JSIS Sohar and SMS group commission new high-speed billet caster

Jindal Shadeed Iron & Steel LLC (JSIS), a company of Jindal Group, in Sohar, the Sultanate of Oman and SMS group have successfully put a new high-speed billet caster with six strands into operation. 42 heats in sequence could be cast within just over a month after start-up, which represents an impressive ramp-up curve.

The continuous casting machine was designed and commissioned in cooperation with SMS Concast, a company of SMS group. It is currently operating with six strands and produces rebar billets of 165 millimeters square section at a casting speed of 3.6 meters per minute. However, provision is made for eight strands and square billets with a section range from 130 up to 200 millimeters. These billets shall be produced at casting speeds ranging from 1.0 to 5.0 meters per minute and shall reach an annual capacity of 2,000,000 tons. Apart from the integrated CONVEX mold technology, it is planned to install further technological solutions by SMS Concast in order to enable the production of SBQ steel grades. These grades need a closed casting mode with submerged entry nozzles. In this mode, the future CONFLOW stopper control will optimally ensure a stable steel flow. In order to achieve the desired high-level steel qualities, the application of electromagnetic mold stirrers is on the agenda, too. The integration of CONSTIR-MEMS electromagnetic stirrers permits product quality control to be improved in terms of center segregation and center porosity.

Sanjay Anand, Chief Operating Officer at JSIS Oman, congratulates the team led by Vishnu Vijay, (Head Project & Rolling Mill), and the SMS team on commissioning the project within four months from first major equipment delivery to site: “Thanks to the great cooperation of the project teams, we were able to achieve an impressive ramp-up in production. 42 heats in sequence were cast within 45 days after commissioning.”

SMS group is a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry. It has some 14,000 employees who generate worldwide sales of about EUR 3 billion. The sole owner of the holding company SMS GmbH is the Familie Weiss Foundation.