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One of the world's largest coal based DRI kilns was commissioned earlier this year at Scaw metals, South Africa. With its design capacity of 150kt/y already being exceeded by 17% at a metallisation rate of 92%, a suitable scrap substitute is now available for merchant sales, with the added benefit of a less pyrophillic product than gas based DRI.
Kvaerner and SCAW have a long history of co-operation in the field of coal-based DRI. The first kiln using Kvaerner's DRC technology was put into operation at SCAW Metal's site at Germiston, RSA in 1983. A second near-identical kiln followed in 1989. Both these kilns have proved extremely successful; originally designed to produce 75 OOOtpy of DRI, actual yearly production has, on occasions, exceeded 100 OOOtpy with over 90 OOOtpy being consistently achieved.
The high quality of SCAW's DRI product allowed them to achieve a significant number of merchant orders. This, together with an expansion in the capability of SCAW's own meltshop, gave rise to a demand for still greater DRI capacity. Thus an order for a third kiln was awarded to Kvaerner Metals in April 1995.
This project called for a substantial scale up in size over the capacity of the original units. These were of 4.5 metre diameter by 60 metres long while the new kiln would be of 5.0 metres diameter by 80.0 metres in length. This increased size of DRC kiln had first been used at Tianjin Pipe corporation in China where Kvaerner had installed two such units. These kilns are the equal in size of the largest DR kilns currently in operation or under construction. The rated capacity of the third SCAW kiln was set at 150 OOOtpy, twice that of the existing units.
PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
Kvaerner undertook to manage the project on a fast-track basis. Light-up for the new kiln was set for the end of December 1996, less than 21 months from order placement.
The project implementation plan followed the format adopted for the construction of the No 2 kiln. Rather than a full turn-key contract, Kvaerner took on the role of engineer and managing agent; all merchant account orders were placed directly by SCAW on the recommendation of Kvaerner's project team. This arrangement allowed the SCAW operations...