Steelmaking at Port Kembla History Corporate Overview Nature of the Port Kembla Steelworks Steel Production (Processes & Products) Extras Environment Marketing Research Working at the Steelworks Steel Language Important (www) Links HSC Online International Iron & Steel Institute

Port Kembla can produce over 5 million tonnes of steel annually; the plant's primary facilities consists of two blast furnaces, three 275 ton BOS steelmaking vessels and three slabcaster machines. No.5 blast furnace was built in 1972, relined in 1991 and 2009 and can produce 7,400 tonnes of iron per day while the No.6 blast furnace was commissioned in 1996 and can produce 7,200 tonnes per day. Raw Materials Three basic raw materials are needed for making iron in a blast furnace - iron ore, coke, flux (limestone). Iron ore is blended on site (a sinter plant with a capacity greater than 5.5 Mt/a) from supplies shipped from Mt Newman and Yampi Sound, in Western Australia, as well as other minor supplies from the Middleback Ranges, South Australia. Coking coal is mined at collieries within a 40 km radius of the Steelworks. Normal requirements are about 3.8 Mt/a of clean coal. At Port Kembla there are five coke ovens batteries with a capacity of 2.7 Mt/a. Limestone is supplied from Marulan, NSW. Special grade limestone is imported from Japan. Dolomite, which comes from Ardrossan, SA and some special alloying elements are also used depending on the Steel mix. Ironmaking A blast furnace is used to make iron in a continuous process operating 24 hours a day. Hot air is blasted into the furnace, creating a reaction which reduces the iron ore to molten iron. At Port Kembla, there are two blast furnaces with an ironmaking capacity of over 5 Mt/a. The new No 6 blast furnace was blown-in during 1996, replacing the two smaller blast furnaces, Nos 2 & 4. Steelmaking Steel is iron with a small amount of carbon and other additives to create certain properties and at Port Kernbla it is made in a basic oxygen steel making vessel (BOS). Molten iron and scrap (1/5 of the total volume) are placed in the vessel and heated. An oxygen blast refines the amount of carbon in the mix, creating steel. The resulting steel mix is checked to ensure that it has the right properties. At Port Kembla, there are three Basic Oxygen Steelmaking (BOS) vessels with a raw steel capacity of 5 Mt/a, a steel ladle injection unit and an RH vacuum for treatment of special steels under vacuum and a CAS-013 steel ladle treatment station. There is also an oxygen generating plant with two air separation units producing gaseous oxygen and nitrogen along with liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon. Capacities are 1,080 tonnes a day of gaseous oxygen and 220 tonnes a day of gaseous nitrogen. Continuous Casting A modern continuous casting system where steel is poured into a 'bottomless mould' is then used to shape the steel into slabs. Advantages of continuous casting include more consistent composition and dimension, better surface and internal quality, less scrap, more energy efficient and less labour intensive production. At Port Kembla there are three continuous slab casters - one twin-strand machine and two single-turret, single-strand slab (single/twin casting) machines, equipped with electromagnetic stirring, air mist cooling and auto mould level control.   Hot Rolling Slabs are reheated and reduced in thickness by rolling through sets of rolls, and formed into coils at the Hot Strip Mill (capacity 2.1 Mt/a), or flat plate at the Plate Mill (capacity 600,000 t/a). This process refines the relatively weak cast steel by compacting the grain structure to give the steel greater toughness, shock resistance and strength. Further Processing Besides slabs, downstream facilities at Port Kembla produce hot-rolled coil, plate steel, tinplate and strapping. Slabs are sold to other firms for further processing. Hot rolled strip is used by industries including motor vehicles, building and construction, white goods, office furniture and general manufacturing. The Springhill plant (formerly John Lysaghts) uses hot rolled strip to produce metallic and painted coil and sheet products. It has a number of well established brands - COLORBOND®, ZINCALUME® and GALVABOND® steel. This plant consists of a coupled pickle and cold reduction mill, three metallic coating lines and two continuous paint lines. Strip processing is necessary to protect the strip from corrosion, and this may include metallic or electrolytic coating and/or painting. Plate steel is used in engineering and construction applications eg. pipe and tube, engineering, building, manufacturing and mining industries.

To contact Australia's Industry World
Phone 02 4275 7023 Fax 02 4275 7204
email: tours@aiw.org.au

Australia's Industry World Limited ABN 39 082 085 783
A Not For Profit Company Limited by Guarantee