ArcelorMittal has temporarily shut down the coating line at its Aviles steel plant to carry out improvement work aimed at improving product quality and productivity, Kallanish notes.
The project provides for the replacement of hydrochloric acid tanks used for processing steel that comes out of a hot rolling mill, the company explains. The upgrade will last until December 26, explains an ArcelorMittal representative.
This shutdown was carried out in addition to the maintenance work carried out at sinter plant A and the emergency restart of blast furnace B at the nearby ArcelorMittal plant in Gijón.
Gijon has not been producing cast iron as usual since it was shut down for maintenance last summer. After an unsuccessful launch at the end of September, the company started a new pig iron ignition operation using a complex oxypropane method. This process leads to significant wear of the equipment, as it requires drilling in the furnace crucible.
Due to the hardening of the crucible part, there is less space inside the furnace for cast iron, which eventually leads to the burning out of the hot air nozzles and makes it impossible to stabilize the furnace. This became clear from last week's meeting of trade unions and the blast furnace workshop of the Spanish ArcelorMittal.
"On Friday, the oxypropane production technology was reintroduced in the blast furnace, and we are currently trying to restart it," the company adds.
According to employee representatives, production at Plant B can stabilize between the end of January and the first week of February if the launch is successful and the first cast iron smelting takes place at the end of December.
Todor Kirkov Bulgaria
Kallanish.com
