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SMS Demag to Supply 3rd Casting Strand for Essar Steel CSP Plant

11/03/2008 - SMS Demag AG will supply a third casting strand for Essar’s Compact Strip Production plant in Hazira, making the CSP plant the first one to be equipped with three casting strands.

Essar Steel Ltd., India, has awarded SMS Demag AG an order to supply a third casting strand for its CSP® (Compact Strip Production) plant in Hazira in India's Gujarat state. This will make Essar Steel's CSP plant the first one to be equipped with three casting strands, and will help to extend the plant’s hot strip capacity to approximately 3.5 million tonnes/year.
 
The first construction stage of the CSP plant will be put into operation in 2009 with two strands. The plant is designed for strip widths from 950 to 1,680 mm and strip thicknesses from 1.0 to 25.4 mm. The product range includes carbon steels, tube grades, silicon and dual phase steels. The process is particularly well suited for economical and efficient production of high-quality steel grades.
 
The third caster will be a vertical bending machine that will allow slab thickness to be continuously adjusted from 55 to 70 (80) mm. The middle CSP furnace’s swivel ferry can move to both sides, and thus can also feed thin slabs from the two outer soaking furnaces to the mill line.
 
In addition to engineering and manufacture of the mechanical equipment, SMS Demag’s scope of supply also includes all electrical and automation systems plus supervision of installation and commissioning.
 
SMS Demag will prepare and start up the X-Pact® automation system using its well-proven Plug & Work method. Plug & Work simulates the production sequence and makes it possible to test and optimize the automation functions under realistic conditions prior to installation in the plant.
 
Essar placed the order for the first phase of construction of the steelworks and the 2x1-strand CSP plant in February 2007. At the time, installation of the newly ordered third line was already part of the facility’s plans. In April 2008, SMS Demag received the order to supply a second CONARC® plant and another twin-ladle furnace. The X-Melt® steelworks with its two 200-tonne CONARC furnace units and three twin-ladle furnaces is designed for 5 million tonnes of liquid steel per year, which are processed on the CSP plant and on a conventional continuous slab casting machine.
 
Commissioning of the third strand is scheduled to take place in the fourth quarter of 2010.
 
SMS group is, under the holding SMS GmbH, a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry. It consists of the two Business Areas SMS Demag and SMS Meer, which jointly form SMS metallurgy. In 2007, some 8,000 employees worldwide  generated a turnover of about EUR 3.0 billion.