Tata UK furnace comes back online

London-based Primetals Technologies says it has completed a project that began in late 2018 to upgrade and refurbish Blast Furnace 5 at the Tata Steel Europe steelmaking complex in Port Talbot in Wales in the United Kingdom.

According to Primetals, the revamped blast furnace was relit in late January. The aim of project was to extend the useful life of Blast Furnace 5. Primetals Technologies was responsible for engineering, planning, equipment and material supply, demolition and erection, all to be executed during a shutdown stoppage in late 2018.

The major areas of work included the replacement of a ring of the furnace shell, replacement of cooling elements inside the shell, partial replacement of the carbon hearth refractories, a waste gas downcomer replacement, further shell modifications and general furnace lining repairs.

London-based Tata Steel Europe Ltd. has mills in the Netherlands and the U.K. and other plants throughout Europe. The company supplies steel for the construction and infrastructure, automotive, packaging and engineering markets. The Port Talbot steelworks operates two blast furnaces and produces slab, hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized coil. Before the revamp, Blast Furnace 5 had been running for 15 years and had produced some 30 million metric tons of output.

Primetals Technologies Ltd. describes itself as an engineering, plant-building and life cycle services partner for the metals industry. The company offers integrated electronics, automation and environmental systems.