Primetals starts basic oxygen steelmaking converter at ArcelorMittal’s Gent plant

UK-based engineering and plant manufacturing company Primetals Technologies has started up a new basic oxygen steelmaking, or Linz-Donawitz, converter at steelmaker ArcelorMittal’s steel plant in Gent, Belgium, the company said July 20.

At a heat size of 330 mt the Gent plant’s LD converter is one of the largest globally, with average LD converter heat sizes at around 180 mt, the company said.

The LD converter also had an optimized converter shape to increase yield and energy efficiency of the steelmaking process, Primetals said.

The new LD converter was installed within a 35-day timeline without any interruption to ongoing production at the plant’s LD converter No. 3 during the shutdown.

Most of the pre-assembly works were done at Primetals’ manufacturing site in Poland to avoid possible delays.

Overall, Primetals also supplied ArcelorMittal Belgium with 1,000 mt of equipment while installing the LD converter.

ArcelorMittal Belgium is part of ArcelorMittal Europe’s flat products division and produces high quality flat products to serve several markets, including the automotive and construction industries.

Platts assessed hot-rolled coil in Northwest Europe at Eur855/mt ex-works Ruhr July 20, down 7.3% from the start of the year.

— Jacqueline Holman, Annalisa Villa