By Robert T. Woodings

In the 1980s and ’90s, America’s steel industry invested an estimated $20 billion in modernizing itself and as a result gained the opportunity to maintain a strong position in the global metals marketplace. Many observers believe U.S. steelmakers are again on the brink of a modernization spending spree – and a large percentage of the money will be dedicated to the primary end of the business. This spending will focus on traditional technology and processes such as the blast furnace, as well as alternative technologies and processes.

There is no question that the money spent throughout the industry in the 1980s and ’90s was necessary. Big Steel was feeling the heat from vigorous and aggressive European and Asian competitors, built largely during the post World War II reconstruction and a great deal more cost effective than the operators of aging American mills. What’s more, the mini mill concept was beginning to gain momentum and threaten U.S. integrated operations by producing steel at then-unheard-of costs.

The $20 billion spent between 1980 and ’00 leveled the playing field for American integrateds. There is evidence now, however, that the field has started to slope away from domestic blast furnace operators. Again, European and Asian steelmakers have begun in earnest to pour money into their primary metal-making operations. In fact, they have a 10-year head start.

That is not to say everybody in the United States has fallen into sleepy complacency. Just recently, Bethlehem Steel completed a major upgrade on its “L” furnace at Sparrows Point.

Before I go on, I want to note up front that I have a vested interest in promoting a line of thinking that results in significant modernization of American blast furnaces. But if you take that vested interest through to its logical conclusion, my concern actually is in ensuring the survival of as many integrated operations as possible in our domestic steel industry. That will be good for American steel and I don’t mind telling you that I like to have strong customers.

What also concerns me is that some companies will fail to recognize the need and thus fail to react soon enough to stave off extinction. Smart companies will begin upgrading to the newest and most efficient technologies and thus get a leg up on their competitors. Others will approach the challenge timidly, investing just in time to struggle to maintain marginal profitability. But a few will miss the boat and fall into a death spiral that drops into a pool of terminal red ink.

I believe it is safe to say the blast furnace still has a long and productive future. There still is no substitute for the modern unit’s ability to produce high volumes of top-quality hot metal. In looking at the hot-metal production units being built around the world, the blast furnace still is the preferred way to make large volumes of high-quality hot metal.

So what is the Nirvana of blast furnace technology?

Few would argue that as they exist today, many of the furnaces in operation across America are not state-of-the-art. On the other hand, Woodings Industrial, and its various technology partners, have played a major role in installing and maintaining the newest, largest, most productive blast furnaces around the world as well as the equipment used on those furnaces. The equipment that makes those units so productive, efficient and safe is here for the asking in America.

Over the next five years, projections show that an estimated $1 billion will be spent on modernizing blast furnaces in the United States. Besides the obvious work such as relines, spending on hot-metal equipment will be directed at higher-tech equipment, process controls and third generation artificial intelligence.

Looking at the top of a typical blast furnace, technological enhancements are available through hydraulic distributors, moveable throat armor systems, high-pressure hydraulic bleeder valves, high-pressure equalizer and relief valves, and above- and in-burden temperature and gas sampling probes.

These enhancements provide productivity and fuel rate benefits to the operation, not to mention increased campaign life for the furnace. The ability to control the placement of the raw materials to the furnace top via the hydraulic distributor or moveable armor improves overall furnace efficiency. A typical blast furnace in North America would expect an overall decrease in fuel rates of 20 to 30 pounds per ton of iron produced, coupled with an increase in productivity of 2 to 3 percent by using this top equipment. The increase in furnace lining life comes as a result of being able to control the gas flow at the lining face.

Burden distribution control also has been used successfully to reduce hot metal cost by using less costly raw materials without sacrificing performance. An example is charging larger quantities of lower-cost small coke.

External to the furnace, improvements to the raw material handling systems, cast house operations, hot blast stove systems, high temperature tuyere stock systems and gas cleaning equipment are required to further improve productivity, cost and operation stability. Improvements to the furnace gas cleaning system yield higher hot blast temperatures and longer stove life. The increase in hot blast temperatures reduces fuel rates and increases productivity. One could expect fuel rates to decrease 12 to 20 pounds for each 100 degrees F increase in hot blast temperature, with a corresponding increase of 1.5 to 2 percent in productivity. It goes without saying that improvements to the hot blast system to yield higher hot blast temperatures yield the same fuel rate and productivity gains.

Improved productivity requires more efficient iron and slag removal. Many furnaces are handicapped by insufficient casting capabilities. These furnaces require upgrades to the tap hole drills, clay guns and cast house layout. Some may require additional tap holes to support the higher operating rates.

To sum up, newly modernized furnaces will be superior producers. Operators will experience increased productivity, additional uptime, better reliability and longer campaigns. Modernized furnaces also will be much safer working environments.

What will be the net result of this modernization movement among American integrateds? The answer is simple: survival.

Nobody is so naïve as to believe these decisions will be made willy-nilly. CEOs will ask tough questions and demand reasonable return on investment. The fact is, ROI for money spent on blast furnace upgrades will be easy to justify. Those who modernize can expect reduced hot metal costs and squeeze additional yield from their units. Payback for modernized equipment should be two years maximum.

Those are facts that are music to the ears of even the toughest boss, particularly in the context of keeping America’s blast furnaces competitive with the rest of the world’s steelmakers.

(Note: Robert T. Woodings is president of Woodings Industrial Corp., the oldest continuous family-operated business in the steel industry in North America. Woodings Industrial is a worldwide leader in the manufacture of metals industry equipment such as tap hole drills, clay guns, tuyere stocks and engineered specialty products including caster equipment. Woodings has plants at its headquarters in Mars and Pittsburgh, along with offices in Detroit, Mich., and Gary, Ind.)