Automation | Eramet Norway Porsgrunn

Gas cleaning control for increased capacity on Furnace 11

Init helped Eramet Porsgrunn keep its gas cleaning plant in step with capacity increase on Furnace 11, in control of two new high pressure pumps and an automatic venturi flushing sequence.

 

Eramet Norway’s smelter in Porsgrunn, established in 1913, produces manganese alloys for the global steel industry.

As supplier of technology and control systems to Eramet Porsgrunn, Init Kristiansand (then Necto) delivered gas cleaning control for the capacity increase on Furnace 11, a project that challenged both the supplier and Eramet’s automation department to think in new ways.

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ASPIRATION

Higher melting capacity, without creating new bottlenecks

Eramet’s goal was to increase the melting capacity and power of Furnace 11. But more capacity in the furnace means more capacity is needed around it. Raw material feeding and gas cleaning both had to keep pace, and the project also set out to reduce downtime and improve equipment maintenance.

SOLUTION

More capacity in the furnace, and all around it

After a long and thorough planning phase with Eramet’s automation department, the furnace was stopped in November 2016. As part of Eramet’s wider project, more powerful transformers, new busbars, new water-cooled cables and new current tubes to the electrodes were installed. To feed the higher capacity, the project also added new weighing vessels, and weighing and transport times were optimised with new instrumentation and a machine learning mindset, improving the logistics of raw materials into the furnace.

To reduce downtime, the project also established a system for automatic calibration of the weighing vessels during operation, and the running time of the feeders was sharply reduced. Higher melting capacity also increases the production of furnace gas, so Init Kristiansand delivered control of two new, powerful high-pressure pumps and an automatic flushing sequence for cleaning the venturi installation in the gas cleaning plant.

RESULT

Fewer stops, higher capacity

The result is a furnace with higher melting capacity and power, supported by a raw material handling system that can keep up and a gas cleaning plant that can handle the increased gas volumes.

Automatic calibration during operation and shorter feeder running times mean fewer stops in the plant and higher capacity overall. The project was carried out in close collaboration with Eramet Porsgrunn, reflecting Init Kristiansand’s role as the plant’s supplier of technology and control systems.

Reach out

for more information

Geir Kulia

Commercial Manager, Init Norway

+47 99 29 98 67

[email protected]

Init Kristiansand, Norway

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