Sulb Company in the Kingdom of Bahrain has commissioned the SMS Group to upgrade its 130-tonne capacity Electric Arc Furnace (EAF). The main motive for this project is to increase safety and enhance efficiency and productivity and this will lead to improved quality of products. Production is scheduled to start in 2024.
The Bahrain Steel Plant, located in Hidd Industrial Area, has a melting unit and a medium and heavy rolling mill supplied by SMS Group, and the process starts from the direct reduced iron unit to the final product.
As part of the electric furnace modernization, a CONDOOR® slag door will be installed. Its aim is to improve and increase productivity as well as the safety of operating personnel as slag cleaning is performed automatically without the use of a slag removal forklift.
The upgrade will reduce energy consumption and increase production yield. Moreover, the iron oxide in the slag will be greatly reduced.
The four-thread continuous wheels are designed to produce six section sizes. The goal of the upgrade is to increase casting speeds and productivity through additional cooling and thread support in the uppers. The scope of the upgrade includes a Part 1 rebuild of the empty sections of the bloom and beam, including a new spray cooling system, water baffles, a new hydraulic system and an expanded vapour extraction system. The modernization of the wheel provides Sulb with greater flexibility in production and thus the ability to respond more effectively to market demand.
Ravi Singh, CEO of Sulb, said, “We chose the SMS Group because we trust the group’s technology and the excellent team. We have a long-term and good partnership between the group and Sulb. We focus on environmental steel production. SMS Group’s expertise and equipment have helped us with that. And will continue to help us improve.” Quality requirements constantly increase our productivity and environmental sustainability.
Sulb is an integrated company for the medium and heavy steel sectors and structural steel structures production in the Middle East. It is a joint venture between Foulath Holding Company and the Japanese Yamato Kogyo Company. Sulb has two factories, one in the Kingdom of Bahrain in Hidd and the other in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Jubail. The plant in Jubail is a light to medium steel section plant, also supplied by SMS Group.