By Jan Hromadko
FRANKFURT--ThyssenKrupp AG said Friday it plans to shut down one
of its four blast furnaces in Germany to conduct modernization and
repair works after more than 20 years of smelting raw iron, a
primary stage in the steelmaking process.
Germany's largest steelmaker by output said it will invest 200
million euros ($274 million) in the modernization of blast furnace
2 at its Duisburg-Schwelgern production site in western Germany.
During the outage, the blast furnace will be completely remolded,
including a renewal of the interior fire-proof lining and an
upgrade of its cooling system, ThyssenKrupp said.
"Around 7,100 tons of refractory material will be needed for the
75-meter tall furnace vessel alone," ThyssenKrupp said.
A company spokesman said that ThyssenKrupp's output of processed
and finished steel will be unaffected by the outage, because the
company has pre-produced steel slabs and agreed to purchase slabs
from Huettenwerke Krupp Mannesmann GmbH, a joint venture between
ThyssenKrupp and units of Salzgitter AG and France's Vallourec
SA.
The modernization works will begin by cooling down the blast
furnace in mid-June, ThyssenKrupp said, adding that it is expected
to resume production of raw iron at the end of September.
Write to Jan Hromadko at jan.hromadko@wsj.com
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