At 13: 18 p.m. on February 22, hot commissioning of the walking beam reheating furnace upgrading project in the north line of the rolling mill of Anhui Changjiang Steel Co., Ltd. (Changjiang Steel), designed and managed by MCC Huatian, came to a success at the 1st attempt. The project took only 74 days from commencement to operation, setting a record for the shortest construction and commissioning period of the company in the reheating furnace field.

It is understood that the furnace in the north line was originally a walking beam furnace. Due to the limitations of walking beam furnace, billet heating quality, gas consumption, automation degree and operation flexibility can't meet the requirements of high productivity and modern management. Besides, the annual high maintenance cost and the long shutdown period seriously restrict the continuous production of rolling mills, making upgrading a absolute necessity. The hourly output of the newly-built walking beam furnace in the northern line is 220 t/h (cold charging) and 270 t/h for hot charging at 700°C ~ 800°C. The furnace is upgraded to a energy-saving walking beam furnace with double regenerative blast furnace gas and cantilever roller table side in and side out. The bottom machinery adopts the inclined table type of fully hydraulic drive roller, and the water beam column adopts evaporative cooling. After the upgrading, the production can be performed flexibly in south and north lines according to the needs to meet the production of high-quality steel with high added value in the future, especially to meet the long-term development needs of Changjiang Steel.

In this project, it took only 59 days from the removal of old furnace body and civil foundation since December 10, 2021 to the completion of civil construction and installation of the new furnace. On February 7, 2022, the furnace was ignited and preheated. After 15 days, the hot billet was successfully discharged on February 22. It took 74 days in total, nearly 40% shorter than the general construction period of about four months, which is the record short reheating furnace construction and commissioning period of the company in the reheating furnace field.