October 22nd, 2012
One of the largest investments of this year in the UK is the £185 million (€221 million) rebuild of the No 4 Blast Furnace at the Tata Port Talbot plant in South Wales. The project will see the existing furnace dismantled and replaced with one of a similar size — 89 metres, or 291ft, in height.
Barnshaws Plate Bending branch located in West Midlands has significantly contributed to the project producing various rolled and pressed items of ductwork. These included the development and profiling the required sections prior to rolling and tack welding before delivering the completed items to site.
The project will leave Port Talbot with two state-of-the-art blast furnaces and increase iron-making capacity, whilst also enhancing safety and environmental conditions. The rebuild will boost the capacity of the two blast furnaces by up to 400,000 tonnes per year.
Jon Ferriman, hub director of operations at Port Talbot claims: “The rebuilt furnace will be capable of producing larger volumes of hot metal more reliably over the course of a long 20-year campaign life.”
The project is also important in socio-economic terms as it is very meaningful to the steelworks and Port Talbot’s longevity.
