NORTH AMERICA HEADLINESNorth America
Linde Technology Helps ArcelorMittal Garner AIST Award
Feb. 9, 2010 REBOX® oxyfuel technology developed and deployed by Linde North America has helped ArcelorMittal win the Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) 2009 Energy Achievement Award.
The award recognizes ArcelorMittal’s efforts to reduce fuel consumption by nearly two-thirds in the billet reheating operation at its Shelby, Ohio, seamless tube mill.
AIST, whose membership includes iron and steel producers and their suppliers, presents the award annually to an individual or organization to recognize their deployment and use of innovative new technologies or practices that result in significant energy conservation improvements. To qualify, awardees must have operated and realized the energy benefits for at least two years to ensure the solution is credible and sustainable.
ArcelorMittal received the award in January for its work to implement Linde REBOX oxyfuel solutions on its rotary hearth furnace. Linde and ArcelorMittal worked together to convert the furnace from air-fuel to complete flameless oxyfuel operation.
Following the successful 2007 implementation of a Linde REBOX oxyfuel technical solution, ArcelorMittal realized a 60% reduction in the furnace’s total fuel consumption compared to the original air-fuel operation. Linde says that its technology also reduced the furnace’s annual nitrogen oxide emissions output by 92% and annual carbon dioxide emissions by up to 60% below the prior air-fuel performance. The conversion also enabled ArcelorMittal to achieve a 25% increase in material throughput and a 50% reduction in scale formation.
“Receiving the AIST Energy Achievement award validates Linde’s ability to create great value for ArcelorMittal and echoes what operators of 120 other steel reheat furnaces around the world have realized with Linde’s REBOX solutions: reduced fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and lower operating costs,” said Grzegorz Moroz, the senior engineer from Linde who led the project.
“Linde’s turnkey solution is a must for steel producers who want to achieve significant operational improvements on existing equipment without making a large capital investment,” Moroz continued. “Thousands of high-temperature steel reheat and annealing furnaces currently operating around the world could benefit from implementing the REBOX oxyfuel technologies.”
The Linde Group is a leading gases and engineering company with almost 50,000 employees working in around 100 countries worldwide. In the 2008 financial year, it achieved sales of EUR 12.7 billion (USD 15.9 billion).