Posted on 09 Jul 2013
The Indian steel manufacturer Vandana Global Ltd. has ordered a treatment stand for dephosphorization of liquid steel from Siemens Metals Technologies. The plant ensures compliance with new specifications mandated by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) with regard to the maximum permitted phosphorus and sulfur content. It was developed specially for small and medium steel producers who obtain liquid steel from scrap and sponge iron via the induction furnace route and is being put to use for the first time ever in the world at Vandana. The plant will enable the company to offer higher-grade structural steels in future. Commissioning is scheduled for the beginning of 2014.
In India, the amount of liquid steel smelted out of scrap in induction furnaces is more than 30 percent. It is produced mainly by small and medium enterprises that serve regional markets. Due to the varying quality of the raw material and the limitations of the production process, this liquid steel contains a large amount of phosphorus amounting to several tenths of a percent. This aggravates or prevents the production of high-quality steel grades. This is why BIS has issued a specification according to which the combined content of sulfur and phosphorus in structural steels must not exceed 0.11 percent.
To assist steel producers in achieving this goal, Siemens has developed a compact and low-cost treatment stand for dephosphorization. For the Vandana steelworks in Raipur in the federal state of Chhattisgarh, Siemens is planning and delivering a plant for 15 tons of liquid steel, a ladle car including a tilting unit and various blowing lance units along with the associated secondary systems. With the aid of the dephosphorization stand, Vandana can both fulfill the BIS specifications and also produce steel grades with which higher prices can be achieved on the market.
