Emirates Steel announced yesterday that its 150-ton Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) of the Phase 1 Steel Making Plant (SMP) has exceeded its design capacity for a furnace of its size, setting a new daily world record of 34 heats from the EAF producing 5197 tons of liquid steel converted into 4,993.8 tons of billets through the Continuous Casting Machine (CCM). Emirates Steel is the largest integrated steel manufacturer in the UAE and a subsidiary of the Government-owned General Holding Corporation (GHC).
According to Engineer Saeed Ghumran Al Romaithi, Emirates Steel’s Senior Vice President of Operations, the SMP design capacity has been exceeded in a short period of time since start-up, reaching a Tap-To-Tap time of 42.2 minutes and power-on time of 36 minutes.
“For such a young plant the massive effort, strong teamwork and total commitment to reach this tough target in such a short period of time cannot be underestimated; only admired, by any observer, be a layman, or himself a steel making expert,” said Al Romaithi. “This achievement serves as a springboard for the inevitable future successes, and more challenging targets of Emirates Steel as we continue to grow. The pride we feel in these achievements will drive us on to meet all the challenges of the future,” he added.
Emirates Steel is implementing a two-phased expansion program. Phase 1, already complete, transformed the Company from a simple steel re-roller to the first fully-integrated steel manufacturer in the UAE and significantly increased the Company’s rolling capacity to around 2 million metric tons per annum (MTPA). Phase 2, with a production capacity of 1 million MTPA, will increase the total rolling capacity to 3 million MTPA.
Phase 1 comprised of a 1.6 million MTPA Direct Reduction Plant (DRP), a 1.4 million MTPA Steel Making Plant, a 0.48 million MTPA Wire Rod and Coil Rolling Mill (RM3), a 0.62 million MTPA Rebar Rolling Mill (RM2), and associated facilities. Phase 1 was completed in June 2009 at a cost of AED 3 billion (US$ 810 million).
Phase 2, which commenced in June 2008, involves the construction and installation of a 1.6 million MTPA DRI plant, a 1.4 million MTPA steel billet plant, a 1 million MTPA Heavy Sections Rolling Mill (RM4), and associated facilities. The budget for Phase 2 amounts to approximately AED 5.8 billion (US$ 1.5 billion). The Phase 2 DRP and SMP are sister plants to the Phase 1 assets, thereby significantly reducing the associated technology and construction risks.
During the month of May, Phase 1 SMP achieved record production of 118,504 tons, compared to the January 2011 peak of 117,923 tons. Phase 1 DRP achieved a monthly record production of 155,243 tons with 94 per cent metallization, exceeding the previous highest production of 134,950 tons achieved in June 2010 by 15 per cent.