HKM issues Primetals Technologies with final acceptance for modernized LD (BOF) exchangeable-vessel converter plant

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• Converter plant equipped with new trunnion ring

• Converter tilting drive overhauled

• Modernization lengthens the life of the plant and increases its availability

In March, Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann GmbH (HKM) gave Primetals Technologies the final acceptance for the modernized LD (BOF) converter no. 2 in its Duisburg, Germany plant. The project involved equipping the converter plant with a new trunnion ring and new suspension. The tilting drive was also modernized. These measures will help to lengthen the life of the plant and increase its availability. The project was performed in a consortium with Buchinger Anlagen-Stahl-Rohrbau GmbH. The converter has been in hot working since the middle of November 2016.

Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann GmbH (HKM) runs an integrated iron and steel works at its Duisburg Huckingen site. The works is divided into the subsections port, sinter plant, coking plant, blast furnace plant with two blast furnaces, and an LD basic oxygen furnace plant. Two round-steel continuous casters and three continuous slab casters are run in the steel works. Each year, HKM produces more than 1000 different grades of steel. HKM is one of the largest iron and steel works in Germany. It produces around twelve percent of the raw steel produced in Germany, and has a production capacity of some 5.6 million metric tons of steel per annum.

The trunnion ring and the tilting drive of the 300 metric ton converter had reached the end of their service lives. Primetals Technologies was responsible for the detailed engineering of the modernization and also overhauled the tilting drive of the converter. It also supplied the trunnion ring, which was designed for a service life of 30 years and made by a European manufacturer. Primetals Technologies replaced the bull gear, pinion drive shafts and the gear bearings. It also supervised the installation, commissioning and restart of the plant