October 08, 2008

New seamless tube mill commissioned at BMZ

It is reported that Byelorussia’s largest steel producer Byelorussian Steel Works official opened a complete seamless tube plant supplied by SMS Meer on July 13th 2007.

The new seamless tube plant will expand the range of finished products by 250,000 tonnes of seamless tubes per year. The new plant is designed for seamless tubes in the diameter range from 21.3 mm up to 168.3 mm. The tube lengths vary between 6 meters and 15 meters. Production includes tubes for the oil and gas industry, ball bearing tubes, boiler tubes and structurals.

SMS Meer supplied all the key equipment for the complete hot section and for the finishing section, including electrical equipment, automation and technology systems. The heart of this modern seamless tube plant is the hot section with the latest generation of PQF® technology.

The PQF® concept involving the use of the three-roll technology allows the technological limitations of the conventional two-roll MPM process to be overcome. This advanced development now enables the long-standing demands of the tube manufacturers for a further product improvement to be satisfied. It permits the rolling of premium quality products, combined with high production flexibility and a high stability of the rolling process, and hence forms the basis for a complete and reliable process automation both factors for a constant premium quality and a significant reduction in production costs.

BMZ’s plant in Zhlobin produces around 1.8 million tonnes of steel per year that is subsequently processed further into a variety of finished products such as wire rod or bars.