Mariupol Ilyich Iron and Steel Works has decreased gas usage while heating billets at mill-1700.
“We used to heat the billets twice. Because the slabs are thick we had to heat them in the heating furnace No. 5, then sent them to the reduction mill to reduce the thickness to 135-140 mm, following by the second heating, and finally getting the billet to the rolling mill”, the company CEO Yuri Zinchenko said.
This made the company spend fuel and time.
“Our specialists suggested heating the slabs just once. And have developed a special program for this. The technique is simple: we heat the billet more, increasing the temperature by 10-20 degrees, and after the reduction mill we send it directly to the roiling mill”, he explained.
The annual saving effect is 4 million UAH. (Ukrainian metal)