Tenova starts up two new walking beam furnaces
Tenova, a specialist in sustainable solutions for the green transition of the metals industry, has successfully started up two 400-t/h walking beam furnaces (WBF) at the new Ternium hot strip mill facility, located in Pesquería, Mexico. Ternium manufactures and processes a wide range of steel products.
The advanced features of the WBFs provide reduced emissions and energy savings. The furnaces are designed to heat steel slabs (up to 39 t) at 1,250°C, with a specific consumption of 1.16 MJ/kg, while keeping NOx emissions lower than 60 ppm — well below the required limit.
The furnaces feature the SmartBurner Monitoring System (SBMS), which enables the monitoring and optimising of the burner's performance, operation and maintenance. The SBMS is a network of embedded sensors connected to the Tenova Digital Infrastructure. The collected data is post-processed locally on an edge computing unit as well as remotely on the Tenova Cloud. By constantly monitoring the status of the burner, the SBMS allows new approaches to inspection, maintenance and tuning, as well as reducing safety risks related to on-site operations.
The Ternium Industrial Center started its first phase in 2013, focused on downstream products as cold rolled and galvanized for the industrial market,
said Paulo Lopez, Pesquería plant director at Ternium. Now, we have started up the main production line of the second phase — a new hot rolling mill with a capacity of 4.4 million tons. The two new WBFs are part of the plant's new lines and will produce coils to be used in the automotive market in the USMCA area, granting Ternium an increased access in this sector.
Nicola Cavero, senior vice president at Tenova Italimpianti, commented, This new Tenova equipment joins the previous walking beam furnaces built for Ternium at its plants in San Nicolas, Argentina, and in Monterrey, Mexico, confirming the fruitful collaboration between the two companies of the Techint Group for this type of application. This represents an important new reference for Tenova in the reheating furnaces market.