Wheeling-Pitt Completes Test of New Furnace

Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. announced that its ladle metallurgy furnace, a furnace that is part of its Consteel Electric Arc Furnace system, completed its first heat Oct. 1, 14 months after the project was authorized.

"This is a major milestone for Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel's electric arc furnace construction," said James G. Bradley, Wheeling-Pittsburgh chairman, president and CEO for W-P. "I am extremely excited for the future of our company and its employees as we approach the start of a new era in steelmaking for Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel and the Upper Ohio Valley."

The LMF used molten steel produced at the company's basic oxygen furnace in its first heat, since the EAF is not scheduled to begin production until later in the fourth quarter.

"The startup of the LMF went smoothly," said Harry Page, vice president of Engineering, Technology and Metallurgy. "The successful completion of this milestone is a reflection of the hard work that went into planning and implementing the construction of this very complex project in and around an operating steelmaking complex. The experience level of our steelmaking operations personnel was instrumental in the success of this startup."

The Consteel EAF is a state-of-the art continuous steelmaking furnace. Among its advanced features are: a preheating process that preheats the scrap steel used to charge the furnace to 1,000 degrees and the ability to use either 100 percent scrap or a mix of scrap and liquid iron.