Romania’s largest integrated steel plant Liberty Galati has placed an order with Primetals Technologies for a Multi-Purpose Interrupted Cooling (MULPIC) system and a water treatment plant that will allow it to expand the high value-added product range at its heavy plate mill, Primetals said Aug. 8.
The engineering company will design and supply the entire in-line plate cooling system comprising three banks each measuring six meters. The headers and water pipework are made of stainless steel, guaranteeing long equipment lifetime and reduced emissions.
The MULPIC combines the machinery with process control technology and provides an in-line integrated plate cooling system designed to reach the cooling rates and temperature drops required for plates of varying features.
Controlled water distribution with a cooling accuracy of up to 12 degrees Celsius allows for the processing of plates in 8 to 80 mm thicknesses and 1,500 to 4,150 mm widths. This will enable the Galati mill, part of UK-registered Liberty Steel, to expand its range of products and improve their quality.
“The project will be completed next year and will allow us to respond to our customers’ demand for higher value products,” Sandip Biswas, the CEO of Liberty Primary Steel and Mining, said in a statement.
He said the accelerated cooling system is essential for modern plate mills, like the one at Galati, to produce higher strength grades which require higher cooling rates and greater cooling accuracy.
The plates’ excellent temperature and flatness uniformity provided by the accelerated in-line cooling produces higher strength steel grades, which require 25%-50% less alloying elements. This means not only significant savings, but also lower environmental impact associated with the mining and processing of these alloying elements.
Steel coil and plate producer Liberty Galati has a nominal capacity of 3 million mt/year of hot rolled quarto plates.
In mid-2022, Liberty Galati launched a tender to select a supplier of hybrid electric arc furnace technology it needs to develop low carbon steel production.
The company, however, declined to comment on whether that tender has been finalized or suspended when inquired by S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Author Katya Bouckley
