Swedish SSAB, a leading European manufacturer of special steel products, has placed an order with MAN Diesel & Turbo for its latest MAX1 axial compressor technology. „This will very much improve the cold blast supply at our steel works in the Swedish town of Luleå”, so Patrik Midebjörk, Blast Furnace Manager at SSAB Luleå. “With this changeover to the latest axial compressor technology available in the market, we are mainly heading for a significantly reduced power consumption, meaning both lower operating costs and environmental advancement in terms of less CO2 emissions.”

Dr Lothar Wallscheid, heading the basic industries sales segment at MAN Diesel & Turbo: “While SSAB, as our esteemed customer, can make use of its existing electric drive capacities for this project, our scope of delivery comprises a full package that follows a plug and play logic. Beside guaranteed machine availability, based on extensive remote diagnostics, this includes auxiliary equipment and comprehensive services like spare part supply and operator training modules.”

This order also marks another breakthrough for the MAX1 technology of MAN Diesel & Turbo. The latest axial compressor technology available in the market will now come into operation beyond global air separation industry, where it found its very successful market entry: Already 19 units have been ordered for sophisticated air separation projects. Now MAN Diesel & Turbo is offering this technology also optimized for other branches, e.g. iron and steel or the fertilizer industry.

In initial projects, MAX1 axial compressors and the related blading technology convinced through greatly enhanced power density and performance, while  exceeding expectations in terms of reliability. Technology wise, this was  achieved by combining compression technology of modern gas turbines with the one of industrial large-volume compressors. Result is a significantly lower power consumption together with a unique robustness along the whole operating range.

The task of the MAX1 compressor in Luleå will be a rather demanding one. Ambient temperatures ranging from -40° to +30 °Celsius are making great demands here on project engineering and chosen material. With blast furnace compression asking for a particular wide operating range, this is supported  through quick reaction times and a very high availability of the compressor, to serve alternating demands of the steel production process.

Commissioning of the current project in Sweden will take place in the second quarter of the year 2018.