RATIONALE FOR THE DESIGN OF A
WATER TREATMENT FACILITY FOR A
MODERN HOT STRIP MILL.
OVERVIEW OF DESIGN
Henry K. Miyamoto, Process Design Engineer
Conrad A. Perl, Staff Specialist
Water Treatment Group
Stelco, Inc.
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada L8N 3T1
John N. Hilton, Senior Chemical Engineer
MacLaren Plansearch, Inc.
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5E 1E7
INTRODUCTION
Lake Erie Works (Figure 1) is situated on 1660 hectares at Nanticoke, Ontario on the North Shore
of Lake Erie approximately 70 km southwest of Hamilton. It is an integrated steelmaking facility
with dock and raw material handling systems, a Coke Oven Battery, a Blast Furnace, Basic Oxygen
Furnaces, a Slab Caster and a 2050 mm (80 inch) Hot Strip Mill. The rated capacity is 1.4 million
tonnes/year. Industrial makeup water is supplied by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment from
Lake Erie. Water leaving Lake Erie Works is treated at the Blowdown Treatment Plant and discharged to Pond #4 which overflows to Lake Erie.
This paper documents the rationale and basis of design used by Stelco Inc. in the conceptual
design of the water treatment plant at the Lake Erie Works 2050 mm Hot Strip Mill.
The Lake Erie Works Water Systems were designed to minimize treatment costs and environmental impacts. For these reasons the following principles were adopted in the design process:
• Recirculate water
• Some local treatment
• Centralized blowdown treatment
• Up-to-date technology
Heat is fundamental in steel making and water cooling plays an important role in controlling heat
build-up in equipment.
The water treatment system must provide the Hot Strip Mill with a sufficient quantity of water
of acceptable quality and temperature. Also, the blowdown of the water treatment system must be
of such a quantity and quality that the existing downstream treatment facilities can meet the environmental discharge requirements for Lake Erie Works.
Description of Hot Strip Mill Process
In the Hot Strip Mill, slabs of steel are heated in a furnace then rolled to "transfer bars" in a
reversing roughing mill and finally further rolled to coiled strip in a tandem hot strip finishing train
and downcoiler.
The Lake Erie Works Hot Strip Mill has been designed to produce a variety of products up to
15.9 mm.
It can be expanded in a number of stages from the initial steel production rate to an ultimate rate
of 726 tonnes/hr. The basic components of the Phase I process are shown in Figure 2.
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