International technology group ANDRITZ has received an order from Swiss Steel AG, Switzerland, for the supply, installation, and startup of a new walking beam furnace with an output of 150 t/h for heating the continuous-cast billets at the Emmenbrücke plant, Switzerland. Start-up is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2019.
The turnkey furnace plant delivered by ANDRITZ Maerz, headquartered in Düsseldorf, essentially comprises the refractory lining, the transport system, the inlet and discharge machinery, the combustion plant, and the I&C equipment, as well as the mathematical furnace model to optimize the various thermal furnace operating modes. The furnace is preceded by a buffer bed with separating system as well as a feed conveyor with automatic billet identification and possible removal of faulty billets. The feed conveyor between the furnace and the rolling mill is also part of the scope of supply.
Billets of different dimensions and qualities are heated in the walking beam furnace and then rolled into wire of different gages in the rolling line. The heating technology was designed such that scaling and surface decarburization are as low as possible, heat consumption is kept to a minimum in spite of the need for high temperature uniformity, and the NOx and CO emissions are reduced to the maximum possible extent.
A complete cooling plant with an emergency cooling plant and a heat recovery system that make best use of the residual heat from the waste gas will be supplied to cool the transport system in the furnace. An additional filtering plant installed in the waste gas system reduces dust emissions to a minimum.
Swiss Steel AG is an affiliate of SCHMOLZ + BICKENBACH AG, Lucerne, which is one of the leading suppliers of long products made of special steel. In the European market for long products made of steel, Swiss Steel AG is one of the leading suppliers of high-grade steel, engineering steel, and free-cutting steel grades.