Top-quality surfaces for the automotive industry: thyssenkrupp starts operation of a walking beam furnace supplied by Tenova at the Duisburg site.
A new Tenova state-of-the-art walking beam furnace (WBF) was recently installed and, this week, the start-up was celebrated at the thyssenkrupp site in Duisburg within the hot strip mill 2, one of the biggest plants of its kind in Europe. With a capacity of around five million metric tons, it mainly serves the European automotive industry with quality flat steels for various applications.
Chief Operations Officer (COO) at thyssenkrupp
With the new walking beam furnace, we are meeting the increasing demands of our automotive customers for optimum surface qualities. By gently heating the slabs in the new unit, we create the conditions for top quality along the process chain through to the end product, right from the hot strip mill.
Senior Vice President at Tenova Italimpianti
The new HBO5H has been designed with several unique technical solutions (patented by Tenova) in order to obtain the highest level of energy efficiency, minimizing fuel consumption. The furnace aims to fulfill the most rigorous safety standards currently in the market and the excellent quality of the selected equipment ensures a long furnace life.
The new walking beam furnace and related equipment is 80 meters long and 20 meters wide and has a capacity of approximately 300 slabs per day (corresponding to ca. 5,000 cars in 24 hours). Its most important advantage is a further improvement in the surface quality of premium sheet, as required for the outer panels of cars. Moreover, the new furnace also sets standards in energy consumption, efficiency and reduction of pollutant emissions.
Managing Director at Tenova LOI Thermprocess
With the commissioning of the new HBO5H, thyssenkrupp Steel has the latest technologies in the field of reheating furnaces for slabs. Tenova’s state-of-the-art heating technology allows the new WBF to use the available mixed gas produced by thyssenkrupp through its steel production process. This already reduces the carbon footprint by more than 20% compared to the use of natural gas. The burners can already be operated with up to approx. 60% hydrogen and can be converted to operate with 100% hydrogen in just a few steps, which then results in no CO2 emissions. The intelligent allocation of the heating zones allows maximum production flexibility.
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The start-up of the new walking beam furnace at the thyssenkrupp Duisburg site. From left to right: Christian Schrade, Managing Director at Tenova LOI Thermprocess; Sascha Bothen, Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing at Tenova LOI Thermprocess; Dr. Heike Denecke-Arnold, Chief Operating Officer (COO) at thyssenkrupp Steel; Frank Pozun, Downstream Operations, Head of Hot Strip Mill 2 thyssenkrupp Steel.
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