Ihobe - the Public Environmental Management Company attached to the Basque Government’s Department of Environment, Territorial Planning and Housing - has awarded a €30,000 grant each to two projects approved by Sidenor to promote the circular economy, and obtain a more efficient production process that uses fewer raw materials. The grant to Sidenor, a company specialised in the production of special steel long products, is part of a programme of grants to encourage innovative ecodesign and circular economy projects in Basque Industry financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Reducing the passing of scrap to dumping in the EAF

The grants from the public company Ihobe to Sidenor have been allocated to two projects, the first of which is called TERMOSLAG. The main objective is to achieve the online control of slag transit during liquid steel dumping in the electric arc furnace (EAF) by developing and implementing a thermographic camera, thus preventing the slag from passing into the ladle.

The goal is to reduce the quantity of slag that passes into steel by 10%.

The result will be a reduction in raw material and energy consumption by optimising the secondary metallurgy process as much as possible while improving steel quality.

This project will improve manufacturing efficiency, using natural resources in a responsible and environmentally friendly way, by minimising the passing of slag to secondary metallurgy which would result in higher energy and raw material costs.

Control of steel stirring in the ladle

The second project, called STIRLADLE, mainly aims at developing and implementing a control system to accurately characterise steel stirring in the ladle and analyse the information on stirring obtained from the implemented smart sensors. The system will improve productivity thanks to process optimisation and control utilising new process variables monitoring systems. It will also improve steel quality scores, reduce billet scrapping due to possible quality defects, thus improving energy efficiency and the resources used to obtain the semi-product.

During the project, the company will measure vibrations in the ladle during the metallurgy process. These vibrations are caused mainly by the movement of the liquid steel in the ladle; the circulation of the liquid metal is made possible by the variable but continuous injection of gas through a porous cap. The ultimate aim is to be able to characterise the stirring energy based on vibration measurements.

Using this project, the company will obtain a surveillance and advice system to control and to monitor stirring in the ladle, obtaining a more efficient and environmentally friendly secondary metallurgy process through electrical energy consumption reduction.

Sidenor’s steel production capacity exceeds one million tons annually, destined mainly for the manufacture of parts and components for the automobile, machinery, capital equipment, railway, energy, mining and petrochemical industries. In all of these industries, Sidenor’s special steel is used to manufacture reliable products.