ABB completes melt shop digitalization project with JSW Steel to drive productivity and profitability

ABB has built on a long-term relationship with JSW Steel by integrating its digital solution ABB Ability Smart Melt Shop into a wider expansion at the Dolvi Works plant in Maharashtra state

ABB completes melt shop digitalization project with JSW Steel to drive productivity and profitability

New Delhi: ABB completes a melt shop digitalization project with India’s leading steel company, JSW Steel boosting productivity, and profitability. ABB has built on a long-term relationship with JSW Steel by integrating its digital solution ABB Ability Smart Melt Shop into a wider expansion at the Dolvi Works plant in Maharashtra state.

 

With the project, completed on schedule in March 2021, ABB has improved productivity and energy efficiency for the steel melt shop by developing an operations optimization solution, including ladle and crane tracking system, crane scheduling system and thermal loss models, to predict target temperature for ladle furnaces and ensure the correct superheat at the caster.

 

This is expected to increase the company’s EBITDA profit by around USD two million per annum through four per cent higher casting speeds, time savings of one working day per month and additional output equating to 24,000 tonnes a year.

 

The plant now has real-time tracking of steel ladles for process synchronization and better maintenance planning. In wider benefits, the lower energy consumption means fewer consumables used per batch and therefore a lower carbon footprint with less CO? per tonne of steel produced. Automatic tracking and scheduling increase personnel safety as they are removed from the production area during crane and ladle movements. The scheduling solution also results in reducing tapping delays by ensuring these movements are synchronized with process requirements.

 

“Based on advanced digital algorithms and mathematical modelling, ABB Ability Smart Melt Shop is a true example of technology convergence as it utilizes cameras and image-processing, weighing systems, radar, laser and wireless-based technologies to ensure steel melt shops operate at optimum levels where crane and ladle tracking and their availability are critical to the entire steelmaking process,” said Tarun Mathur, Global Product Manager and Digital Lead for Metals, ABB.

 

“We relied on the metallurgical expertise of ABB’s Metals team as they proved to us that this digital solution could be integrated into our complex plant with its diversified operational procedures,” said Gajraj Singh Rathore, President, JSW Steel Ltd. “The figures and the results from testing stacked up and we could see the capacity to enhance productivity, improve energy efficiency and generate a relativity quick return on investment too."

“Our data from performance testing has shown a significant increase in superheat compliance, returning time savings equating to more than nine hours per month and nearly 2,000 additional tonnes produced per month,” said Amit Kumar Chakraborty, Project Manager for Metals, ABB.

 

Additional benefits of the ladle tracking system include reduction in tapping delays in the electric arc furnace, reduction of electrode and power consumption at the ladle furnace and reduction in silicon deviation in hot-rolled coils produced from slabs from the continuous caster.

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