Huta Krolewska. Chorzow, Poland
Category Archives: Poland
AM Krakow, Poland
ArcelorMittal yesterday announced the indefinite shut down of it’s Krakow, Poland blast furnace and steel making operations.
Due to weak demand and cheap Russian imports AM plans to cut back it’s European flat rolled production.
Huta Tadeusz Sendzimira
Images now at my website.
The ArcelorMittal plant in Nova Huta, a borough of Krakow, Poland was founded in 1949.
The mill was named Huta Lenin and the first iron from blast furnace No.1 was tapped in 1954.In 1955 an open hearth steel making shop was added and in 1956 a hot strip mill started production.
Blast furnaces No.2 and No.3 were completed in 1956 and 1958.
In between 1954-56 four coke oven batteries were built.
In 1961 a fourth blast furnace was added.
In 1966 the BOF melt shop containing two 100 ton vessels (a third vessel was added in 1971) was launched and the new large volume (2000m³) blast furnace No.5 was built.
In 1970 some of the old open hearth furnaces were replaced by two new Tandem furnaces.
In between 1978 and 1998 all BOFs were enlarged to 160 ton capacity.
In 1990 the mill got it’s new name Huta Tadeusz Sendzimira.
In June 1991 the open hearth steel plant was closed down.The Mittal steel group took over the site in 2005.Two years later a new state of the art wide hot strip mill was comissioned.
Batteries
Lots of change over the last ten years at Europe’s largest coking plant in
in Zdzieszowice, Poland.
The works were built in 1930 by the German mining company Gräflich Schaffgottsche Werke.
The design of the first coke oven batteries no.1&2 was carried out by the famous German industrial architects Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer.Both batteries were installed by the Still company.
In between 1962 and 1968 batteries 3-6 were commissioned by a Russian manufacturer. All of the six batteries now existing were stamp charged.
In 1972 a second strand of top charged batteries (7-10) was installed one kilometer south of the existing one.These ovens were built by a Polish company.
From 2002 to 2004 batteries 7&8 were completly rebuilt and batteries 9&10 were abandoned.
In between 2006 to 2008 two new batteries(11&12) were built west of battery no. 7 by the Zarmen company from Poland.
Immediatly after the old batteries no. 1&2 were closed down and dismantled in 2010. Batteries 9&10 were torn down in 2011.
Some new images at Stahlseite.
Huta Krolewska
The Huta Kroleweska in Chorzow, Poland was founded in 1797 and started the production of pig iron in 1802. It was named “Königshütte” in honour of the Prussian King.
In 1843 a puddling steel mill and the first rail mill went into production.
Until 1860 four blast furnaces and a coke plant were built.
In 1872 the German painter Adolph Menzel visited the works to create his famous painting “Eisenwalzwerk (moderne Cyclopen)”
An open hearth melt shop was installed in 1880 and a Bessemer plant was added in 1895. By 1909 the Puddling and Bessemer mills were closed and in 1912 a Thomas converter melt shop was comissioned.
Under Polish administration the plant was renamed “Huta Pilsudski” in 1935. During the German occupation the mill was called Königshütte again and after the war the name of “Huta Kosciuszko” was used.
In 1949 the DEMAG medium and light sections rolling mill was installed.
In the 1950ies new blast furnaces and coke oven batteries were built.
More than 8000 people were employed.
Steel production ceased in 1978, the coke plant was closed in 1982 and the last blast furnace was blown out in 1991. In 1992 the wire rolling mill was closed down.
In 1994 a new walking beam furnace was installed for the heavy sections rolling mill.
In 1997 the light and medium sections mill was modernized.
The Huta Kosciuszko became a shareholders company in 1998.
In 2007 the ArcelorMittal steel company takes over the mill under the name “Huta Krolewska” (Germ., Königshütte).
Huta Krolewska today runs a heavy sections rolling mill mostly for rails and a light and medium sections mill.
Raw materials are provided by the Huta Katowice in Dabrowa Gornica.
Further images at stahlseite.de.
Video done by a french film maker in the 1980ies.
Huta Katowice
The steel mill in Dabrowa Gornica, Poland was built in between 1972 and 1976. It was named “Huta Katowice” after the nearby industrial town.
Three blast furnaces were built in between 1976 and 1987 (hearth diameter 12,00 m).
The mill was taken over by the Mittal Steel Corp. in 2003 and got it’s new name ArcelorMittal Dabrowa Gornica in 2007.
Besides the three blast furnaces (No. 1 is permanently idleld) the mill operates a BOF shop containing three BOF vessels, two continuous casters (one for billets and one for slabs) and two rolling mills (Heavy and medium sections).
Dabrowa Gornica provides primary material for all ArcelorMittal sites in Poland.
The attached coke plant was sold to an external company.
Further images at stahlseite.de .
1: Blast furnace No. 1
2: Blast furnace No. 2
3: Blast furnace No. 3
4: BOF shop
5: Continuous caster
6: Heavy sections rolling mill
7: Medium sections rolling mill
8: Power plant
Vintage coke ovens dismantled
During today’s visit at ArcelorMittal’s Zdzieszowice coke plant in Poland I could convince myself that Europe’s probably oldest existing coke oven batteries are completly dismantled by now.
The batteries NO 1 & 2 were built by Gräflich Schaffgotsche Werke in 1932 and 1938.
The location 50 kilometers away from the next coal mine and without any steel industry in the vicinity was chosen mostly for political reasons. The administration had decided to offer industrial jobs for the German population in this rural part of Silesia.
The design for this new coking plant was done by Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer from Germany. Both batteries had a stamp charging system and were built by the Still company. The batteries were shut down in 2008 and dismantled in 2010.
ArcelorMittal Zdzieszowice today runs 8 oven batteries (3-6 are stamp charged and 7,8,11 and 12 are top charged) of which 4 were rebuilt in the last 10 years. Batteries NO 9 and 10 were dismantled recently too.
Zdzieszowice is the largest coke plant in Europe producing more than 4 mio. tons of metallurgical and domestic coke each year.