CISDI broke records with a total of 51 wins when the China Metallurgical Construction Association announced 2023’s prizes for the best examples of engineering investigation and surveys, design and computer software.
CISDI projects won 18 first prizes, 23 second place awards and third prizes were granted to 10.
CISDI’s First-Prize Winners:

Baosteel Zhanjiang’s blast furnace 3, Guangdong, China

This modern blast furnace was built with the standout features previously incorporated into Zhanjiang phase I’s blast furnaces 1 and 2.

CISDI’s innovative tech and equipment have increased green, smart credentials for all three furnaces.

This Chinese-developed tech and equipment has played a major role in the advancement of China’s ironmaking, improving efficiency and competitiveness and low-carbon environmental protection.

Zhanjiang BF3 has showcased world-class techno-economic indicators for production capacity, product quality and energy consumption. Its stable operation, on-schedule ramp-up and achievements have won wide applause in the sector.

Ningbo Steel blast furnace 1 relocation, Zhejiang, China

CISDI’s super-efficient, low-consumption critical tech for large blast furnaces created a long service-life blast furnace for Ningbo which is achieving cost-effective smelting, gas recovery, highly-efficient dedusting, eco-friendly slag granulating by siphon bottom-filtering and protecting the environment from stockhouse material spillage.

It reached its designed production capacity on the third day of startup in 2019 and its long-term stable operation makes it an outstanding example of its kind.

Maanshan Steel’s blast furnace A rebuild, Anhui, China
 
This furnace rebuild was Maanshan Steel’s first use of fast revamp tech. CISDI made innovative, tailored solutions based on its bosh gas index theory-based blast furnace design system. Two sections of the old furnace body were pushed out to make disassembly and reassembly easier and a new bag filter dust connection system was assembled offline in sections.
The rebuilt furnace is now highly-efficient and a low energy-consumer with a long campaign life.
It is supported by CISDI’s new tech: All cast-iron cooling staves were fitted with an innovative 6-cooling-tube design. A flat casthouse was added, plus eco-friendly slag granulating by siphon bottom-filtering, smart monitoring and diagnostics for critical equipment, a longer-serving main trough and gas equalising and recovering.
CISDI’s 3D designs, collaboration and counter-checking ensured the rebuild went smoothly and was completed within 85 days, a relatively short time frame.
Furnace A has become an economic and technical champion for Maanshan Steel.

Minmetals Caofeidian International Ore Trading Centre (phase I), Hebei, China

China’s first enclosed ore blending yard at a port and the region’s first large-span steel structure building features a constant disk feeder with the sector’s most precise proportioning degree of 0.5%.
A state-of-the-art bridge drum blending reclaimer for transverse and longitudinal blending features a track gauge of 45m, an equipment capacity of over 3,000 tonnes per hour and a bidirectional reclaiming function.
CISDI created core integrated proportioning tech for the port’s yard, so that multiple standardised blended products could be developed. It has raised the consequent ironmaking’s systematic efficiency while reducing its fuel ratio and hot metal costs and it discharges less carbon per tonne of hot metal.
Just a month after its start-up, the yard reached its projected annual fine blending capability of 7 million tonnes. It has helped the customer step closer to its aim of becoming the most competitive steel eco-chain.

Zenith Nantong Steel’s integrated stockyard, Jiangsu, China

The world’s largest integrated coal yard, this was CISDI’s first application of its patented overpass ECIA model C stockyard.
Standout features:
✔       large-volume concrete-made coke silos
✔       onshore shallow-bin truck receiving
✔       clean transfer system
✔       long-distance belt conveyor with multi-weight tensioning
✔       flexible decision-making on optimal flows
✔       automatic control of stacking and reclaiming
✔       digital yard.
The coal yard went into operation smoothly, laying a solid foundation for ensuring all-line start-up at Nantong Steel in 2022. The plant is now a green, high-quality, efficient and smart coastal landmark.

Baowu KISCO steelmaking plant, Yunnan, China

CISDI’s multiple tech applications at KISCO’s steelmaking plant have enabled its stable and automated operation.
The plant’s smart and green manufacturing processes, ultra-low emissions and recycling tech have resulted in steelmaking indicators reaching or exceeding designed targets. Product quality and pass rate, energy consumption and emissions results have surpassed those of similar plants in China. 

Jianlong Steel Jilin slab caster 2 rebuild

Rebuild and commissioning took just 15 days and elevated the slab caster’s product quality, annual output, metal yield ratio and energy consumption indicators to the highest levels in China.
With multiple new processes and units applied, the caster’s maximum casting speed is 1.8 metres per minute and it produces 2.50 million tonnes of qualified slabs a year - 750,000 tonnes more than its predecessor.
It has created major economic and social benefits.

Tangshan Ruifeng Steel slab caster, Hebei, China

Designed and supplied by CISDI, this history-making project produced the world’s first 3-strand slab caster.
CISDI optimised the general layout and ensured the state-of-the-art caster would run reliably and its equipment could be easily maintained.
A quality issue which had existed at the original multi-strand caster’s middle strand has been eradicated.
This groundbreaking caster has achieved, and in many cases outperformed, its designed targets in product quality, metal yield ratio and energy consumption.

VALIN Hengyang high-end machinery tubular products project, Hunan, China

The Assel Mill featured the world’s largest calibre of its kind.
To achieve all-Chinese design, manufacture and delivery of this major piece of heavy equipment, CISDI applied breakthrough technologies to advance the seamless steel tube’s calibre, control and quality levels. The critical tech included:
✔       process control model
✔       precise angle adjustment and measurement
✔       ultra-high-pressure hydraulic control for quick roll opening
✔       alternating stability control of heavy-duty movements
✔       large-flow hydraulic retaining control.
✔       Outstanding tube rolling production indicators were achieved:
✔       deviations of tube wall thickness: no more than (≤) ±6%
✔       positioning precision for roll’s toe angle and biting angle is controlled to within (≤) 0.1°
✔       positioning precision for screw-down tuning is controlled to within (≤) 0.5mm
✔       productivity and capacity has increased by over 50%.

Changbao Precision Tube Co’s special-purpose tubular products project, Jiangsu, China

Outstanding technical and economic figures were achieved by applying world-leading, state-of-the-art 3-roll mandrel pipe mill process tech.

The MPM’s main and core equipment comprises of a cone type piercer, 6-stand retained-mandrel, 3-roll continuous mill, 3-stand extracting mill and 24-stand stretch reducer.

Capable of achieving a pipe wall thickness precision range of ± 6.0%, the pipe rolling line is now producing the highest quality and metal yield ratio and the lowest energy consumption levels in China’s tubular product sector.

TISCO stainless steel wide plate mill to smart, Shanxi, China

TISCO’s plate rolling line features the most advanced processes and has the widest production specification in China. Its annual 700,000 tonne output includes 300,000 tonnes of stainless steel plates and 400,000 tonnes of carbon steel plates.

World-class star tech and equipment applied:

✔       4-hi intensified mill featuring an improved level of rolling force, torque, rigidity and opening

✔       CVCPlus bending and shifting control with a super-large opening - the first of its kind in China’s 4-hi rolling mills

✔       online solid solution tech for the rolled plate - the first of its kind in China

✔       creative profile design for the high-efficiency, low-consumption heat treatment furnace

✔       advanced continuous pickling tech.

The workshop building was built with a rooftop photovoltaic power generation system, boosting the plant’s energy conservation and carbon reduction.

The line saw a fast ramp-up and an early achievement of standards, energy and efficiency targets. Its critical indicators for production capacity, metal yield ratio, energy consumption and costs per tonne of crude steel have surpassed its design data.

Baowu Chongqing Steel’s bar rolling line upgrade, Chongqing, China

The bar rolling line’s predominant designs and equipment were made in China and multiple new processes, facilities and materials were incorporated.

Its products - 1.80 million tonnes a year - are marketed for sought-after common and fine-grained rebars.

The line’s upgrades have brought world-class results for product quality, metal yield ratio, energy consumption and labour productivity and remarkable economic and social benefits have been achieved.

Baowu Chongqing Steel’s section mill modified to dual high-speed bar mill, Chongqing, China

The modification has resulted in a world-leading, state-of-the-art, dual high-speed bar rolling line with a guaranteed speed of 45 metres per second.

Production data and product quality, metal yield ratio and energy consumption indicators are all world-leading and strong economic gains have also been achieved.

Lianqiang Industry’s ZnAlMg-plating line, Henan, China

China’s first 11%Al plus 3%Mg coating line was created with the following systematic CISDI solutions:

•      pre-oxidation for high-strength steel

•      high-efficiency cooling inside the furnace

•      snout rising and falling

•      snout gas isolation and heating

•      snout slag removal

•      dedicated coating roller system (to the Zn-Al-Mg coating)

•      dedicated air knife (to the Zn-Al-Mg coating)

•      nitrogen heating for air knife

•      high-efficiency post-coating regulated cooling.

These tech developments and units solved a number of historic problems, such as zinc flow pattern and edge oblique pattern on the surfaces of thick-gauge, thick-coating Zn-Al-Mg products.

The line’s maximum speed is 50 metres per minute for producing 3mm thick strip and 900mm wide specifications, with an annealing temperature of 720 deg. C.

The speed for producing strip in thicknesses of 0.5mm or less reaches 160 metres per minute. As a result, annual production capacity is 300,000 tonnes.

The “stainless-like” 11%Al plus 3%Mg coated strips are high-performing with outstanding surface, alkali corrosion resistance and fracture protection. They are valued by the light steel structure sector and can be used for high-end buildings, on 5G base stations, photovoltaic supports and highway guardrails.

Baosteel Desheng Stainless Steel’s reheating furnace for 1,780mm hot strip rolling line, Fujian, China

Chinese-made equipment accounted for over 95 per cent of the reheating furnace package. CISDI’s critical low-carbon, energy-saving, eco-friendly and smart control systems ensured the following achievements:

Zenith Nantong Steel’s solid waste treatment centre, Jiangsu, China

The rotary hearth furnace-based treatment process innovatively applies feed integration, fume’s excess heat cascade recovery and high-standard automation systems.

The treatment line ramped up 40 days after its start-up, creating a record schedule for China.

The stable production has resulted in world-class indicators:

✔       over 70% metallisation ratio

✔       over 90% dezincification ratio

✔       90%-plus availability

✔       a degradation / powder ratio of less than 20%.

A unique metallurgical bar and wire rod’s structure property forecasting and temperature control system enables smart design and management when formulating a production process.

Critical technological parameters and drive solutions can be optimised in response to various process conditions.

Engineering design efficiency is enhanced by using this system, which gives the output of rolling parametre, pass schedule, temperature curve, and microstructural and mechanical properties.

The system has also removed the bottleneck which frequently occurs in long product continuous casting, continuous rolling and direct hot charging rolling processes, due to the difficulty in applying calculation methods.

Now the steel grade’s chemical compositions and process parametres can be inputted and directly interact with the output of product qualities. These advantages will beef up digital and data applications in new process research and development.

The system is designed to enhance rolling’s metal yield, resulting in higher percentage of products passing inspection and the need for fewer products to be re-checked.

An applied long products rolling line has become more effective in the production management process. Its consumption of alloy and micro-alloy elements has been dramatically reduced for a combined application with the thermos-mechanical control process.

A more stable production and product quality has been achieved at the line, in addition to a lower manpower requirement and a higher performance to cost ratio.

Benxi Steel’s E&A system for 1,700mm hot strip mill rebuild

CISDI’s electric and automation system is stable, reliable and easily repairable and is fully meeting the hot rolling line’s production and maintenance requirements.

The software features stronger scalability and portability.

CISDI had created multiple new solutions for the hardware design and the software programming. The team also performed repeated lab tests to verify the solutions, which reduced commissioning time onsite.

The E&A system enabled a fast functioning pilot production and achieved ramp-up and production targets ahead of the contractual schedule.