ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih has produced 16 million tons of billets since the launch of the CCM complex

PJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih has produced 16 million tons of billets since the launch of its continuous casting machine (CCM) complex. October 24, 2024 marked 13 years since the launch of the first CCM machine in the company’s converter shop, Metallurg newspaper reports.

“Compared to casting steel in a gating mold with subsequent billet production by blooming, this technology, which was new to us at the time, had a number of advantages. Cast billets have better quality parameters, their production is less energy-intensive, and steelmakers receive less metal waste,” the statement said.

Initially, the company’s converter shop had one CCM, while now the complex consists of three units.

“Our continuous casting department continues to operate, develop and improve despite the challenges caused by the war. There are a lot of problems. Among them are power outages, a significant deterioration in the quality of water, which is widely used in technological processes, loss of suppliers of ferroalloys and other necessary materials, lack of qualified specialists, problems with the supply of spare parts, etc.,” said Olexander Lukyanov, Deputy Head of the Continuous Casting Shop.

He emphasizes that the entire array of these problems can be solved only through the general mobilization of efforts and coordinated work of the team, which includes power engineers, transport workers, specialists from the process automation department, employees of the production and technical departments, etc.

“Of course, the production figures are much lower than before February 2022. But this year the department’s employees have already produced one million tons of billets,” Lukyanov added.

In the near future, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih plans to overhaul CCM No. 1. In particular, the company is implementing a technology that will allow it to produce 160×160 mm billets along with 150×150 mm billets.

As GMK Center reported earlier, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih recently completed a major overhaul of blast furnace (BF) No. 8. The equipment included coke and sinter hoppers, a skip for transporting the charge, and sinter gates.