Production
The plant has four electric arc furnaces operating at very high temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees C. The biggest furnace has a production capacity of up to 130,000 metric tons per year.
The raw material is chrome ore, while coke or coal from various parts of the world is used as the reducing agent. The quartzite comes from Vargön Alloys’ quartzite quarry in Dalsland County, Sweden.
Once the quartzite reaches the plant, we perform thorough quality checks in our laboratory before the material is transported to storage bays where various mixtures are weighed out.
To make the most efficient use of the chrome ore, we turn the smallest and finest material into briquettes in our briquetting plant.
The furnace is then fed continuously with chrome ore, quartzite and reducing agents under careful supervision from the control room. The material produced is checked and chemically analyzed regularly throughout the process.
Large quantities of electricity purchased from a responsible Nordic power supplier, that is 100% fossil-free, are used to produce the alloy.
Energy is introduced by means of electrodes that create an arc with the raw material. During smelting, the carbon reacts with the oxygen in the ore, releasing iron and chrome to form a liquid alloy.
After smelting, the molten mass is poured into ladles where the main product (ferrochrome) is separated from the by-product (slag). The lighter slag floats to the surface of the ladle where it is skimmed off of the ferrochrome.
Chemical inspection samples are taken before the ferrochrome is cast in beds to solidify. Next, the material is broken with a loader, then crushed and screened to the size ordered by the customer.
The finished product is prepared and shipped via Vargön Alloys’ logistics network, which is mainly by sea via the nearby ports in Trollhättan and Gothenburg. There are also excellent road connections for delivering the end product to the customer.
We have 4 furnaces for producing various special grades of high-carbon ferrochrome.
1966/2008
48 MVA
1968
60 – 65,000 metric tons/year
1957/2024
24 MVA
1957
25 – 30,000 metric tons/year
1952/1995
24 MVA
1995
25 – 30,000 metric tons/year
1972
105 MVA
1972
110 – 130,000 metric tons/year
1988
110,000 metric tons/year
