Campaign life completed - Blast Furnace B to be thoroughly modernized

After eleven and a half years of service, Blast Furnace B at Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH (SZFG) has ended its second campaign life and will be relined and thoroughly modernized starting at the end of August 2015.

Blast Furnace B was constructed in 1993 and has produced 21 million metric tons of pig iron since its last relining in 2004.

The relining will cost around 80 million euros.

Apart from the renewal of the blast furnace vessel’s refractory lining with more than 2,100 metric tons of refractory material, other parts of the system will also be modernized in the course of 89 days for the new campaign life.

• In addition, a part of the furnace cooling with a pipeline length of a good 14.3 kilometers will be regenerated, while 192 copper plate coolers, so-called staves, will be replaced, and two new hoppers, each holding 50 cubic meters, for filling the furnace will be installed.

The complete renovation and modernization of the channels for the liquid pig iron and the liquid slag in the furnace building are also on the program’s agenda. This job will involve installing some 1,500 metric tons of refractory material and 500 metric tons of concrete.

Customer deliveries will be ensured throughout the entire reconstruction standstill in spite of the modernization measures.