Uhde Services (Haltern am See, Germany):

Peters A., Mag. Eng., Head of sales and Marketing

ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe (Duisburg, Germany):

Peters M., Dr. Eng., Senior Vice President, Hot Metal production, andreas.peters@thyssenkrupp.com

Korthas B., Dr. Eng, Head of Ironmaking, Blast Furnaces Hamborn

Ellerik H., Ironmaking, Blast Furnaces Hamborn

Kessler + Luch GmbH (Gieβen, Germany):

Leinhäuser F., Mag. Eng., General Manager

The largest basic hot metal producing location in Europe is Duisburg in Germany represented by ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe and Hütten werke Krupp Mannesmann GmbH (HKM) with in total 15.6 million t hot metal in six blast furnaces. The majority of the furnaces is medium-sized with hearth diameters between 10.0 and 11.9 m. Since the end of 2007 blast furnace 8 has been the newest representative of this group with the production capacity of 2 million t HM per year. Due to the environmental situation of the plant ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe developed together with Uhde Services and Kessler + Luch new innovative dedusting concepts to optimize the collection of emissions directly at the place of origin. The plant stands out for its dust capture hoods optimized in laboratory-scale tests. These hoods achieve a capturing degree ranging between 91 and 97%, and they consume approx. 50% less energy than conventional systems. In addition, this mobile solution which obviates the need for superfluous connecting pipes inclu ding shutoff elements towards the dust collecting ducts leads to a cutback on capital investment costs as well as to an annual reduction in maintenance and repair costs by approx. 27%. The successful development and implementation of the mobile high-performance dust removal system for bulk cargo unloading on the existing elevated railway bunker unit at the site of ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe sets new standards in relation to an extremely efficient dust capture system coupled with very low energy consumption. ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe sets new standards in relation to an extremely efficient blast furnace concept by the new construction of blast furnace 8 and the associated burdening as well as the complex refurbishment of the burdening for blast furnace 9.

1. ThyssenKrupp-Konzernarchiv, Duisburg.

2. ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG, Duisburg.

3. Uhde Services Archiv, Haltern am See.

4. Kessler+Luch GmbH, Siegen.

5. VDI 2262.