First slab and first coil delivered in the same day at Yukun 4.6-Mtpy QSP-DUE plant

On April 9, 2024, the brand new QSP-DUE plant at Yukun Iron and Steel Group was started successfully, in a fully automated mode.

In the morning the casting line #1 produced the first six slabs in 100-mm thickness, 1250-mm width, making use of 20 mm of soft reduction.

In the afternoon of the same day, two of the first six slabs were rolled into the first hot-rolled coils.

Hot commissioning will continue with the stabilization of coil-to-coil rolling and the commissioning of the second casting strand.

During the plant ramp-up of the production in semi-endless casting and rolling mode, endless rolling also will be carried out.

The Danieli QSP-DUE plant at Yukun is the first ever direct casting-rolling plant having the flexibility of operating at full capacity in two-strand mode for daily production of up to 14,000 t (equivalent to 4.6 Mtpy), or in semi-endless and endless modes on a single strand.

This means that while retaining the production capacity of a high throughput conventional hot-strip mill, the QSP-DUE plant will be able to produce ultralight gauges down to 0.8 mm in endless mode and very thick gauges of up to 25.4 mm in coil-to-coil mode.

The product mix includes low- and medium-carbon, LC HSLA and MC HSLA steels.

The plant is equipped with all the features to boost the mix towards more advanced grades, including weather-resistant, API and dual-phase.

The plant is run by Danieli Automation integrated process control and automation systems, covering all technological areas. Operators supervise the different plant areas from one centralized pulpit for fast and effective management.

The new, two-strand Danieli QSP-DUE Universal Endless at Yukun is a new benchmark flat-rolling plant in the world.