Castellanza – Tenova, a leading developer and provider of sustainable solutions for the green transition of the metals industry, was recently awarded a contract for the supply of a new Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) at the Tosyali Bethioua plant, located in Algeria. This will be the second EAF that Tenova has supplied to this site and is a key component of the current expansion project of Tosyali.
The new EAF will be designed to be almost identical to the current EAF that has been consistently operating on a line steadily producing more than two million tons of billets per year. The first EAF supplied to the plant in 2016 achieved the highest productivity levels on record for a DRI-processing furnace.
The new equipment, powered by a 240MVA AC transformer, will process 2.5M per year of DRI pellets to produce Hot Rolled Coil (HRC). Same as the existing EAF, this new furnace will be equipped with an innovative charging system that allows charging and melting of more than 12 tons of HDRI (hot-DRI) per minute, setting an absolute productivity record for DRI-processing furnaces.
The existing furnace has been fed with a wide range of reduced iron sources including HBI. In addition, the composition of the DRI produced and processed in the Bethioua site is adjusted by blending iron concentrates from different sources to achieve the most profitable balance between cost of raw materials and energy. The advanced EAF Process Control System compensates for the variations of the raw materials and optimizes the process to reach the optimal yield and consumption figures.
“In 2016, we decided to select Tenova for delivering us an exceptionally productive EAF, the first of his kind, and our choice was rewarded.” said Dr. Suhat Korkmaz, Tosyali Holding CEO, “We now trust Tenova to satisfy our expectations again in our new project.”
The EAFs designed and built by Tenova are the result of the experience gained on hundreds of reference EAF projects, out of which 28 were specifically engineered to use DRI as main feedstock. Tenova’s long history as a supplier of technological equipment is bolstered by the expertise of Tenaris and Ternium, which are producers and direct users of DRI since the inception of the technology. Tenaris, Ternium and Tenova are all part of the Techint Group.
“Our previous cooperation with Tosyali’s team has played a fundamental role in building trust and co-operation with the user, a very demanding and experienced user that is quickly expanding their operation. This is in line with Tenova’s commitment to being a reliable partner and always keeping innovation and continuous improvement of our design and technologies as top priorities”, said Paolo Stagnoli, Sales and Marketing Director at Tenova for Electric Arc Furnaces.