The second mega blast furnace at Formosa Ha Tinh Steel’s ￡11 billion complex in Vietnam has now been started up, putting the plant on target to eventually produce a colossal 10 million tonnes of steel a year.

The Vietnamese subsidiary of Taiwanese industrial conglomerate Formosa Plastic Group, Formosa Ha Tinh is a leading project on the Belt and Road Initiative routes.

CISDI was awarded the contract for its two mega blast furnaces on an EPC basis and civil construction started in 2013.
A year on from the successful start up of Blast Furnace 1, its twin was successfully fired up on May 18 and had tapped hot metal 24 hours later.

Both have an inner volume of 4,350 cubic metres and the capacity to produce a hot metal output of 3.197Mt/a – rivalling the production capabilities of the world’s biggest mega blast furnaces.

BF 1 has been operating stably for a year and has now passed all its function tests, with all of its indicators exceeding their designed values.

Formosa Ha Tinh will produce seven million tonnes of steel a year once its twin BF 2 is in operation and the final production target is a colossal 10 million tonnes a year.

BF 2 complies with environmental standards set by the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

The twins’ main technical and economical indicators are benchmarked at world record levels and CISDI’s ultra-high performance and low energy consumption patented blast furnace technology has been applied to both.

These unique technological features include new-generation ‘no-bell top’ distributors, slag granulating drums, high-blast-temperature and long-service-life external-combustion stoves and over 90% of the equipment has been made in China.
The furnaces also rely on CISDI’s intelligent production management system (IPMS), which combines big data analysis with production and is capable of implementing intelligent operations.

CISDI will be providing ongoing technical assistance to the production process through the blast furnaces’ life cycle.

 CISDI’s services at FHS also include the master plan and general consulting, stockyard design, reheating furnaces and gas holders and operations management.

Vietnamese government leaders, representatives of FHS and its contractors prepare to celebrate the startup of BF2 

Blast furnace 2, tapping hot metal