QATAR STEEL's plant is comprised of four integrated primary units:
• Direct Reduction
• Electric Arc Furnace
• Continuous Casting
• Rolling Mill
Each unit feeds the next one.
Direct Reduction
DR plant produces solid iron using Iron ore pellets.
The reformer converts natural gas into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. These gases remove oxygen from the heated ore in the furnace, converting the ore into metallic iron. Cool gas/water circulates through the lower part of the furnace and cools the iron.
The process produces what is called Directly Reduced Iron (DRI), and is fed into the Electric Arc Furnace.
Electric Arc Furnace (EAF)
The EAF is used to produce molten steel from DRI.
The furnace, with its roof swung aside, is charged with scrap. Qatar Steel uses directly reduced iron (DRI).
A powerful electric current arcs (jumps) between the electrodes and the charge. This action produces intense heat, which melts the charge and promotes chemical reactions that produce steel.
Workers turn off the power to the electrodes at the end of the refining process. Then they tilt the furnace, which is mounted on rockers, to pour out the slag.
After the slag has been poured off, the electric arc furnace is tilted in the opposite direction. The liquid steel rushes out through the tap hole and is collected in a ladle
Continuous Casting (CC)
The molten steel produced in the electric furnace is poured into the continuous casting unit, which shapes molten steel into billets. The steel flows through a specially shaped mold. Cold water quickly cools the steel, causing it to harden as it moves through the rolls of the caster. These billets are one type of QATAR STEEL’s products.
Rolling Mill
This is another unit which shapes molten steel. Rolling Steel bars takes place in a bar mill, which resembles a hot-rolling mill. A bar mill has rolls that are grooved to roll hot billets into square, round, oval or hexagonal bars.
