SSAB has started construction work on an electric arc furnace at its plant in Oxelösund, which will be carried out by SMS group, Kallanish learns from the Swedish steelmaker. It highlights the event, attended by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, as a historic milestone for the Swedish industry and for the green transformation to fossil-free steelmaking.
SSAB earlier took a decision to transform its entire Nordic production system by around 2030, and this year took a decision to invest SEK 6.2 billion ($599 million) in an EAF and related raw material handling.
SMS’s scope of supply includes a 190-tonne alternate current-electric arc furnace (AC-EAF) capable of processing various raw materials, including fossil-free direct reduced iron or hot-briquetted iron, and scrap.
This includes automated features such as the slag handling and eccentric bottom tapping (EBT) operations. Also part of the supply is advanced electrode control X-Pact SynReg, which, together with advanced robotics applications, such as the X-Pact Sampler, ensures operational safety as well as better precision and productivity without human intervention, SMS explains. With an upper shell diameter of 9.3 metres, the new EAF is one of the largest installations in the world for similar applications, it adds.
“We are now embarking on the large-scale construction and transformation of SSAB’s Nordic production system,” says SSAB president Martin Lindqvist. “The conversion to an EAF will mean that Oxelösund alone can deliver a reduction of around 3% in Sweden’s CO2 emissions,” says SSAB Special Steels head Johnny Sjöström.
Christian Koehl Germany
