Siemens Receives Multi-Million Dollar Contract from SSAB for Vacuum Tank Degassing Facility

Svenskt Stål AB (SSAB) has awarded Siemens a contract for more than $14 million for a Vacuum Tank Degassing (VTD) facility for its Mobile, Ala. facility. Siemens is scheduled to complete the VTD project in May 2010. This VTD project is part of a major investment program announced by SSAB in August 2008 with the aim to further develop the company’s production base in Sweden and the United States. The investment will result in a major increase of the volume of quenched and tempered steels. The installation of the VTD facility will enable SSAB to provide more value-added products to its customers.
Siemens’ experience as a market leader in the metals industry enables the company to provide a complete solution for the project. Siemens will provide two tanks, two cover lifting devices and one vacuum pump system for the VTD facility. Additionally, Siemens will supply a primary de-dusting system, an automatic alloy and flux feeding system, condenser and machine cooling water system.
Level 1 and Level 2 automation packages are also included in the scope of supply. The Level 1 automation package consists of all necessary hardware and software for basic control of the degassing equipment: human-machine interface (HMI) system, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), panels for the control rooms and operation stations for motors and pumps. The Level 2 automation package provides the industry-specific hardware and software used to optimize the actual steel production of the degassing unit. The metallurgical data stored within the Level 2 system is used to calculate the requirements necessary for the successful degassing of ladles of liquid steel.
SSAB is a global niche producer of high strength steels with a leading market position in quenched and tempered steels. SSAB North American Division is the number one supplier of plate in North America. The Mobile steelworks has an annual capacity of 1.25 million tons and has expanded SAB’s value-added product lines to include blast and painted products, as well as quench and tempered and normalized plate products.
“Siemens is pleased to have been selected for this important project and is committed to exceeding SSAB’s expectations for delivery and performance,” says David Blunden, U.S. Vice-President for Siemens Metals Technologies. “The company is proud of its longstanding and successful business relationship with the SSAB.”