components.
Other specialist services, including waste gas cleaning, slag granulation and furnace cooling have also been provided under the deal.
Geoff Wingrove, director ironmaking at Siemens VAI, said the furnace has been designed optimised furnace operation and low fuel rates.
“The furnace is also fitted with a state-of-the-art gas cleaning system utilising a cyclone separator developed by Siemens,” he added.
“The new cyclone from Siemens makes it possible to flexibly control the de-dusting process. This optimises iron recovery and simultaneously prevents concentration of heavy metals such as zinc which can reduce the useful life of the refractory lining.”
The project is the latest in a series of orders awarded by JSW Steel to Siemens for the Toranagallu location.
Siemens VAI has worked on about 170 new furnaces and a significant number of overhauled sites.
Last year, the company secured a 20m euros deal contract with engineering giant Tata Steel to design parts and carry out testing services for a new blast furnace in the state of Orissa, eastern India.
The firm has also revealed plans to diversify its portfolio of specialist component products for the operation and maintenance of blast furnaces.
The Stockton team became part of industrial giant Siemens in 2005.
Today Siemens said it expected a boost to its plant to increase the share of “green product” sales, thanks to worldwide government programmes which are designed to mitigate the global recession.
Reports said Peter Löscher, chief executive, expects to get a stimulus for such products from various state-sponsored schemes.
“One thing is clear: even during the crisis we will substantially increase the share of our sales which are attributable to green technologies.”
Siemens’ “green products” comprise a diverse range of goods from energy efficient lights to trains and gas turbines.
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