Tenova successfully started up two 400-ton/hour walking-beam furnaces at Ternium’s new hot-strip mill in Pesqueria, Mexico. The furnaces are designed to heat steel slabs (up to 39 tons) at 2282°F (1250°C) while keeping NOx emissions lower than 60 ppm. This emissions level is well below the required limit. According to Ternium, the furnaces will produce coils to be used in the North American automotive market.

The furnaces include the SmartBurner Monitoring System (SBMS), which enables the monitoring and optimizing of burner performance, operation and maintenance. The SBMS is a network of embedded sensors connected to the Tenova Digital Infrastructure through secure connection protocols and intrinsic system reliability. The collected data is post-processed locally on an edge computing unit as well as remotely on the Tenova Cloud. By constantly monitoring the status of the burner, the SBMS offers approaches to inspection, maintenance and tuning.