Steel Times International April 2021

HOW TO HANDLE A PANDEMIC

WORKFORCE

DECARBONISATION

PERSPECTIVES Q&A

Jagmood Sood on strategizing Jindal’s stainless steel supply chain

Improving the well-being and quality of life of steelworkers

Pravin C Mathur and Joachim Schéele of Linde Gas offer solutions

We talk to Redex Group’s managing director, Pascal Vieugué

Since 1866

www.steeltimesint.com April 2021 - Vol.45 No3

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL – April 2021 – Vol.45 No3

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CONTENTS – APRIL 2021

HOW TO HANDLE A PANDEMIC

WORKFORCE

DECARBONISATION

PERSPECTIVES Q&A

Jagmood Sood on strategizing Jindal’s stainless steel supply chain

Improving the well-being and quality of life of steelworkers

Pravin C Mathur and Joachim Schéele of Linde Gas offer solutions

We talk to Redex Group’s managing director, Pascal Vieugué

Since 1866

2 Leader

www.steeltimesint.com April 2021 - Vol.45 No3

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL – April 2021 – Vol.45 No3

Front cover photo courtesy of MIDREX

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EDITORIAL Editor Matthew Moggridge Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855151 matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com Consultant Editor Dr. Tim Smith PhD, CEng, MIM Production Editor Annie Baker Advertisement Production Martin Lawrence SALES International Sales Manager Paul Rossage paulrossage@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855116 Sales Director Ken Clark kenclark@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855117

4 News round-up The latest global news.

12 Special steels The Large Hadron Collider.

17 USA update Industry remains cautious after COVID. 20 Latin America update CMIN’s IPO – the story so far...

23 India update Infrastructure drives demand 27 Logistics An effective pandemic supply chain.

Managing Director Tony Crinion tonycrinion@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855164 Chief Executive Officer Steve Diprose SUBSCRIPTION Elizabeth Barford Tel +44 (0) 1737 855028 Fax +44 (0) 1737 855034 Email subscriptions@quartzltd.com Steel Times International is published eight times a year and is available on subscription. Annual subscription: UK £195.00 Other countries: £270.00 2 years subscription: UK £350.00 Other countries: £485.00 )

30 Environment Low-carbon steel production.

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35 Environment Decarbonizing solutions for steel.

40 Electric steelmaking in the USA EAF steelmakers are on a roll!

45 Furnaces Digitalizing the EAF process.

49 Workforce OptimaSteel Project – the results 53 Innovations International contracts news.

56 Plant safety Keeping safe on-site 58 Perspectives Q&A: Redex Group New technology drives strong demand.

60 History Recitza - A new 18C ironmaking plant

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Single copy (inc postage): £45.00 Email: steel@quartzltd.com Published by: Quartz Business Media Ltd, Quartz House, 20 Clarendon Road, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1QX, England.

Tel: +44 (0)1737 855000 Fax: +44 (0)1737 855034 www.steeltimesint.com Steel Times International (USPS No: 020-958) is published monthly except Feb, May, July, Dec by Quartz Business Media Ltd and distributed in the US by DSW, 75 Aberdeen Road, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437. Periodicals postage paid at Emigsville, PA. POSTMASTER send address changes to Steel Times International c/o PO Box 437, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437.

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LEADER

EAFs will spearhead climate-friendly steelmaking

Matthew Moggridge Editor matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com

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“Who would have thought it?” It’s a question that is likely to be on the lips of integrated steelmakers as they consider the bright future ahead for the electric arc furnace (EAF). When the concept of electric steelmaking was first pioneered

by Nucor Corporation back in the day, the integrated steelmakers derided the technology, claiming it was only good for one thing: making trash cans. Well, how things have changed! Today, a third of the world’s steel output is made by electric arc furnaces and as pressure mounts on the global steel industry to reduce emissions, there is likely to be less blast furnaces around as steelmakers wise up and switch to using EAFs. We have already seen this happen, to a degree, with US Steel’s recent acquisition of Osceola, Arkansasbased Big River Steel in what US Steel is calling a ‘Best of Both’ worlds policy; and, of course, Cleveland Cliffs’ acquisition of AK Steel.

These days, EAFs are much more than trash can makers. In fact, since that slur was aired, back in the 20th century, the EAF has proved itself to be a highly versatile piece of equipment capable of making most of the stuff that integrated

mills can make. But, cries the integrated steelmaking community, the EAF still can’t manufacture exposed auto sheet! Well, let’s wait and see about that: it looks as if Steel Dynamics’ greenfield flat-roll mill in Sinton, Texas, might enter the market when it comes online later this year, setting the cat among the pigeons in the boardrooms of integrated steelmakers.

But the whole “I can do anything better than you” argument, while relevant, pales into insignificance when you consider the climate benefits of electric steelmaking.

As the global steel industry sets the wheels in motion for zero emissions steelmaking using green hydrogen, the crucial piece of kit is the EAF combined with direct reduced iron technology as supplied by Midrex and Tenova HYL. I think it is fair to say that electric steelmaking has passed all the tests and, quite obviously, no longer has to prove itself to anybody. In the USA, it’s the dominant force of steelmaking, accounting for around 70% of production and this, says Philip Bell, president of the Steel Manufacturers Association, is likely to grow to 73-75% by 2023. To read more, turn to page 40 of this issue.

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4 NEWS ROUND-UP

• In an article focused on the current troubles of Liberty Steel Group, Ruth Sunderland argues that the man once hailed as ‘the saviour of steel’ risks creating a crisis across the UK industry. She claims that Sanjeev Gupta and Greensill Capital are on a spiral of mutually assured destruction and that now is not a good time for Liberty to have a ‘fire sale’ of its British operations.

Source: This is Money.co.uk, 7 March 2021.

• ArcelorMittal is planning to invest Rs500 billion (£4.93 billion) in the Indian state of Gujarat, according to Vijay Rupani, chief minister.

According to Mr Rupani, many industrialists (from home and abroad) are looking at the west Indian state as ‘the best destination’ for investment.

News of the steelmaker’s planned investment came shortly after a meeting between Lakshmi Mittal and Rupani. Mr Mittal met Narendra Modi and his deputy chief minister Nitin Patel on the same trip.

Source: Eastern Eye.biz, 8 March 2021

• Voestalpine High Performance Metals Corp expects a refund on monies shelled out to pay former President Donald Trump’s steel tariffs. Many companies are now saying their requests for duty exemptions for steel imports was wrongly denied by the Trump administration.

In voestalpine’s case we’re talking of a refund of more than £2.83 million.

Source: Bloombergtax.com, 8 March 2021

• United States Steel Corporation (US Steel) is now the sole owner and producer of The NanoSteel Co’s high strength steel grades following the former’s recent purchase of the latter’s intellectual property, trade marks and flat-rolled sheet patents. David Burritt, CEO of US Steel said he was pleased to offer his customers another set of advanced high-strength steel grades ‘that move beyond the boundaries of what was previously possible’.

Source: Steel Orbis, 8 March 2021.

• Mining company BHP and Chinese steelmaker HBIS are to jointly study greenhouse gas emissions reduction technology over a three-year period. The two companies are planning to invest $15 million over a threeyear period with a view to progressing their individual climate change goals. China hopes to be carbon neutral by 2060.

Source: Mining Weekly, 8 March 2021

• American steel giant Nucor Corporation has announced plans to build a $164 million tube mill in the Midwest of the USA. The 250kt/yr facility, which will be operational in two years, is big news for Nucor. The company’s CEO Leon Topalian, said it puts the company in a great position to serve the largest consuming region of the USA. Source: Nucor Corporation, 9 March 2021

• Metinvest BV (Netherlands) has acquired an additional stake in Pokrovske, the largest coking coal business in Ukraine, and now has a controlling stake. Metinvest is the parent company of a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies and hopes that its acquisition of Pokrovske will lead to self-sufficiency in coking coal for the company’s hot metal production.

Source: Open4Business.co.ua, 9 March 2021

• While Liberty Steel goes through the wringer, another beleaguered British steelmaker comes out the other side smelling of roses.

British Steel is starting to turn losses into profits since the Chinese Jingye Group rescued it around a year ago.

Investments are being made in technology to reduce costs and protect and create jobs.

Source: Grimsby Telegraph, 10 March 2021

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NEWS ROUND-UP

• South Korean steelmaker POSCO intends to ‘significantly expand’ production of fuel cell bipolar plates from its current level of 1,400 tonnes/ yr to 10,000 tonnes by 2027.

POSCO SPS, a subsidiary of the parent company, believes that 10,000 tonnes should be sufficient for around 245,000 fuel cell vehicles. The plates are made in Cheonan, around 90km from Seoul.

Source: Electrive, 10 March 2021

• More news from POSCO and electric vehicles: the company plans to increase its production capacity for cathode materials for use in electric vehicles and plans to produce 100kt of cathode material from 2023, which would be enough for 1.1 million EVs with 60-kWh batteries.

Source: Electrive, 10 March 2021

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Industry news.indd 2

• ThyssenKrupp is planning to axe a further 750 jobs at its steel division, according to online media reports. The reason? To soften the impact of the corona virus crisis.

Source: Economic Times, 10 March 2021 • While POSCO is progressive in some ways, it falls flat in others and a good example is the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Samcheok, South Korea, that will emit 12.8Mt of greenhouse gases annually when completed.

Odd when you consider that the South Korean steelmaker is gunning for carbon neutrality by 2050. The company is also under fire for setting up two joint ventures with MEHL, a company owned by the Myanmar military, which is currently slaughtering innocent civilians demanding democracy. According to a Business Korea report, POSCO International and POSCO E&C own more than a 50% stake in the Yangon Lotte Hotel Project, which is promoted on a Myanmar military site.

Source: Business Korea, 10 March 2021

• In the US state of Indiana, the top three emitters of toxic greenhouse gases are steelmakers, according to researchers with Columbia University’s Centre on Global Energy Policy. The problem is the blast furnaces that most of them use. Zhiyuan Fan, a research associate at the Centre says federal government should offer grants to fund blast furnace replacement and ensure that low carbon steel is a priority purchase.

Source: Wfyi.org, 10 March 2021

• There were potentially big problems for POSCO in India due to protests over labour issues at the company’s plant in Maharahtra. Employees and goods were blocked from entering the plant and this hampered supply for automakers, it is claimed.

Protestors wanted local workers to be given preference over non-locals, higher wages for temporary employees and making temporary workers permanent.

Source: Yahoo Finance.com, 11 March 2021

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• Argus Media claims that the world’s biggest steelmaker has stopped supplying hot-rolled coil to Liberty’s galvanising lines in Europe as other suppliers also consider their position.

Source, Argus Media, 11 March 2021

• The Times newspaper in the UK claims that Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland voiced ‘serious concerns’ over the Scottish Government’s financial exposure to Sanjeev Gupta’s business empire months after assisting him to buy an aluminium smelter for £330 million. According to the report, she was worried about Gupta’s ‘aggressive expansion drive’ back in 2017.

Source: The Times, 12 March 2021

For more steel industry news and features, visit www.steeltimesint.com April 2021

15/04/2021 07:18:55

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NEWS ROUND-UP

• Illich Iron and Steel Works (Donetsk region), part of Metinvest Group, has increased production of general rolled products over January and February 2021 by 19% to 660kt. The Mariupolbased company claims it increased steel production over the same period by 3.7% to 700kt, cast iron by 15.2% to 765kt and sinter by 14.3% to 2.1Mt. The plant produced 300kt of general rolled products in February along with 340kt of steel, 410kt of cast iron and 1.07Mt of sinter.

Source: Open4Business.com, 12 March 2021 • ArcelorMittal SA is asking for cash up front for steel supplied to Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance, according to a report by Livemint. The report claims that the world’s biggest steelmaker aims to change its payment terms for shipments to finishing plants it sold to Gupta in 2019. Liberty played down the situation, claiming there was a temporary issue with one of its suppliers and that it had been successfully concluded using normal dispute procedures.

Source: Livemint.com, 12 March 2021 • Choi Jeoong-woo, chairman of POSCO, has won a second term and will run the business for the next three years.

Source: Korea Biz Wire. com, 12 March 2021

• Rinat Akhmetov is the richest man in Ukraine, according to Forbes magazine’s rich list for the country. His wealth soared by almost $4 billion since June 2020, it is claimed and he is now worth $7.6 billion.

Akhmetov’s main assets include Metinvest, one of the Ukraine’s biggest metal producers.

Source: Intellinnews.com, 16 March 2021

• Ron Deelen, CEO of British Steel, has resigned from the company to pursue other interests. He took on the top job when British Steel entered liquidation and was made permanent CEO after Jingye Group had taken over.

Thanks to Dutchman Deelen, the business has been turned around and is now on a more sustainable footing, according to Jingye CEO Li Huiming (pictured).

Source: FT.com, 16 March 2021

• The recent resignations of Tata Steel Europe’s chief commercial officer Karl Haider and executive director of human resources Tor Farquahar, have left CEO Henrik Adam and CFO Sandip Biswas spinning many plates, especially now that CTO Ernst Hoogenes is also leaving. The big headache is how to separate Tata Steel Netherlands and Tata Steel UK and, of course, the search for a new buyer following SSAB’s withdrawal from the process, continues. Potential buyers including ArcelorMittal and a couple of Russian steelmakers, it is claimed.

Source: Economic Times/India Times.com, 15 March 2021

• The aforementioned protests outside of POSCO’s Maharashtra plant in India have been called off and shipments to automakers will be resumed following news that some of the demands of protesters have been met, it is claimed.

Source: Marketscreener.com, 17 March 2021

• A man in his 50s has been killed at POSCO Chemical in Pohang.

He received fatal head injuries from a hydraulic machine at the facility.

The accident took place on 16 March 2021 and the man died in hospital.

The plant produces and supplies raw lime to the Pohang steelworks.

Source: BusinessKorea. co.kr, 17 March 2021

• Russian steelmaker Severstal claims that steel use will rebound to pre-pandemic levels in Russia, according to Maxim Semenovykh, the steelmaker’s head of corporate strategy, speaking at the recent Capital Markets Day last month (March).

Source: Severstal, 17 March 2021

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NEWS ROUND-UP

• Last orders have been called on ThyssenKrupp’s DuisburgHüttenheim heavy plate mill with final closure expected in September. The plant is not economically viable, says the German steelmaker and it couldn’t find a buyer.

According to the company, 90% of the workforce will be found alternative employment.

Source: Steel Orbis, 19 March 2021

• British Steel’s president, Xijun Cao, has been appointed CEO of British Steel following Ron Deelen’s announced departure.

Source: British Steel, 17 March 2021

• Chinese steelmaker Jinxi Iron and Steel Group must reduce production by 30% to comply with the Tangshan municipal government’s capacity control measures as stipulated under the ‘Notice on the Submission of Measures to Limit Production and Reduce Emissions by Steelmaking Enterprises’.

Source: Steel Orbis, 23 March 2021 www.steeltimesint.com

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• Air Liquide and ArcelorMittal have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that aims to contribute significantly to the decarbonization of the Dunkirk industrial basin.

The project will reduce yearly CO2 emissions from ArcelorMittal’s steel-making facilities in Dunkirk by 2.85Mt by 2030. Both companies have jointly applied for large projects funding under the Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) scheme for hydrogen.

Funding from European and/ or French schemes supporting decarbonization are key to the implementation of the project, says ArcelorMittal. Source: ArcelorMittal, 17 March 2021

• Arcelor Mittal is the sole bidder for Uttam Galva Steels and the only company to submit a resolution plan, claims an online report. Other steelmakers, including JSW Steel, Jindal Steel & Power and ESL Steel (owned by Vedanta) all submitted an expression of interest (EOI) but didn’t stay the course after due diligence.

Source: Business Standard. com, 22 March 2021

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• More fines for US Steel’s Clairton Coke Works as the Allegheny County Health Department in Pittsburch PA fined the company a total of $383,450 in penalties.

Following the fines, the Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) called upon the Mon Valley steelmaker to improve pollution-creating conditions at the plant, claiming the whole situation as an ongoing problem. GASP director Rachel Filippini said there was a real lack of interest or willingness to improve the facilities.

Source: Next Pittsburgh.com, 19 March 2021

• Ukbekistan accounted for over 415kt of MMK steel products in 2020, according to a report by Steel Orbis. In fact, shipments last year made up 82% of the company’s total sales to Central Asia, it is claimed. Around 37kt of rolled metal from the Russian steelmaker was shipped to the Uzbeks, which is roughly a 43% share of supplies to the country’s auto industry.

Source: Steel Orbis, 23 March 2021

• An earlier story on these pages talks of Nucor’s new tube mill being simply in the Midwest, but later reports talk of the $164 million facility being on the site of the US steel giant’s Gallatin sheet mill in Kentucky. According to one online report, this will allow the company to take advantage of investments Nucor has made to expand capacity at Gallatin and add a galvanizing line.

Source: News.thomasnet.com, 25 March 2021

• American steel giant Nucor Corporation has signed an energy deal with Orsted Onshore North America, part of Denmark-based Orsted.

The 10-year virtual power purchase agreement, Nucor’s second in Texas, adds 100MW of windpower from Orsted’s Western Trail wind farm in North Texas, which, claims Nucor, uses steel and steel products manufactured by Nucor.

Source: Motley Fool, 25 March 2021 April 2021

15/04/2021 07:20:24

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• If you want to avoid nasty pollutants, don’t live in Indiana. According to the US-based Environmental Protection Agency, in 2019, 882 facilities disposed of 123.3 million pounds of harmful chemicals. The EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory’s Region 5 (comprising six Midwest states) placed Ohio in second place then Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Source: Chicago Tribune, 26 March 2021

• In an article highlighting how the other half lives, GQ India magazine has run an article on the 'grand mansions' owned by ArcelorMittal’s head honcho, Lakshmi Mittal.

The man at the top of the world’s biggest steelmaker has three properties in London alone and ‘a massive mansion’ in Lutyens’ Delhi. He is said to own ‘some of the most expensive, luxurious and elegant homes in the UK’.

Source: GQ India.com, 27 March 2021

• Anyang Iron and Steel Inc is to set up a joint venture with Yongtong Equipment Technology Co. The Chinese steelmaker, based in Henan Province, will invest around RMB137 million ($21 million) with the expressed aim of strengthening and enlarging its casting pipe business.

Source: Steel Orbis.com, 29 March 2021

• Sapan Gupta has been appointed to the post of General Counsel for ArcelorMittal, a position described as the most senior legal and compliance role in the company. In his new job, Mr Gupta will handle legal and compliance issues globally for the business, which has a presence in 60 countries.

Remember that Aditya Mittal is now CEO and Lakshmi Mittal is executive chairman.

Source: Money Control.com, 30 March 2021

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INDUSTRY NEWS

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Join the Sustainable Steel Strategies Online Summit

As the steel industry strives for a more sustainable future, the Sustainable Steel Strategies Summit will hear what the steelmakers themselves have to say about climate change and how they intend to make greener steel in the near future.

Hear from a great line-up of speakers...

Roman Stiftner, Managing Director, Austrian Mining and Steel Association

Dr. Joachim von Schéele, Director Global Commercialization, Linde plc

JWK van Boggelen, Operations & Technology Manager, Tata Steel

Phelim Kine, Senior Director (Asia), Mighty Earth

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Ed Heath-Whyte, Head of Environment & Sustainability, LIBERTY Steel Group UK

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Join the Sustainable Steel Strategies Online Summit

As the steel industry strives for a more sustainable future, the Sustainable Steel Strategies Summit will hear what the steelmakers themselves have to say about climate change and how they intend to make greener steel in the near future.

Hear from a great line-up of speakers...

Roman Stiftner, Managing Director, Austrian Mining and Steel Association

Dr. Joachim von Schéele, Director Global Commercialization, Linde plc

JWK van Boggelen, Operations & Technology Manager, Tata Steel

Phelim Kine, Senior Director (Asia), Mighty Earth

Juha Erkkilä, Head of Group Sustainability, Outokumpu

Dave Wolff, Region Manager, Nel Hydrogen

DR. Falk-Florian Henrich, Founder & CEO, Smart Steel Technologies

Koichi Sakamoto, Executive Officer, Kobe Steel, Ltd.

Ed Heath-Whyte, Head of Environment & Sustainability, LIBERTY Steel Group UK

Åsa Ekdahl, Head of Environment & climate change, Worldsteel

Masahiro Motoyuki, Executive Officer, Kobe Steel, Ltd.

Tom Dower, Vice President, Public Policy, LanzaTech

What’s included?

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Gain full access to the virtual event across the two days | Join all sessions and presentations in the conference | Ask questions to speakers and take part in live discussions | Watch conference presentations on demand for 30 days after the event | Meet with companies in the exhibition hall | Find and meet with other delegates live via video calls and instant messaging.

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12

SPECIAL STEELS

Fascinating fasteners The Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland is one of the world’s biggest and most complex scientific instruments. By smashing subatomic particles at unimaginable force, the collider generates data that could help answer some of the fundamental questions of physics and explain the life and death of the cosmos. Molybdenum is instrumental in carrying out these revolutionary experiments.

By Karlee Williston*

April 2021

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SPECIAL STEELS

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MORE than a quarter of a million specialquality, high-strength Type 316L stainless steel fasteners are being used in an upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest particle accelerator. Located near Geneva, Switzerland, the LHC is a colossal structure designed to unearth secrecies of the smallest known particles in the universe. It is a machine so powerful that at first, some feared it would produce a black hole capable of swallowing a chunk of the galaxy. Fortunately, the accelerator dutifully smashed protons and ions without any such incident, all while generating data for the study of particle physics. However, scientists want to increase the intensity of the accelerator’s particle beams for forthcoming projects, and the LHC was due for routine maintenance. Hence, upgrade work on the accelerator commenced at the end of 2018.

This renovation is expected to take two years. In addition to performing system maintenance, the upgrade will allow researchers to collect 10 times more data than in the past. Part of this project includes replacing the fasteners that hold the accelerator’s vacuum tubes and machinery together. These new fasteners will have to endure much for the sake of science, including temperature swings from -271o C to 300o C. But their efforts will be well worth it, as these molybdenumcontaining connections will help ensure that experimentation continues into the future.

An extreme machine The LHC first began operating in December of 2008 and is the latest addition to CERN’s particle acceleration complex. It consists of a 27km long ring of superconducting magnets. Inside, two particle beams race around the track at nearly the speed of light, towards collision with one another, propelled by the superconducting magnets.

Before they collide, the beams travel in opposite directions in two separate beam tubes maintained at ultra-high vacuum. The superconducting magnets are chilled with liquid helium to below the temperature of outer space: -271.3o C. This extreme cooling is necessary so the magnets can remain in

Left: The location of the LHC’s underground track is indicated in red; a LHC dipole is modeled in the foreground. © 2009-2020 CERN

Engineers test the electrical system of one of the LHC’s super magnets.

a constant, high-energy, superconducting state without resistance or loss of energy.

To cope with these extreme conditions, the materials used in the collider must be among the most durable on earth.

By focusing the energy of a moving aircraft carrier into a beam less than a millimetre wide, the LHC splits protons and ions in the hopes of unearthing subatomic particles to study their properties. In 2012, the accelerator yielded the ground-breaking discovery of the Higgs Boson Particle. This find helped fill knowledge gaps in the Standard Model of Physics, a five-decade old theory that explains how mass comes to be in the universe. More than 2,000 papers have been published in the field of particle physics with data provided from the LHC. Of course, discoveries often lead to more

questions. Scientists hope that by doubling the number of collisions per second, some of these new questions will be answered.

With upgrades in place, the LHC is expected to produce over 15 million Higgs Boson particles per year, compared to three million in 2017. Increasing the number of Higgs Boson provides substantially more data and more opportunity to observe new phenomena.

Upgrading the LHC Shutting down and preparing the LHC for maintenance requires the collaboration of thousands of international scientists.

To replace more than 20 of the superconducting magnets and other parts of the machine, teams have to install lifts to travel 100 metres underground. Just

* Managing editor of MolyReview www.steeltimesint.com

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April 2021

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SPECIAL STEELS

warming the unimaginably cold accelerator to room temperature took some four months and the removal of more than 100 tonnes of liquid helium. Needless to say, maintenance on the LHC is a titanic ordeal requiring the mobilization of countless resources. Therefore, high-strength parts with long service life, such as molybdenumalloyed fasteners, are of the utmost necessity.

Formidable fasteners The fasteners used in the LHC upgrade have special requirements and differ significantly from standard Type 316L fasteners. They must be much stronger and have much lower magnetic permeability.

Their minimum tensile strength is 1000 MPa, compared to 800 MPa, the highest strength level in the relevant ISO standard.

Their yield strength is at least 900 MPa, compared to the standard’s 600 MPa. The non-magnetic nature of these fasteners is critical to avoid disrupting the movement of particles during acceleration. To achieve this outstanding combination of properties, their producer, Bumax in Sweden, specifies a higher molybdenum content of 2.5 to 3%, compared to the typical 2 to 2.5%, among other things. By lowering the stainless steel’s magnetic permeability, molybdenum plays a central role in making these fasteners virtually non-magnetic.

The fasteners, made of austenitic

stainless steel, must be cold-worked to achieve the tensile strength needed to withstand the intense temperatures and forces present in the LHC. However, during this strengthening cold-working process, a portion of the non-magnetic austenitic microstructure of Type 316L stainless steel can transform into deformation martensite, which is, indeed, magnetic. These minute defects could derail the functionality of the accelerator by interfering with particle flow between the superconducting magnets.

A higher molybdenum content helps to prevent this martensitic transformation.

The result is an ultra-strong fastener that also will not influence magnetic forces present in the LHC.

The ability to ward off martensitic transformation is also essential to the structure of the collider itself: the 27.4 kilometre-long vacuum tubes that house the particle beams are, therefore, made of Type 316LN stainless steel. In this variation of Type 316 stainless steel, the elevated nitrogen content provides higher strength and prevents martensite formation. Here too, without very low magnetic permeability, even at cryogenic temperatures, the accelerator would not function properly. Special austenitic stainless steels are, therefore, widely used in other applications throughout the accelerator’s design.

Continuing the collision In 2021, the Large Hadron Collider is expected to resume operation. Scientists from 29 organizations across 13 countries will begin the project that doubles the number of atomic collisions per second.

With new, molybdenum-containing fasteners in place, the particles are free to smash themselves without magnetic interference. The strength of the fasteners means they can gladly endure the intensity of the upgraded particle beam. And perhaps something even more revolutionary will reveal itself, and molybdenum becomes a medium through which the mysteries of the universe are explained. �

Close-up of various size fastener bolts, similar to the ones to be used in the LHC upgrade. © Bumax

• 1 BILLION: number of collisions per second

• 10 NOVEMBER 2008: date of LHC’s first ever particle beam

• 26,695 length in metres of the LHC superconducting ring

• Approx. 250,000: number of fasteners that will be replaced during the latest upgrade

April 2021

IMOA LHC Fasterners.indd 3

• 2178: number of daily staff required to keep LHC running

• 4%: estimated percentage of the universe that is known tangible matter

• 600: number in Gigawatts for average annual power consumption of LHC

• 96%: estimated percentage of the universe made-up of little known particles

•-271.3: operating temperature within LHC magnet dipoles • 11,245: number of circuits a particle makes around the superconducting ring each second

www.steeltimesint.com

14/04/2021 09:32:25

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USA UPDATE

17

Industry remains cautious after COVID US Steel Corp is sounding bullish about the steel sector after announcing its Q1 profits, but overall the steel industry remains cautious after the 2020 ‘Pandemic Year’. Manik Mehta* reports JUDGING by the Q1 2021 performance of US Steel Corp and the bullish soundbites coming from the Pittsburgh-based company, you might be inclined to believing that the current year would produce a strong performance.

US Steel’s earnings, before taxation, interest, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), are estimated to touch some $540 million in the quarter – exceeding the $522.1 million earnings estimated by analysts. The bullish mood was reinforced by the comments, made in a statement, by the company’s CEO, David Burritt, who observed that ‘strong market conditions and our well-timed acquisition of Big River Steel are allowing us to drive significant earnings growth’.

US Steel said that its flat-rolled steel business is expected to generate ‘significantly’ higher EBITDA over Q4, thanks in no small measure to higher steel prices. The company was also confident that the resumption of its number 4 blast furnace at its Gary Works would enhance its operational efficacy.

“Solid market fundamentals, low steel supply chain inventories, continued consumer-driven demand, and pent-up infrastructure demand has us increasingly bullish,” Burritt said.

However, pundits and crystal-ball gazers say that earnings of steel companies nationwide are likely going to shrink during the latter part of the year and some say that US Steel may possibly not be able to

maintain the high momentum of Q1 when steel fundamentals were sound.

The ‘pandemic year’ The ‘pandemic year’, as some refer to 2020, caused sharp production contractions in the American steel industry, but signs are that domestic flat-rolled mills are now reaping the benefits of historically high finished steel prices, tight supply and record scrap margins.

Overall national steel production and mill utilization remained lower for much of last year, compared to the previous year’s levels, following the pandemic-related slump in demand, keeping spot and contract steel supply limited amid higher demand.

Utilization rates hovered around 77.4% for the week ending 6 March, on par with the prior year for the first time since the week ending 29 February 2020, according to data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, US steel mills were running steadily above 80% utilization. Indeed, this market dynamic caused prices to surge and remain at record levels.

Supply has not kept pace with demand which has been driven by a stronger than expected rise in vehicle production after months of lost production.

Mills have repeatedly pushed up prices since August 2020. Spot prices have reached record levels, while a lack of supply has left many service centres with depleted inventories as consumers ask for even more

tons.

Globally, steel prices have remained elevated and few US buyers have been interested in imported tons, with fears of a collapse in prices and high upfront costs keeping many on the sidelines of the import market. The hot-rolled sheet segment provides testimony to this propensity.

In 2020, hot-rolled sheet imports were 1.47Mmt (metric tonnes), down 14% compared to 2019. In January, hot-rolled sheet imports reached 121kt, down 23% compared to the corresponding 2020 period.

Until supply expands or demand softens, steel mills are expected to keep prices at prevailing levels.

Pollution Reducing pollution is a serious concern to the industry. A number of companies are taking initiatives to producing low-carbon emitting products. The carmaker BMW, for instance, has invested in the start-up Boston Metal to help produce carbon-emission-free steel for its cars.

BMW’s initiative is also in keeping with efforts by global carmakers to design and manufacture cars that will curb emissions of carbon and thus contribute to climate change. No official figures have, so far, been released about the extent of the investment through BMW Ventures established by the BMW Group for making investments in start-ups in autonomous driving-related mobility companies.

* USA correspondent www.steeltimesint.com

USA.indd 1

April 2021

14/04/2021 09:34:19

18

USA UPDATE

is 100% recyclable with no loss of material properties.

According to Andreas Wendt, member of BMW’s board of management responsible for purchasing and supplier network, the group is systematically identifying ‘the raw materials and components in our supplier network with the highest carbon dioxide emissions from production’. Steel has been identified as one such segment which is vital for car production. Making carbon-dioxide-free steel is a priority for the carmaker. The group’s goal is to reduce, by the year 2030, carbon dioxide emissions by about two million tons compared with today’s level.

Boston Metal, a global metals technology solutions company, uses electricity for its new technology, which, by means of an electrolysis cell, produces pig iron that is later processed into steel. Using electricity from renewable energies enables carbonfree steel production, commercializing molten oxide electrolysis (MOE), a patented tonnage metals production platform.

MOE provides the metals industry with an efficiency-enhanced, lower cost and greener solution for producing a large variety of metals and alloys.

To maintain its raw-material reserves, the BMW Group will strive to increase its percentage of recycled raw materials – secondary material – by 2030 and using raw materials multiple times in a circular economy. Secondary material helps in substantially reducing carbon dioxide emissions compared to primary material, conserving natural resources and also reducing the amount of energy needed for production.

Bill Gates, who has engaged himself in international philanthropy and who is also a climate change advocate, has been calling for reducing industry-generated

carbon dioxide, citing the cement and steel industries for contributing over 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. He has called for production of cleaner iron ore that can be used as feedstock for modern, clean, electric-arc furnaces to produce steel rather than using older, polluted integrated steel mills.

Responding to Gates’ call, Charles J. Carter, president of the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), a not-for-profit technical institute and trade association, established in 1921 to serve the structural steel design community and construction industry, said that America’s structural steel industry began realizing Gates’ dream in 1987. “Today, all of the more than four million tons of wide flange produced in the US comes from electric arc furnaces. Rather than depending on iron ore, more than 53% of the raw material comes from scrap and the main carbon emissions are from generating electricity, not from producing iron ore and coke,” Carter said, adding that unlike other structural materials, steel is not just produced from recycled material, but

Recycled content “Whenever I give presentations to engineers and architects, they’re often surprised to learn that American structural steel contains around 93% recycled material,” Carter maintained in a statement. “By weight, steel is the most recycled and most sustainable material used in the building industry.” Carter said in a letter to the New York Times, pointing out that American industry “… annually produces more than 4 million tons of the world’s cleanest, most environmentally-friendly steel for buildings and bridges. The US steel industry has the lowest carbon intensity of the top seven leading steel-producing countries of the world … and that’s largely because we use a different technology that allows American beam producers to recycle old steel into new steel over and over again”.

American beam producers, Carter said, already rely on an entirely different and cleaner technology that uses electricity to make new structural steel beams by melting down old refrigerators, cars and decommissioned buildings and bridges. “In fact, new domestically produced structural beams consist of 93% recycled materials, on average – a remarkable feat that no other structural material has accomplished to date.” American structural steel mills saw the “future a generation ago” and have been producing a high-quality product while consistently reducing greenhouse gas emissions over the past four decades.

• Visit the Steel Times International news website to find out more about president Joe Biden’s plan to invest in infrastructure.

Visit https://www.steeltimesint.com/news for this and other important stories �

April 2021

USA.indd 2

14/04/2021 09:34:26

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LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

CMIN’s IPO – the story so far After many years of delays, Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) finally promoted the IPO of its mining subsidiary, CSN ineração (CMIN), in February 2021. This article analyses its previous trajectory, its financial impacts for CSN and its future perspectives and valuation. By Germano Mendes de Paula* THE first iron ore extraction at the Casa de Pedra mine, located in Congonhas, State of Minas Gerais, dates back to 1913.

CSN, for its turn, was established as a state-owned Entreprise (SOE) in 1941, in order to erect the first coke-integrated flat steel mill in Brazil, being installed in Volta Redonda, State of Rio de Janeiro. CSN was a crucial instrument for the country’s industrialisation. Since its start-up, the Casa de Pedra mine has meant self-sufficiency of iron ore for the company, which is located 328km away from the Volta Redonda mill.

CSN Minerção (CMIN) was constituted in 2007, under the name Congonhas Minérios, a fully-owned subsidiary, to operate the Casa de Pedra mine.

CSN also established Nacional Minérios S.A. (Namisa), originally for buying and reselling third-party ore in 2006. It acquired the mining company CFM in 2007 for a consideration of $440 million. In late 2008, CSN sold 40% of Namisa to an Asian consortium whose shareholders are Itochu, JFE Steel, Nippon Steel, Sumitomo Metals, Kobe Steel, Nisshin Steel, and POSCO for $3.08 billion. In 2009, China Steel Corporation (CSC) acquired a stake in the consortium, and in 2011, Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metals sold its stake in the consortium, because the expansion project was behind schedule and they disagreed with the reviewed business plan proposed

by CSN. ln 2015, CMIN and Namisa merged. As a result, CSN owns 87.5% of the combined company, and the Asian Consortium the remaining 12.5% (the structure which

remained until the IPO). Currently, CMIN is the sixth largest iron ore producer in the world and, in addition to the mines, it has a port terminal and a stake in a railroad.

In 2020, CMIN’s EBITDA margin was equivalent to 65%.

The IPO and financial impacts CMIN’s IPO was priced at R$8.50/share, which yields a market capitalization of R$47.5 billion (or $8.2 billion). The IPO’s amount reached R$4.97 billion, out of which R$3.60 billion was a secondary offer of shares (~90% from CSN, and ~10% from the Asian consortium) and R$1.37 billion in new shares (primary offer). In other words, the original stakeholders received 72.4% of the amount, while the remaining 27.6% were channelled through CMIN’s cash. As a consequence, CSN’s stake in its mining subsidiary was diluted to 79% and the Asian consortium’s to 11.4%, whereas the free float was 9.6%. In March 2021, CSN sold additional shares of its subsidiary for R$427 million, at R$8.50/ share too.

Moody’s released a report on the financial impacts of CMIN’s IPO in January 2021, previous to the release of CSN’s 2020 Q4 economic performance. According to the rating company, CSN’s consolidated cash position would immediately increase to R$13.7 billion from R$8.5 billion at 30 September 2020, of which approximately R$1 billion was at the mining subsidiary and only accessible through future dividends.

Moody’s declared that: “We expect CSN to use part of proceeds to reduce gross

debt and use its strengthened financial position to pursue liability management initiatives to lengthen its debt tenor and reduce debt costs. At the end of September 2020, CSN had about R$11 billion in bank debt due by the end of 2022, plus R$8.6 billion in both capital markets and bank debt due in 2023. The cash position with proceeds from the IPO could cover all debt maturities through year-end 2022”.

Moody’s also observed that CMIN’s cash position would improve further, remembering that it had only R$1.5 billion in total debt and extremely low leverage of 0.3x (total debt/EBITDA). The mining segment paid CSN about R$1.1 billion in dividends in the nine months to 30 September 2020 and this comprised about 75% of CSN’s consolidated EBITDA. After the IPO, CMIN’s dividends to CSN would immediately fall by R$100-R$150 million per year, but would gradually increase again in the upcoming years as CMIN increases production and profitability.

Future perspectives and valuation CMIN’s expansion plan is substantial and will be carried out in three stages: a) amplification from the current 32Mt/yr to 53Mt/yr capacity in 2024; b) 78Mt/yr in 2028; c) 108Mt/yr in 2033.

As previously mentioned, CMIN’s share price was sold for R$8.50. On its debut day, it saw its shares rise to R$9.00 at the end of the day, when the financial volume reached R$564 million. In spite of its initial optimism, the share price diminished to R$8.32 on 25 March 2021, when three

* Professor in Economics, Federal University of Uberlândia, Brazil. E-mail: germano@ufu.br April 2021

LA Update.indd 1

www.steeltimesint.com

14/04/2021 10:21:51

LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

21

W E

C O N V E Y

Q U A L I T Y

Conversion of Stackers & Reclaimers

banks initiated the covering of its stock: BTG Pactual, Credit Suisse (CS) and Bank of America (BofA).

BTG Pactual, a large Brazilian investment bank, established CSIM’s target price of R$11.50/share, which represents a 38% upside potential for stocks. Some main positive factors are: a) the highest dividend yields in the sector; b) attractive valuation, trading at an EV/EBITDA multiple of 3.4x for 2021; c) growth story: it could nearly double iron ore volumes to 55-60Mt with little execution risk; d) low leverage: it started as a listed company with virtually zero debt; e) low end positioning of the cost curve: it should deliver a long-term breakeven to China below $40/t, which places the company as a top five supplier globally from a cost perspective.

CS followed BTG Pactual’s lead with an R$11.50 target price, calling CSIM “a potential new major in the making”. As a result, the bank increased CSN’s target price from R$53 to R$58. As a pure iron ore player, CMIN is in a strong position to benefit from sustainably high iron ore prices over the next two years. It stands out among most of its iron ore peers, given its significant growth potential and because its operations are 100% dry stacking-based (no dependency on tailings dams). CS also emphasises that the expansion’s execution risks should be relatively low as licenses to expand are already in hand, projects are brownfields and capex is more industrial (mainly expanding beneficiation capacity). Last, but not the least, valuation is also discounted when compared with its peers. However, the crucial risks include: a) lower iron ore prices than forecasted; b) an appreciation of the Brazilian currency; c) increases in taxation for the Brazilian mining sector; d) capex overruns or delays in execution of growth projects.

BofA has a less optimistic view, by setting a target price of $10, implying a potential upside of 19.6%.

It is confident about the considerable production enlargement too and the fact that the parent company will maintain the payment of high dividends in order to finance itself.

Summing up, CMIN’s IPO so far has had three large impacts: a) it has enhanced CSN’s financial conditions; b) opened to the possibility of investing in a pure iron ore player instead of acquiring a stake in a steelmaker with a large mining asset; c) it seems to have delivered the required conditions to underpin the amplification of CSN’s iron ore output, which has also experienced many delays. � April 2021

LA Update.indd 2

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INDIA UPDATE

23

Infrastructure push drives steel demand India is the world’s second largest producer of crude steel next to China. The nation’s steelmakers are poised to boost capacities to accommodate future infrastructure projects, which will create jobs both directly and indirectly. Dilip Kumar Jha* reports AFTER a robust December quarter sales, which spilled over to the first few weeks of the calendar year 2021, India’s steel demand has again weakened in the last few weeks. Perhaps its primary demand sector – infrastructure – has slowly picked up at the fag end of the financial year to show a healthy balance sheet for the full fiscal 2020-21, which already showed dwindling top line and bottom line figures because of four months of nationwide lockdown early last year to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

The lockdown hit factory operations and thus, production and transportation of steel and its raw materials. Seasonality has played a pivotal role in weak demand trends over the last few weeks as steel consumption normally improves with the onset of the summer season when construction activity accelerates. The Indian government’s fund

release for infrastructure projects also takes a pause during February and restarts towards mid-May, bringing hope for a recovery in crude steel demand.

Background With 111.2Mt of output in 2019, India stood as the second largest producer of crude steel in the world after China, thanks to an abundance of raw material i.e. iron ore. Cheap labour also helped India achieve second ranking in global crude steel production. As a consequence, the steel sector proved to be a major contributor to India’s factory output and thus, overall manufacturing sector.

While many steel mills across the country have been modernised with advanced technology and the upgrading of plant and machinery, a number of them are yet

to follow suit. However, not all mills have upgraded or taken advantage of high-tech manufacturing systems and, as a result, they not only lack competitiveness, but also innovation and this will hinder their growth.

Today, the buzzword in the steel industry is energy efficiency. The energy-efficient plants are considered to be the benchmark when it comes to product pricing. Either such plants focus on value addition for survival or sacrifice profits to remain competitive in the marketplace.

India’s crude steel and finished steel production is projected to report at 108.5Mt and 101.03Mt in the financial year 2020, respectively. Between April 2020 and November 2020, India’s cumulative production of crude steel was 62.01Mt and finished steel was 55.68Mt respectively.

Meanwhile, the country’s finished steel

* India correspondent www.steeltimesint.com

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24

INDIA UPDATE

of which 3,800 km of road have been constructed. By March 2022, another 8,500 km of road construction and 11,000 crore of national highway corridors are likely to become a reality. To further augment road infrastructure, more economic corridors are being planned of which 3,500 km of national highway works in Tamil Nadu at an outlay of Rs 1.03 lakh crore is scheduled.

Apart from these, a number of projects like the Delhi-Mumbai corridor is also planned.

All these projects are set to boost steel demand over the next few years.

consumption grew at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2% during FY16 - FY20 to reach 100Mt. India’s export and import of finished steel are projected to have stood at 8.24Mt and 6.69Mt, respectively, in the financial year 2020.

Massive investment lined up Steel and allied industries in India have seen a sharp spurt in investment proposals over the last few years. Data compiled by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) showed that the Indian metallurgical industries attracted foreign direct investments (FDIs) worth $14.24 billion in the period between April 2000 and September 2020. Among domestic players, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) plans to take its overall capacity to 50Mt by 2025 from its existing level of 13Mt at a capital expenditure of $24.88 billion. JSW Steel, another major player, has set a plan to add another 5Mt to its existing overall capacity of 18Mt to take its total to 23Mt at a proposed investment of $4.14 billion. Also, Tata Steel has decided to increase the capacity of its Kalinganagar integrated steel plant from 3Mt to 5Mt at a capital expenditure of $3.64 billion.

Infrastructure push Capacity expansion in steel production is set to support the government’s big infrastructure push towards the construction of national highways, extending existing roadways, waterways and railways, construction of millions of new housing units and the modernisation of bridges, ports and airports. The Ministry of Steel, for example, has prepared a draft framework policy for the development of steel clusters.

Domestic steel demand trend Financial year

Steel demand

Growth

(million tonnes)

(%)

2016

82

6

2019

99

9

2020

100

1

90

(9-11)

2022(P)

99

10-12

2025

119

--

2021(P)

Source : JPC, Crisil Research

To provide a filip to the steel sector, the government’s proposed infrastructure push will create jobs directly and indirectly. It has announced a Rs 1.18 lakh crore financial allocation for the highways sector. With this outlay, some of the flagship corridors and other important projects would see considerable activity in 2021-22. More than 13,000 km of roads at a cost of Rs 3.3 lakh crore has already been awarded under the Rs 5.35 lakh crore ‘Bharatmala Pariyojana’

National steel policy sets roadmap With an aim to create a globally competitive steel industry in India, the Union Cabinet recently approved the National Steel Policy (NSP) 2017 which envisages India’s steel making capacity reaching 300Mt and per capita consumption of 160 kgs by 203031. The current steel making capacity in India stands at around 140Mt with per capita consumption 74.1 kgs. To accelerate growth, the Ministry of Steel is facilitating setting up an industry-driven Steel Research and Technology Mission of India (SRTMI) in association with public and private sector steel companies to spearhead research and development activities in the iron and steel industry at an initial corpus of Rs 200 crore (US$ 30 million).

In the current fiscal, steel demand is expected to contract 9-11% on account of nationwide lockdown through April and May and a slower than desirable ramp-up in manufacturing activities after that. While economic activity – and hence steel demand – has picked up from the third quarter, the huge blow suffered in the previous two quarters is likely to weigh on the year.

Conclusion There is huge scope for growth in India’s steel sector. Current low per capita consumption is expected rise due to increased infrastructure, construction and thriving automotive and railways sectors.

Meanwhile, there is an urgent need to strengthen logistics arrangements for the country’s domestic steel industry as a lack of railway rake and inbound/outbound transportation facilities affect both production and consumption. If India is to achieve a $5 trillion economy (from $2.73 trillion as of now), a comprehensive growth strategy and timely implementation of planned infrastructure projects is needed. �

April 2021

India.indd 2

14/04/2021 09:36:44

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LOGISTICS

An effective pandemic supply chain

Increased sourcing from domestic and near-shore markets and developing strategic alliances with various suppliers across the country helped Jindal Stainless (Hisar) Ltd ensure a healthy and costeffective supply chain amid cutting-edge competition and a raging pandemic. By Jagmohan Sood* A RECENT report by the International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF) highlighted that stainless steel is the fastest growing metal with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.33% (compared to other major metals like carbon steel, copper, aluminium, and so on, trading at an average CAGR of 2.56%). With its unmatched properties such as corrosion resistance, durability, high strength-to-weight ratio, low life cycle cost, ~100% recyclability, and appealing aesthetics, stainless steel is undoubtedly the perfect metal for modern industrial and infrastructural solutions.

The organized players in the Indian stainless steel industry ensure efficient sourcing of raw materials, energy, industrial equipment and services, maintenance spares, and other requirements through a streamlined procurement process. Major raw materials for the industry include nickel, stainless steel scrap, ferro-nickel, mild steel scrap, and ferro-alloys. Indian producers

have always focused on nurturing longterm strategic alliances with suppliers for creating mutually beneficial relationships.

Additionally, the industry works on a lean inventory model by maintaining a robust supply chain and just-in-time delivery of varied raw materials from domestic and international sources.

Global pandemic However, the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc across the world, disrupting small and large markets alike. In India, demand in the steel sector nose-dived during late March and April, with imposed lockdowns bringing economic activity to a near-halt situation. Across all major steel and stainless steel manufacturers, operations took a bad hit during this period with nearly zero economic activity.

An immediate challenge during this phase was to deal with the complete unpredictability of sales forecast numbers

and the external regulatory environment.

A raw material supply chain flows from a pre-determined sales plan. Any ambiguity with regards to a sales plan can add serious challenges. It is critical for producers to service every order in time, and yet keep the inventory lean. This well-greased system works seamlessly on the basis of historical trends and forecasting. COVID-19 brought to the fore one such situation where no historical knowledge could work, and where the future was too uncertain to be predicted. For instance, when the nationwide lockdowns were eased a little, sales numbers saw a sharp uptick.

This meant that raw materials had to be organized at very short notice. On the top of it, the domestic supply chain was fraught with an acute scarcity of manpower and a massive logistics breakdown outside of the production premises.

After the imposition of lockdown, we immediately stopped fresh shipments

* Whole time director, Jindal Stainless (Hisar) Limited www.steeltimesint.com

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LOGISTICS

industry leaders, we took several corrective measures after extensive discussion and deliberation. These included seeking extended support from suppliers by making payment terms more favourable – from cash to credit – and extending the LC terms by almost 30-60 days over a period of more than three months (starting April 2020).

This helped create leverage in the entire system for all our stakeholders in the chain. from various load ports. However, the consignments which were already shipped and on the high seas could not be stopped.

As a result, there was a pile-up at port discharge. Clearing the consignments for inland movement with limited manpower and logistics was extremely challenging and led to a huge inventory pile-up of containers at the port, waiting to be moved to the plant. We took a proactive approach for increasing free days on input consignments from both suppliers and shipping lines in order to minimize the impact of detention/penalties. This step was successful to some extent and we managed to handle the entire situation better than initially anticipated.

A highly volatile environment not only impacted the movement of goods, but also complicated common understanding between producers, transporters, administrators, and other stakeholders.

The second major challenge for stainless steel producers during the lockdown was cash flow management. An unexpected blockage of funds choked the entire cash flow stream, bringing all inflows to a standstill. On one hand, there was no practical way of stopping the shipped/ in-transit cargo. On the other, there was an abrupt pause in cash inflow due to the inability of customers to make timely payments. In order to resolve this, as April 2021

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Workforce morale Another intangible but crucial factor was that of workforce morale. Initially, an exponential increase in the tally of confirmed coronavirus cases continued to instil a sense of fear and uncertainty among the masses. Consequently, almost all major companies resorted to going digital and mandating a work-from-home culture.

While the manufacturing sector geared up to take all major dealings online – hitherto handled offline – companies made several efforts to keep their people engaged and motivated. Here, technology came to save the day. Video interactions in real-time helped people continue to feel connected.

Freedom from travelling and a culture of pre-scheduled meetings translated into an opportunity for people to set aside time for brainstorming and creative thinking.

While P/L charts went for a spin for major companies across the globe, on the positive side, the lockdown compelled manufacturers to think differently and make smart decisions. We strategically advanced the annual shutdown maintenance of a few units in our production facility. This was carried out by expediting availability of required spares for maintenance. Even with a reduced requirement for captive ferro-chrome, the company maximized its production to load the power plant. Further, the company harnessed the opportunity

by exporting available ferro-chrome. We procured thermal coal in an e-auction at a very competitive price and surrendered the linkage quantity that had a high price tag, due to be evacuated in the lockdown period. This resulted in a 15% cost saving of coal procurement during this period.

It is an ongoing philosophy of Jindal Stainless (Hisar) Ltd to maintain lean inventory. Numerous efforts have been taken up in the recent past to increase working capital efficiency as well as plant serviceability, by ensuring quick material turnarounds. These initiatives, including increased sourcing from domestic and near-shore markets and developing strategic alliances with various suppliers across the industry have helped ensure a healthy and cost-effective supply chain amid cuttingedge competition. As one of our major milestones achieved in FY 19-20, we have reduced our imports of mild steel scrap by almost 50% over the last three years and simultaneously enhanced domestic sourcing. This has helped us to reduce our working capital requirement, inventory levels, and lead time. We are now aiming to achieve 70% of our mild steel scrap requirement via domestic sources in the next couple of years.

After almost a gap of more than two to three months with minimal operations, the domestic market situation has started to show signs of revival. As demand recovers and operations resume normalcy, the supply chain is gradually coming back in shape.

A robust supply chain, strategic supplier relations, and the tireless efforts of the industry have all made it possible to tide over unprecedented challenges. We are happy to state that the supply chain has now been restored to around 90% of preCOVID-19 levels.

While the pandemic has disrupted fundamentals of conventional supply chain mechanisms across the globe, it has also encouraged several developing economies to adopt a fresh and bold strategy. The Indian government’s clarion call promoting ‘Aatmnirbhar Bharat’ is a much awaited opportunity for domestic stainless steel manufacturers who have long borne the brunt of unwarranted imported stainless steel products and paying high import duty on essential raw material. This promising move by the government is expected to bring down India’s dependence on raw material imports and help domestic industry reach its full potential. � www.steeltimesint.com

14/04/2021 09:38:34

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ENVIRONMENT

Low-carbon steel production in Germany Steel companies in Germany are ready to be at the forefront of industrial transformation. It is important, however, that the economic system, politics and society work in unison on a plan to combine climate policy with industrial competitiveness. Achieving this will mean green steel sooner rather than later. By Hans Jürgen Kerkhoff* FROM an economic perspective, the steel industry in Germany – despite the pandemic – has started the New Year better than expected. However, on the one hand we see these short-term ‘cyclical’ developments, which are influenced by the Covid19lockdown and the restarting of complex value chains.

On the other hand, the asymmetry of crisis management from an international perspective shows that the structural challenges for the steel industry are still great and even more contoured: In 2020 crude steel production fell in Germany below 40Mt for the second time in a row.

All-in-all, production has been trending downwards since 2010. And there have also been massive shifts in external steel trade. While the European Union was still a net exporter of steel in 2014 with 4Mt, it has become meanwhile a net importer.

Last year, 10Mt were imported. And while

steel demand has increased by 9% in China despite the pandemic, it has fallen by 13% in the EU. These are figures that set the scene for future challenges. And: The steel industry in Germany and Europe has hardly ever been so dependent on political decisions.

Challenges on the way to a low-carbon steel production The biggest challenges are probably associated with the transformation towards green steel production processes. In this context, steel companies in Germany and Europe continue to be confronted with tighter climate policy targets that are not accompanied by instruments to achieve them – even the best plants cannot meet the benchmarks of the EU emissions trading system. And on the national level the ‘Energiewende’ wants to point the way towards a climate-neutral energy

supply, but it is a considerable burden for companies operating internationally but also those active in the European competitive environment.

In this situation, the steel industry in Germany is making an offer to politics and society. The companies want to make their production processes climate-neutral by 2050 to participate in the decarbonisation of the economy and they are ready to start now.

Green Steel: An offer for a sustainable future The decarbonisation of the steel industry would make a major contribution to achieving national and European climate targets. In Germany, the sector represents 30% of industrial emissions. To put it in pictures: If the steel industry could avoid these emissions of 58.4 million tonnes of CO2, it would be equivalent to a

* President of the German Steel Federation, chairman of the Steel Institute VDEh April 2021

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“The steel industry in Germany finds itself in an environment where new climate targets are being set at more and

”

more shorter intervals.

saving comparable to electrifying half of Germany’s car traffic.

But taking this path means huge efforts for the steel companies because it is about a radical conversion of existing metallurgical processes: The goal is to produce steel with green hydrogen in the long term.

So, if iron ores are reduced with hydrogen instead of carbon in future, supplemented by utilisation and recycling of the remaining CO2, a climate-neutral steel production is possible. However, all-in-all a low-carbon steel industry requires other production processes and investments in new plants.

Another important building block for a green steel industry in Germany remains the electrical steel production, which would also be green, if the German energy sector would be able to supply sufficient green electricity at competitive cost. And a sustainable circular economy plays into the hands of steel as a material.

To summarise, the steel industry as a basic material industry is at the centre of the decarbonisation of industrial value chains. Steel is newly integrated into the energy sector and helping to make the steel-processing industries of the value chain even more sustainable. There is a lot of encouragement and attention from politicians across the EU and Germany.

However – and this must also be critically noted – steel companies in Germany are still caught between a rock and a hard place.

Precisely because the political framework conditions are lacking.

www.steeltimesint.com

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Green steel production in Germany needs a reliable perspective The transformation of industry to lowcarbon processes is even more demanding than the ‘Energiewende’. The successful export-oriented industrial business model in Germany has to be preserved. Thus, it must be proven that climate protection and industrial competitiveness are possible together. In this environment, the “Steel Action Concept” adopted by the German government in the middle of last year is an important initiative. It describes the political framework required for the transformation to succeed. This requires a long-term perspective that goes beyond legislative periods and, at the same time, rapid implementation if the goals are to be achieved.

It contrasts with the current approach of making CO2 emissions increasingly expensive through European emissions trading. This does not promote transformation, but leads to a shift in emissions and a loss of industrial value

creation. Such carbon leakage must be avoided. Therefore, sufficient free allocation of emission certificates and compensation for electricity cost increases are needed.

The misallocation of the steel industry is 20% of emissions, with an increasing trend. A carbon border adjustment should, therefore, supplement this gap. But from the view of energy-intensive industries the EU Commission’s plan to introduce a border adjustment and in return abolish free allocation would be the completely wrong approach. The risks would be too massive, for example that the border adjustment could be circumvented by importers. So, the successful implementation of the German Steel Action Concept also depends on a corresponding industrial policy perspective of the European Green Deal.

Climate protection through hydrogen: Most efficient in steel industry To comprehensively reduce CO2 emissions, the use of hydrogen is indispensable – and it is in good hands in the steel industry. If the currency of a hydrogen strategy is CO2, then steel has the best exchange rate. In a sector comparison, the use of hydrogen in steel delivers the highest return. Moreover, it has no alternative and should thus be concentrated on industrial users. But it must also be considered that hydrogen will remain a scarce resource in the long term. The flexibility of the steel industry is a great advantage here: for the start of the transformation, two thirds of the CO2 can already be saved with natural gas.

April 2021

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ENVIRONMENT

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However, the conversion of the energy-intensive basic industries requires even more energy. More green energy at competitive costs in the future is needed if we want to achieve the climate goals. A climate-neutral steel production in Germany in 2050 requires around 2.2Mt/yr of climate-neutral hydrogen. In 2030, 200kt to 600kt t of hydrogen are required. Depending on the share of natural gas, the demand for additional green electricity is up to three times as much as the steel industry’s current external electricity purchases.

Steel industry is ready – but the right framework is still missing Beyond the well-known policy-issues that were mentioned at the beginning of this text, like a reliable protection against carbon leakage, new instruments are needed, as well as an intelligent dovetailing of national and European policies.

The steel industry in Germany is ready to invest, but it cannot do so without public support. 30 billion euros by 2050 and 10 billion euros by 2030, according to the Steel Action Concept, is a large sum, but it is well invested. However, the companies cannot bear these funds alone. With a view to steel, we need to strengthen the funding facilities and a coherent funding framework. We also need instruments quickly, such as Carbon Contracts for Difference, to be able to cover higher operating costs. This requires the necessary leeway under state aid rules from Brussels.

We also must look at the value chains. Green lead markets with incentives for the use of green steel are another important building block on the way to a climate-neutral steel industry. How these are shaped, also with a view to the steel processors, still requires a lot of conceptual work.

The steel industry in Germany finds itself in an environment where new climate targets are being set at more and more shorter intervals. At the same time, the industry has the technical capabilities and is ready to actively tackle the conversion to lowcarbon production processes. However, the political regulatory framework, both national and European, is lacking. What needs to be done? The Steel Action Concept should now be implemented quickly in Germany and anchored in the government programme for the long term. The Green Deal in Brussels must be given an industrial policy perspective. If this project fails, support for Europe will probably continue to decline.

The steel companies in Germany are ready to be at the forefront of the industrial transformation. Customers expect green steel, and they can expect them all the sooner if the economic system, politics and society work together on a plan that combines climate policy with industrial competitiveness. � www.steeltimesint.com

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Decarbonizing solutions for steel The steel industry ranks among the top three CO2 emitters from the industrial segment. Consequently, the pressure to decarbonize has led several European steelmakers to set carbon neutral goals over the 2030-2050 timeframe, while others around the globe have launched investigations into available decarbonization approaches. How will these goals be met? Will the path to decarbonization disrupt the industry itself? Is sustainability sustainable for steelmakers?

By Pravin C Mathur and Joachim von Schéele* LINDE is a recognized leader in sustainability and a part of the solution to climate change. It is well positioned to develop and serve the needs of large-scale green hydrogen supply that will be essential for full decarbonization of the steel industry over the long term. In addition, Linde’s technologies provide a path to stepwise decarbonization in the short term while renewable power and hydrogen infrastructure are still being developed.

These solutions are discussed herein, and they can be implemented to decarbonize the steel industry in a cost-effective way.

Integrated steel mills, which produce steel from iron ore, account for 70% of global steel production, but emit almost 90% of CO2 emissions due to their high CO2 intensity of 2.3 t CO2 per ton of

steel produced (Scope 1-3). In contrast, minimills, whose primary feedstock is recycled steel scrap, account for the balance of 30% of global steel production, but only 10% of emissions since they emit 0.6 t CO2 per ton of steel produced.

While minimills have the potential to eliminate almost all their CO2 emissions by using renewable electric power and green hydrogen in their existing production plants, integrated mills cannot – the blast furnace in an integrated mill requires a certain minimum level of coke (practically around 300 kg/t) to operate with attendant CO2 emissions from its use. Therefore, integrated mills either need ways to capture and sequester all their CO2 emissions, or they require a fundamental change to the processing route away from the blast

furnace, with concomitant CAPEX and OPEX implications.

Combining carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) with top gas recycling is one potential approach to reduce emissions from integrated steel mills. It is being considered at sites where CCS is a viable option.

However, the DRI-EAF route is the most commercially ready path to full decarbonization for integrated steel mills.

Over 80Mt/yr of DRI is produced today in shaft furnaces with natural gas as the reductant. According to worldsteel, considering Scope 1-3, an integrated mill can decrease its CO2 footprint from 2.3 to below 1.6 t/t of finished product by switching to this processing route, potentially at the time of blast

* Linde Technology, Linde plc www.steeltimesint.com

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ENVIRONMENT

Fig 1. Steel production route for full decarbonization

furnace relines to minimize incremental investments. Thereafter, CO2 emissions can be dropped further down to almost zero by using green hydrogen as the reductant instead of natural gas, along with green power to the EAF and balance of plant, (Fig 1). While up to 70% hydrogen has already been demonstrated in a DRI plant, pushing this limit to 100% hydrogen is the focus of several pilot plants that have been initiated recently. A large obstacle for expanding the production of DRI, however, is the availability of DR pellets.

Scale and cost of green energy supply To enable the last step of this transition to H2-DRI for full decarbonization, DRI-based steel production will require very largescale green hydrogen and green power.

Considering that 54 kg/t of green hydrogen is required per ton of DRI and 12 kg/t for other heating applications in the plant, a 2Mt/yr DRI-EAF plant will require 875 MW of green power to produce 360 TPD

of green H2 and to provide the electricity required for the balance of plant. For reference, the largest PEM electrolyzer being built today is 24 MW, and electrolyzer capacities up to 100 MW are on the drawing board. Hydrogen suppliers like Linde are preparing for this scale-up and supply, but the progress is expected to take time. Making an order of magnitude estimate, we would need about 16,800 TPD of green H2 to convert all 95Mt/yr of blast furnace steelmaking in EU28 countries to DRI-based.

Accounting for the power required for the hydrogen electrolyzer, as well as the power for the EAF and other plant operations, the green power requirement for integrated steel production would be about 390 TWh/yr. Adding the power requirement for 65Mt/yr of current EAF steel production, the EU28 green power requirement for steel totals 470 TWh/yr (54 GW), or around 17% of current EU power consumption.

Fig 2. Cost of CO2 required to equalize H2 price to make H2 steelmaking economic. Assumed conditions for an average European steel mill

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In addition to large scale hydrogen supply, the economics of this transition will require green hydrogen prices to drop significantly below current levels. Fig 2 shows an example of the relationship between the green H2 price and the cost of CO2 emissions (taxes, allowances, etc.) required to make the economics of this transition to H2-DRI favourable. Indeed, a combination of the increasing cost of CO2 emissions and the drop in H2 pricing will be necessary to achieve economical decarbonization.

It is obvious from the above considerations that near complete decarbonization is possible, but at severe costs which need to be offset with higher costs of CO2 emission. This decarbonization also requires significant investments in new facilities and assets – a daunting challenge for this industry to overcome. For example, the CAPEX for a H2-DRI-EAF plant could be $800-1000/t of annual capacity, but after factoring the cost of the required green power and hydrogen infrastructure, these costs can escalate to $5000/t of annual capacity. Clearly, this is a long-term solution for the industry, beyond 2030.

Short-term cost-effective decarbonization While H2 steelmaking is the ultimate solution for full decarbonization, steelmakers already have options to take incremental steps and achieve modest levels of decarbonization without incurring the significant economic hurdles and challenges discussed above, i.e., decarbonization is sustainable. Examples of these incremental steps include improvements in energy efficiency across the board, use of renewable power, reduction of slag volumes, and higher levels of low carbon injectants in the blast furnace to reduce the coke rate.

To promote such initiatives, the World Steel Association’s step-up programme has benchmarked global steel producers and shown that the best-performing steel mills have 20-40% lower CO2 emissions than the average. They also show that energy efficiency improvements have the potential to lower CO2 emissions by around 0.3 t/t for both integrated mills and minimills.

Many of these solutions use proven technologies that could reduce fossil fuel and CO2 emissions in those processes by 20-50% and allow smooth adaptation to hydrogen fuels in the future. www.steeltimesint.com

15/04/2021 08:39:13

ENVIRONMENT

Oxyfuel combustion drives energy efficiency Many unit operations in a steel mill use air for the combustion of fuel, which carries 79% ballast (almost all of it nitrogen). This nitrogen is heated up in the furnace and emitted in the flue gas, resulting in wasted energy, higher fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Moreover, it hampers the radiative heat transfer from the products of combustion. The use of oxygen instead of air, called oxyfuel combustion, eliminates this nitrogen ballast, and results in: - up to 50% fuel and CO2 savings, - 80% reduction in flue-gas volume, - up to 90% NOx reduction, - on-demand production increase, and - the ability to use low calorific gases in heating and reheating operations.

Oxyfuel combustion has been successfully applied to several steel mill operations including blast furnace stoves, pelletizing/ sintering furnaces, ladle preheating (4060% fuel savings), reheat furnaces (batch and continuous) and heat treatment furnaces, (Fig 3).

The economics of oxyfuel combustion are typically driven by fuel price, but as steel mills adopt green hydrogen fuel to decarbonize their footprint, oxyfuel combustion will become economically necessary. This is because hydrogen prices are expected to drop down to around $2/kg, which is equivalent to $15/GJ, i.e., hydrogen will always be a relatively expensive fuel; accordingly, oxyfuel

combustion is required to minimize its use.

Therefore, the recommendation to steel mills is to convert to oxyfuel combustion now to achieve 20-50% CO2 reduction and be prepared to blend green H2 as and when it becomes available to achieve full decarbonization in the future.

Oxyfuel solutions for reheating Reheat furnaces typically consume 1.2-1.6 GJ/t of steel, and oxyfuel solutions can reduce fuel and CO2 emissions from reheat furnaces by up to 50%. Linde is the worldleader in oxyfuel steel reheating; its REBOX® oxyfuel solutions have been installed on more than 180 batch and continuous reheat furnaces, with production up to 300 t/h and covering a wide range of steel grades. This has already contributed to decarbonization as the REBOX installations decreased the consumption of fossil fuel by 20-50%. Partial or full conversion of reheat furnaces from air-fuel to oxyfuel combustion is not only an easy first step to decarbonization, but it also prepares the furnace for subsequent hydrogen fuels. Indeed, oxyfuel combustion will be necessary with hydrogen fuels. For 20 years Linde has applied Flameless Oxyfuel to improve temperature uniformity and secure reduction of NOx emissions, a matter particularly important going forward including use of H2.

Hydrogen combustion results in a 100% H2O atmosphere in the furnace. Linde has performed pilot tests at its Technology Centres to develop hydrogen burners and

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to assess the impact of hydrogen reheating on steel quality, capacity and uniformity in the reheating process, NOx emissions, safety issues and scaling. It was determined that all results were encouraging, and no negative impacts could be identified.

Based on the positive outcome of the pilot tests, Scandinavian steelmaker Ovako and Linde decided to undertake the world’s first full-scale O2-H2 steel reheating in one of the soaking pit furnaces at Ovako’s Hofors mill in Sweden. This mill is supplied with green electricity and green oxygen. The full-scale demonstration was carried out in March 2020 when 24 ball-bearing steel ingots from the steel plant were charged into four soaking pit furnaces, all equipped with Flameless Oxyfuel. One pit was fired with hydrogen-oxyfuel using REBOX Hyox, while the other three operated with their normal LPG-Oxyfuel. After heating and soaking, the ingots were successfully rolled to bars in the rolling mill. A thorough inspection and analysis of the final bars showed that heating using hydrogen as fuel does not impact the quality. Göran Nyström, EVP, head of technology and marketing at Ovako, summarized the results: “Hydrogen can be used simply and flexibly, with no impact on steel quality, which would mean a very large reduction in the carbon footprint.”

Blast furnace stoves Blast furnaces use oxygen enrichment of the cold blast to improve productivity and enable the use of injectants through the

Fig 3. Industrial gas use in the steel making process.

Oxyfuel and H2 possibilities circled in red.

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ENVIRONMENT

tuyeres to reduce CO2 emissions. Many blast furnaces operate with up to 30% oxygen in the blast today. In addition to the cold blast, oxygen can also be used in blast furnace stoves.

Stove Oxygen Enrichment (SOE) is a method to add high-purity oxygen to the stove combustion air to eliminate the use of sweetening high-value fuels like natural gas or coke oven gas, raise blast temperature and de-bottleneck plugged stoves.

Evaluations show that a 100oC increase in blast temperature translates into coke savings of 8-12 kg/THM, with attendant reduction in CO2 emissions. Linde has successfully implemented SOE in 14 blast furnaces in the Americas, Asia, and Europe.

Going beyond stove oxygen enrichment, Flue Gas Recycle involves the conversion of blast furnace stoves to 100% oxyfuel combustion and the elimination of combustion air. The oxyfuel flame temperature is moderated by a combination of flameless or staged combustion and recycling of the flue-gas, which also utilizes the sensible heat in the flue.

This approach concentrates around 30% of an integrated steel plant’s CO2 emissions into a single flue-gas stream for ease of capture and sequestration, with potential reduction in specific CO2 emissions of 0.6 t/t.

Blast furnace tuyere injection The coke rate in blast furnaces can be lowered using injectants through the tuyeres using products with a lower carbon footprint, such as pulverized coal (PCI), natural gas, coke oven gas, and potentially

hydrogen in future. For example, every ton of injected coal avoids 0.85-0.95 ton of coke production, with accompanying energy savings of around 3.75 GJ/t injected coal. Tuyere injection, however, has its limitations due to a negative impact on the Raceway Adiabatic Flame Temperature (RAFT) and the ability to combust certain injectants within the confines of a tuyere.

These limits can be raised if the injectants are first gasified into a syngas (CO+H2) externally, prior to injection into the tuyeres.

This external gasification can be performed

by Linde’s Hot Oxygen Technology (HOT) – a fuel flexible tool to gasify solid, liquid, or gaseous feedstocks including natural gas, coke oven gas, wide varieties of biomass, plastics, and so on – see Fig 4. A typical HOT system is an efficient, smallscale gasifier to generate reducing gas/ syngas up to 34,000 Nm3/h syngas per unit. Multiple units can be employed to meet the requirements of a blast furnace.

This approach helps to minimize the CO2 footprint of an existing blast furnace without significant modifications to the production process.

DRI production with alternate fuels Typically, DRI is produced with natural gas as the reducing gas in a shaft furnace. A HOT system can also be used to deliver reducing gas or syngas to a DRI plant, derived for a variety of sources including coke oven gas, and replacing the need for natural gas, (Fig 4).

Linde has worked with MIDREX to develop the Thermal Reactor System (TRS)

that will produce clean syngas from coke oven gas and other hydrocarbon sources for DRI production. The system utilizes Linde’s partial oxidation technology, using HOT, which offers the potential to do partial oxidation of hydrocarbons without steam injection. When this technology is combined with an extended reaction chamber into which a pre-heated stream of coke oven gas is added, the product gas leaving the chamber is suitable for direct use as a reducing gas to produce DRI. While DRI is mostly charged into EAFs, it can also be briquetted into HBI and charged into blast furnaces or BOF converters to achieve decarbonization in an integrated steel mill.

As a rule-of-thumb, each 10% increase in burden metallization in a blast furnace by the addition of HBI increases the production rate by 8% and decreases the coke rate by 7%, with attendant CO2 savings.

Increasing scrap rate in BOF converters A BOF converter typically uses 15-25% scrap and a balance of hot metal coming from the blast furnace. Due to its significantly lower carbon footprint compared to hot metal, the more scrap we use, the lower the overall carbon footprint of the steel product.

Scrap acts as a coolant to offset the temperature rise when oxygen is blown to refine the melt. Therefore, one way to increase the scrap ratio is to preheat the scrap – the hotter the scrap, the more scrap can be charged while meeting the requirement as a coolant. Scrap preheating

Fig 4. Application of Hot OxygenTechnology for partial oxidation/gasification of a wide variety of solids, liquids, or gases. The resulting reducing gas or syngas can be injected into blast furnaces or DRI furnaces

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ENVIRONMENT

can be done in the converter with a burner in the top-lance, prior to hot metal charging.

Typically, 10-12 minutes of scrap preheating can raise scrap temperature above 700oC to allow a five-percentage point increase in scrap ratio. Alternate means of scrap preheating such as external heating prior to charging, or using focused post-combustion during the blow period, are also possible. Linde has established several burner and lance options to preheat scrap to support reduced CO2 emissions.

CoJet® gas injection using hydrogen CoJet gas injection technology was developed and introduced by Praxair (now Linde) 25 years ago, and it has revolutionized Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) operation. Today there are more than 170 CoJet installations world-wide, and CoJet technology has become the industry standard for chemical energy input into EAFs. The key to CoJet technology is the invention of a process and injector nozzle

with a surrounding flame shroud that extends the length of the supersonic jet from the conventional 15-35 times the nozzle diameter, depending on ambient conditions, to 70 nozzle diameters. The flame shroud can be produced with fuels such as natural gas, LPG, coke oven gas, and fuel oil. The fuels are also required to operate the CoJet injector initially in a burner mode to accelerate scrap melting around the EAF. To decarbonize the chemical energy input into EAFs, Linde has developed CoJet injectors with hydrogen fuel with excellent results. Hydrogen extends the coherent jet length to 85 nozzle diameters, increases heat transfer, and reduces plugging/maintenance of the injectors. These features make hydrogen an ideal fuel for the CoJet system and pave the way to fully decarbonize the EAF. Summary The steel industry can decarbonize significantly with hydrogen steelmaking, or CO2 capture and sequestration where feasible. These approaches are longer term

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solutions (beyond year 2030) that are not sustainable today due to the capital and operating cost impacts on steelmakers.

For them to become sustainable or viable, we need a combination of higher costs of CO2 emissions, as well as a well-developed infrastructure to supply low-cost renewable power and hydrogen at very large scale.

Steelmakers can take short-term steps with incremental and stepwise sustainable decarbonization approaches that are affordable today. Energy efficiency improvements with oxyfuel combustion – with fossil fuel savings of 20-50% – offer immediate CO2 reductions with low CAPEX commitments on several unit processes.

Proven oxyfuel-based solutions can reduce the steel industry’s CO2 emissions by 200Mt/yr. Integrated steel mills can decarbonize by raising blast furnace tuyere injectant levels using external gasification, increasing the scrap ratio in BOF converters, and charging DRI/HBI produced by the gasification of low carbon footprint feedstocks and alternate fuels such as coke oven gas. �

WEBINAR Steel Times International will be offering, free-of-charge, access to some of the best minds in the business. Global steelmakers, respected research and development gurus, academics and high-calibre thought leaders are coming together to discuss all aspects of steel production including: COVID-19, climate policy, green steelmaking, supply chain management, industry 4.0, the future of work, and the European steel industry

Find out more here www.steeltimesint.com

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www.steeltimesint.com/webinars April 2021

15/04/2021 08:39:20

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US EAF steelmaking – on a roll While all US steelmakers have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, many industry observers say that the electric arc furnace (EAF), or mini-mill, steelmakers, who were already in the midst of adding new, state-of-the art steel production capacity, have fared better than their blast furnace-based steelmaker counterparts, enabling them to increase their market share. By Myra Pinkham* THIS great news for electric steelmakers comes as some of the recent, or planned, moves by the Biden administration are seen to be supportive of US steelmakers in general, including EAF steelmakers.

The US steel market, including the portion that is made using EAFs, has already clearly bounced back substantially over the past year. “US steel prices, particularly flat rolled steel prices, have risen to unprecedented levels,” Amy Bennett, principal consultant, Fastmarkets MB, said, adding that a lot of that has to do with the steel supply shortages in the US. This, says Katherine Miller, a spokeswoman for Nucor Corp, is because domestic demand for steel products continued to be robust during the first three months of 2021, building upon the market rebound that was seen during the second half of last year.

Miller said that Nucor is experiencing strong demand across most of its enduse markets, including non-residential construction, automotive, renewable energy, heavy equipment and agriculture, which, she said, has resulted in record earnings for its steel mill segment, particularly from its sheet and plate mills, during the first quarter of this year, with expectations that the current upward momentum would continue into the second quarter with backlogs being incredibly strong, either at record or near record highs. She noted Nucor’s previous record for quarterly results was in 2008.

Philip Gibbs, an equity research analyst with KeyBanc Capital Markets, pointed out that Nucor isn’t alone in having such strong financial performance this year. He said that because of the restocking going on both domestically and globally early this year,

coming after inventories were worked down for most of 2020, and the overall supply side squeeze, most US sheet mini-mills have been selling product at record spot prices and are going to enjoy very strong profitability at least through the first half of this year and probably even beyond that.

In fact, he said that he believes that 2021 will be a banner year, or at least nearly a banner year, for EAF steelmakers, explaining, “Just about the only thing that they have going against them right now is the fact that scrap prices are really high.”

One reason for that, John Anton, director of IHS Markit’s pricing and purchasing service, said, is because, in his opinion, the EAF steelmakers reacted a lot better than the blast furnace steelmakers did to the pandemic. He explained that while such traditional integrated steel end markets as automotive and appliances had already

* USA correspondent April 2021

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ELECTRIC STEELMAKING

Dual electric arc furnace at Big River Steel, Osceola, Arkansas, USA.

marginally recovered by July, integrated steelmakers hadn’t relit any blast furnaces until December, January and February. “But on the other hand, EAF steelmakers were bringing their production back as needed.”

In fact, some market observers say that even in the depth of the pandemic some mini-mills actually continued to operate at fairly high operating rates – definitely higher rates than their integrated counterparts – while overall US capacity utilization tumbled to just over 50% from a peak of nearly 83%.

Even with US steel demand for virtually all end-use markets picking up substantially – albeit not yet quite back to pre-pandemic levels – Bennett said that there continues to be a very different scenario between what the EAF steelmakers and the blast furnace steelmakers are doing. While US EAF steelmakers are operating at or very close to full capacity to try to meet this demand, she pointed out that integrated mills are keeping various furnaces out of production, further contributing to the recent trend for US steel production to increasingly lean toward EAFs. “Overall, we are seeing increased growth in EAF steel production,” Philip Bell, president of the Steel Manufacturers www.steeltimesint.com

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Association, declared, noting that not only is about 70% of all the steel that is currently being produced in the US being done so through the EAF process, but that he anticipates that the EAFs will continue to make further inroads, possibly growing their share to 73-75% as soon as in 2023.

This, he said, is being driven by several different factors, including a push for increased investment and modernization in EAF mills, coming at the same time as

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moves to develop new technologies has enabled mini-mills to increase their product offerings. “Those offerings do not just include moves toward making inroads into the production of advanced high strength steels and other next generation flat-rolled steels,” Bell explained. “But moves into a lot of different product areas.”

“Each year that goes by, the EAF steelmakers have been able to progressively expand their footprint into product areas that a decade or more ago people would have scoffed at,” which, he said, was made possible by a combination of improvements in EAF steelmaking process technology and improvements in the use of ore-based metallics to supplement scrap.

“While, at least at this point, the EAFs are still not able to produce exposed auto sheet, they can pretty much make everything else,” Bennett said, including steel for other automotive applications.

They might, however, be at the cusp of doing so. In fact, Steel Dynamics has stated that its new Sinton, Texas, greenfield flatroll mill, which is slated to come online mid-year, could be the first US EAF mill to attempt to enter that market.

Anton said he believes that if the EAFs ever crack the exposed automotive market, that will make it very hard for US blast furnace steelmakers, who will need to figure out what they will need to do to

CMC Steel, Arizona

April 2021

15/04/2021 14:24:32

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Electric arc furnaces rule the roost in the USA

survive. “But if the EAFs are unable to crack the exposed automotive and exposed appliance markets, there will continue to be a two-part steel market in the US.” Bell said that one reason that the EAF steelmakers have been able to come out of the pandemic in much better shape than had been anticipated is because many company executives realize the importance to invest in good times and bad and how that would help their companies be poised for the opportunities that any rebound in the market would provide.

“But perhaps most importantly has been their desire to produce steel efficiently and sustainably,” he said, observing that EAF steel producers can produce steel with up to 75% lower carbon dioxide emissions than steel produced by blast furnaces. That, he said, has resulted in US steelmakers having the lowest carbon intensity of any major steel producing country in the world.

That, however, isn’t necessarily ‘a slam dunk’ for the EAFs, Anton said, given that their emissions vary depending upon how the electricity they use has been generated.

“But in general, EAFs are less polluting.”

Kevin Dempsey, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) said that the US steel industry as a whole has been recently taking additional www.steeltimesint.com

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steps to further improve its environmental performance, including increased use of renewable energy as well as greater use of direct reduced iron (DRI) and hot briquetted iron (HBI), which use natural gas as a reductant, in place of pig iron for both EAF and integrated steelmaking.

Also, he pointed out that the recent wave of consolidation in the US industry – including Cleveland-Cliffs’ acquisition of both AK Steel and most of ArcelorMittal USA’s assets, and US Steel’s acquisition of Big River Steel – has blurred the traditional distinction between integrated and EAF producers given that both of the major integrated producers in the US now also have EAF production.

US Steel sees its ‘Best of Both’ combination of integrated and mini-mill technologies as a way for it to create a more secure, sustainable future. “With our acquisition of Big River, it creates a more nimble, agile and customercentric organization with an expanded and enhanced footprint to better serve the growing southern US and Mexican automotive end-markets,” Meghan Cox, a company spokesperson, said, explaining that it enables the company to provide customers with differentiated, high-quality, value-added, sustainable steel solutions

as well as driving greater operational efficiencies and flexibility with higher quality integrated and mini-mill steelmaking technology footprints.

“It also allows US Steel to leverage high value metallics from our iron ore assets to capture raw materials synergies and enhances our talent pipeline through the integration of Big River’s experienced team, entrepreneurial culture and technology mindset,” she declared.

While it does now have some EAFs in its footprint, Gibbs said that he doesn’t believe that Cleveland-Cliffs will go the same route as US Steel, given that they are a lower cost producer with newer, more competitive assets. “While Cliffs might not shut a blast furnace down, they might repurpose one of their mills to make pig iron in the next year or two.”

At the same time, approximately 13 million short tons of US EAF steelmaking capacity has either come online recently or is expected to do so by 2023, Dempsey observed, coming with nearly $16 billion in investments in new and upgraded production capabilities across the US steel industry – virtually all at EAF mills, being announced since Section 232 tariffs were implemented upon steel (and aluminium) imports in 2018.

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There is a lot of optimism surrounding Joe Biden’s $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan

One big question has been, and remains, is what the ultimate impact of this new, state-of-the-art capacity coming online?

Anton says that, given it is expected to increase US steel supply by almost 50%, he believes that by 2023, once it is all ramped up, there will be a knife fight for market share. “While some people say that existing capacity – including blast furnace capacity – has nothing to worry about, that it would displace imports,” Anton said that, for 50 years, that hasn’t been the case.

And it isn’t likely to be the case this time around, especially with how much steel imports have already come down, partly due to Section 232 tariffs and the general consensus is that Biden is unlikely to remove those tariffs over the next year or so; even though he is getting pressure from both sides, Bennett said, noting that while steel users are complaining about the impact that record high steel prices are having upon US manufacturers and their ability to be competitive internationally, the steel industry argues that tariffs have been clearly working. Also, Bell pointed out that shortly after her confirmation, Biden’s Commerce Secretary, Gina Raimondo, said that she believes that Section 232 has been working, helping to both level the playing field and to create more American jobs.

Gibbs agreed that new EAF steelmaking capacity could place some additional blast furnace capacity at risk, stating that potentially US Steel’s Granite City Works could be permanently idled.

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At the same time, Gibbs said that new EAF capacity will put even more pressure upon the availability of such high-quality, low-residual raw materials as prime scrap and alternative irons like DRI, HBI and pig iron, which are already in tight supply.

“The steel mills might have to pay more for those metallics as the new capacity comes online,” he said, which could potentially result in a compression of the high profit margins that steelmakers, particularly sheet producers, have recently been enjoying.

Bell said he believes that there is enormous potential for the Biden administration to have a positive impact upon the US steel market, including EAF steelmaking. Others agree. Adam Parr, a spokesman for Gerdau Long Steel North America lauded the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief measure, which he says will provide stability for impacted families and communities, stimulate demand for consumer goods and support the continuation of projects funded by state and local governments.

There is also a lot of optimism around Joe Biden’s $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan announced earlier this month. The two-part plan, Biden claimed, is a not a plan that ‘tinkers around the edges’ and is designed to create millions of good-paying jobs and grow the US economy in the process.

“I think it is really important that we get this infrastructure bill off and running,” David Burritt, US Steel’s president and CEO, said, especially given that the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure report, which graded US infrastructure at a C-, makes it clear that the US is long overdue for meaningful infrastructure spending.

Dempsey said that, if passed, it will have a positive impact upon the US steel industry given that, according to AISI estimates, every $1 billion in infrastructure spending requires approximately 50,000 net tons of steel. Miller said that over the last five years Nucor alone has melted, poured and shipped over 130Mt of steel rebar, plate, structural beams, sheet and countless other steel components. “We are ready to do our part to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure.”

Bell said US steelmakers also stand to benefit from Biden’s moves to strengthen the Buy America laws and his emphasis on reshoring, as well as his support for requirements for all steel used in federally funded infrastructure projects to be melted and poured in the US. 2021 has been and will continue to be a good year for EAF steelmakers, even though some cracks will start to develop in the third or fourth quarter as the current hyper seller’s market becomes more balanced and even turns into a buyer’s market, Anton said. But longer term it will be the same story as it has been for the past 20 years with any end-use applications that could move to the EAFs continuing to do so.

In September this year Steel Times International's Free Webinar Programme will be focused on electric steelmaking. Contact Matthew Moggridge, Editor, for details.�

Electric steelmakers in the USA fared better than integrated mills during the pandemic.

www.steeltimesint.com

15/04/2021 14:24:48

FURNACES

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Digitalizing the EAF process Using a simple definition, we could say that digital transformation is the application of all tools and digital capabilities focused on processes, products and machinery with the aim of improving efficiency and added value to the customer and improving plant operating conditions, safety and transformation costs. These outcomes are realized by a new platform of innovative systems, products and opportunities introduced at the melt shop level. Tenova’s i EAF® technology is at the forefront of the digital revolution and offers 100% compatibility with the connectivity, digitalization and control standards necessary for the steel industry. By Armando Vazquez* and Doug Zuliani* TENOVA i EAF® technology is a modular programme, which can be implemented in one step or based on particular needs, can be supplied in different stages, modules or phases. Each implementation step is focused on specific objectives within a complete optimization programme, with priority objectives being to provide savings and productivity improvements through the optimization and dynamic control of the EAF process, using the following to achieve this dynamic control: • sensors, • real-time models, • advanced control algorithms Sensors: innovative instrumentation providing necessary information to complement field data and when combined are used to achieve real-time mass and energy (M&E) balance that is the central base of the i EAF® technology platform.

Real-time models: evaluate the information from the field, Level 1 and Level 2 of existing automation and Tenova’s instrumentation, in order to make the real-time calculation of mass and energy pertinent to the furnace.

Advanced control algorithms: use real-time results of the M&E balance and execute the evaluation and pertinent actions for the control of energy sources in the EAF (control of chemical and electrical packages plus the fume system).

Fig 1. NextGen® hybrid off-gas system at 4th hole configuration.

NextGen® system NextGen® hardware is a state-of-the-art gas analyzer that was designed by analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of the in-situ laser versus the extraction system.

• In-situ laser systems use a tunable diode laser to transmit a beam in the near IR range through the off-gas for subsequent pick-up by an optical detector. The transmitted laser’s wavelength is modulated around the particular spectroscopic line of the gaseous species of interest. The amount of absorption in the detected beam is subsequently used to calculate the

concentration of that particular species in the off-gas. EAF in-situ laser systems use up to three separate lasers, one for CO2 and H2O vapour, one for CO and one for O2. While in-situ laser systems can analyze several gases, lasers cannot analyze many mononuclear diatomic gases including N2 and H2 [1,2].

• Extractive systems use a watercooled probe, heated line and analyzer to continuously extract and analyze a sample of EAF off-gas from the fume duct. Various analytical methods are employed to provide a continuous complete spectrum of off-gas

* Email: Tenova Goodfellow Inc, Canada. Armando.vazquez@tenova.com, doug.zuliani@tenova.com www.steeltimesint.com

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Fig 2. (Left and right) OVM Optical off-gas velocity sensor

the plant’s Level 1 & 2 network and provides process information in real-time as needed by process control models. The PLC interface facilitates continuous dynamic process control of the burners, lances, injectors, fume suction and electrical set points plus water leak detection.

• The Web-HMI is designed with the objective of being part of a digital transformation regarding its co-connectivity, accessibility and functions. It facilitates the use of remote access with set-up and diagnostic functions necessary for the proper operation and troubleshooting of the equipment. Fig 1.

Fig 3. (left and right) OTM Optical off-gas temperature sensor

chemistry in real-time including CO, CO2, O2, H2, H2O vapour and N2. [1,2].

The NextGen® off-gas solution incorporates all the advantages of both technologies, reducing the disadvantages and offering several advantages over the traditional systems, making it a progressive step towards a digital platform.

NextGen® is a hybrid, breakthrough technology offering the following characteristics[1,2]: • off-gas extraction through a probe positioned directly in the cone of the offgas exiting the EAF at the 4th hole. Positive extraction remains the very best way to ensure high system reliability and avoid lost analytical signals.

• connection to a probe and short heated line, the compact extractive unit is mounted directly on the melt shop floor without the need for an environmentally protective room. The extractive unit first cleans the gases of particulate matter and then uses various types of analytical cells and lasers to analyze the off-gas.

• the extractive unit is connected to a compact control unit located in the EAF control room. This unit analyzes the signals from the extractive unit and continuously provides full-spectrum off-gas chemistry for CO, CO2, O2, H2, H2O vapour and N2.

The control unit has multi-point capabilities for connections of up to four independent extractive stations.

• the control unit is interfaced with

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As part of the NextGen® package, Tenova has designed optical sensors for off-gas velocity (OVM) and temperature (OTM) measurement. These sensors enhance the information necessary for the calculation of the mass and energy balance.

The OVM consists of two compact optical sensors mounted to optical view ports in the fume duct. These inline sensors continuously measure off-gas velocity. Fig 2.

The OTM is an optical sensor that uses a wavelength ratio method to measure off-gas temperature. This design requires minimal maintenance and avoids temperature inaccuracy problems associated with excessive dust. [3] Fig 3.

NextGen® instrumentation and optical sensors (OTM & OVM) are connected in a digital platform allowing connectivity through the Ethernet network implemented between the devices, allowing a manual and automatic operation as well as service assistance, set-up and troubleshooting. www.steeltimesint.com

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Likewise, to complement the i EAF® configuration, described later, an i EAF® computer is added to the real-time models and control algorithms, allowing for a complete digital control platform. Fig 4.

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Fig 4. NextGen, OTM and OVM connectivity

i EAF® Technology i EAF® software replaces statistical process models which are prone to excessive drift with a new generation of more fundamental thermodynamic- and kinetic-based process control models that incorporate real-time mass and energy balances. The i EAF® incorporates two distinct performance saving modules: • Module 1: dynamically controls the quantity of chemical energy and furnace draft • Module 2: dynamically controls chemical energy and electrical set-point timing and oxygen injection during refining to finish the heat on C & T specification In addition to the modules described above, the i EAF® package includes the industry’s most comprehensive water detection software based on both H2 and H2O vapour off-gas analysis.

Module 1 Using NextGen® off-gas analysis to provide optimized control of chemical energy inputs to the EAF, MODULE 1 dynamically increases the quantity of oxygen and decreases the quantity of methane (CH4) injection in cases where the EAF off-gas contains an excess of combustible CO and H2. Conversely, MODULE 1 will automatically increase methane and decrease oxygen injection if the furnace environment contains excess free O2. By doing so, MODULE 1 dynamically controls and optimizes the amount of oxygen and methane injected into the furnace to maximize chemical energy efficiency. [3] With the implementation of the automatic control and optimization process (Module 1), Table 1 reveals how Tenova technology has brought great benefits in two scenarios shown below. Fig 5.

2.2.2 Module 2 MODULE 2 uses the real-time M&E balance to calculate, second-by-second, the ‘Actual Net Energy’ received by the charge/bath after allowing for Actual Energy Losses. www.steeltimesint.com

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Fig 5. Module 1 plant benefits

Fig 6. Module 1+2 plant benefits

Actual net energy = [actual energy inputs] – [actual energy losses] • IN [electrical energy + burner energy + energy from oxidation] • OUT [energy lost in the fume system, cooling panels and furnace bottom] MODULE 2 accurately determined the rate of heating and melting of the solid charge in the EAF, and thereby can provide a second-by-second measure of the

“%melting progress” throughout the heat. %Melting progress = net energy received/ total energy needed to melt charge mix The %melting progress is calculated in real-time for every heat based on that heat’s actual real-time M&E balance, %melting progress and precisely determines for each and every heat: • The quantity of un-melted scrap in the EAF at any time during the heat April 2021

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of off-line results to tune the application.

These tuning parameters can immediately upload the results to the i EAF®.

Fig 7. Digital connectivity

• The best time to charge scrap buckets The time when there is sufficient molten metal to initiate supersonic oxygen lancing means: • The onset of flat bath conditions and operative refining has begun; • The degree of superheat and the bath temperature. This is valuable information for determining the best time to take steel samples and thermocouple readings and when to tap the heat. [3] The results in Fig 6 confirm that MODULE 2, Net Energy Control, generates significant operating cost savings.

2.3 Digital Platform The Internet of Things (IoT) makes it possible for us to have smart homes, smart factories and smart cities. Artificial intelligence and machine learning enable predictive approaches to decision making and drive business insight.

Digital transformation is also present in the steel making processes, which is why i EAF® technology makes the data obtained and generated flow according to specific needs. Data is the ‘catalyst’ for new technologies and solutions that open up accessibility and connectivity, which is essential for improving current processes.

The connectivity of the NexGen® Ethernet network is at Level 1 and 2 to the plant automation, allowing external connectivity to Tenova using direct connection to Tenova HQ or Cloud services, both of which are Industry 4.0 compatible.

Tenova solutions offer remote connection for process optimization, support, April 2021

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analysis, machine learning and training with direct connection and/or with cloud services, putting NextGen® hardware and i EAF® solutions at the forefront of digital transformation for the EAF process. Using the Cloud or a local server, i EAF® offers a continuous improvement service for the process, data analysis and evaluation of ‘machine learning’ events, as well as hardware and software monitoring to ensure adequate performance. Likewise, process and maintenance services can also be remotely controlled to facilitate continuous monitoring. Fig 7.

The digital transformation implemented with i EAF® includes modules which are based on machine learning, such as artificial intelligence (AI) applications that provide systems with the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being programmed. The accessible portal for tuning some advance modules is shown in Fig 8. This Machine Learning process enables the user to check the tuning of control modules based on the evaluation

Conclusions Tenova has developed i EAF® technology for dynamic process control based on the calculation of a mass and energy balance in real-time to facilitate a more complete understanding of process variables in order to optimize functionality and performance.

The company has optimized more than 100 installations worldwide with continuous development to ensure that all new EAF industrial challenges can be addressed.

NextGen® is the most advanced hardware solution in the market, offering a hybrid laser/extraction system, incorporating the most significant advancements in the field.

Likewise, the i EAF® solution takes the advantages offered by the NextGen® system including modules and algorithms that allow dynamic control of the EAF process to realize important and sustainable benefits.

Additionally, i EAF® is the only optimization system available that offers full remote connectivity on an Industry 4.0 platform. �

References 1 Doug Zuliani; “Next Generation Off-Gas Analysis” Steel Times International 41(3):33, April 2017. https://www. researchgate.net 2 S. Schilt, F.K. Tittel and K.P. Petrov, “Diode Laser Spectroscopic Monitoring of Trace Gases”, Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry, pages 1-29, 2011.

3 Armando Vazquez “Advancements in dynamic EAF offgas process control using NextGen® technology”, ABM 2019 Brazil

Fig 8. Machine learning portal – Tenova

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WORKFORCE

OptimaSteel – the results The wellbeing of workers in the steel industry is a challenge to be tackled with urgency.

Finding solutions to bring about an improvement in the quality of life of older adults in their working environment, increasing their wellbeing while retaining them for longer in the industry were the chief goals of the OptimaSteel project. Marta Coto* and Wolfgang Weiss** THESE were the reasons for the implementation of the OptimaSteel project: started in June 2019 and ending in April 2021. OptimaSteel aspired to first identify the state of the art of holistic solutions, moving to assess the best solution and finally demonstrating these solutions in an exploratory testing environment, together with continuous dissemination of the knowledge gathered during the project.

In a September 2020 article in this magazine, the OptimaSteel consortium, INOVA+ (Portuguese Innovation consultancy), Joanneum Research (innovation and technology provider), European Federation for Welding, Joining and Cutting (representative of the manufacturing community in Europe) and former Groupe PSA, now Stellantis (the second largest car manufacturer in Europe), had talked about the concluded phase 1 (scanning of the state-of-the-art solutions) and phase 2 (screening of identified solutions) and about the start of phase 3 of the project, the demonstration phase at Stellantis (former PSA Mangualde), defined as the case study.

The first phase included a questionnaire to identify workers’ needs and areas to improve. Phase two involved the selection of the solutions to implement based on the evaluation of the technologies related to the real needs of the workers in PSA Mangualde.

Several solutions for each of the four wellbeing pillars – workplace ergonomics, physical training, nutritional balance and stress management – were identified during the first seven months of the project. The most suitable ones for PSA have been selected and piloted at Groupe PSA – Mangualde plant.

Fig 1. Nutritional posters showing: on the left the water intake benefits and on the right the food pyramid

The pilot occurred in two trials during phase 3, the first one from September to November 2020 and the second one from December 2020 to January 2021.

For the workplace ergonomic pillar, the following solutions were tested in PSA Mangualde: RULA method (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment), trunk exoskeleton, antifatigue solutions, and wearable QUS T shirt and Bra. For the nutritional balance pillar the tested solutions where: improvements in the canteen, both in terms of nutritional information, but also a reorganization of the physical space.

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic crisis, the consortium needed to adapt some proposed solutions to manage social distancing restrictions, affecting particularly the physical training and

stress management pillars. The solutions selected and validated by the whole consortium, namely the hug and laugh therapy, breathing exercises and team building activities, had to be adapted to the contingency plan of the PSA Mangualde factory, which meant changes to the concept that were initially developed and validated. The solution was to use apps – namely, Google Fit, Samsung Health, AtkiBMI and Medite-se – and affix several posters to the walls in the factory promoting physical exercise and mental wellbeing and promoting the use of mobile applications as significant solutions to address employee needs (pillars of stress management, nutritional balance and physical activity). Fig 1.

Since the main goal of the OptimaSteel project was to improve the work quality of

* Senior project manager at INOVA+ **Researcher at Joanneum Research Forschungsgesellschaft GmbH www.steeltimesint.com

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I DRINK MORE WATER SINCE PSA HAS THE TIPS ON WALL

I HAVE MADE MODIFICATIONS - MY CHOICES BASED ON OPTIMASTEEL SUGGESTIONS

THE MENU NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION HELP ME TO UNDERSTAND THE MEAL CALORIES

Fig 2. Responses to the nutritional balance survey

elder workers, a survey was applied to the participants at the end of each trial. These surveys revealed interesting results and findings that we present in this article.

Apart from the surveys, the utilisation of the RULA in the first and second trial, and the QUS connected body in the second, allowed us to collect some important data and draw some significant conclusions.

The surveys were split into trial one and trial two. Trial one took place in SeptemberOctober 2020 and trial two started in the middle of October 2020 and was concluded in January 2021. These surveys counted 96 responses. The 100 participants at the trial were selected according to OptimaSteel guidelines, for example, they had to be at least 50 years old. The analysis consists of the following surveys: • App Usage Survey • QUS Connected Body Survey • Anti-Fatigue Insoles Survey • Nutritional Balance Survey The Nutritional Balance pillar aimed to generate greater nutritional awareness among the employees. The Nutritional balance survey revealed that half of the respondents start drinking more water and have adapted their behaviour on the choice April 2021

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of food, following the suggestions made during the trial.

As for the pillar of ergonomics, the work developed using the RULA proved to be extremely important and will certainly inform decision making at the industrial plant level. Fig 3.

The RULA was implemented across 18 different workstations. Overall 171 different tasks were analysed and various results were measured. The results of the RULA on the first pilot revealed that the most frequent score of the 171 tasks was 3 (35%), which corresponds to ‘change may be necessary’.

More significantly, 63 out of the 171 considered that tasks scored 5 or more which translated to ‘change necessary soon’ or ‘change immediately’ required special attention from the industrial plant (Fig 4).

The QUS body connected system is a smart textile that records vital information and geodata. It consists of a shirt or a bra with sensors woven into the fabric and an on-board unit (OBU), which offers additional sensors and connectivity via micro USB and Bluetooth. It measures vital parameters directly on the body, without wires and it is easy to wear.

Fig 3. Image of Rula methodology of evaluation

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WORKFORCE

The data-driven approach for health monitoring was implemented with the QUS connected body system. It gives lots of feedback for the users, and the operators of the facilities. One can easily identify where and when people experience physical difficulties in the work they do. Through the statistical analysis, it is also possible to measure the employees’ health status and to take timely actions if necessary. The participants reported that the system is easy to wear and that most of the time it did not impair their movements. All of them were satisfied with the experience. Fig 5.

The data retrieved from the QUS, used by 10 participants, revealed that in four of them the median heart rate was greater than 130 BPM, which meant that the work performed was difficult for those people or they had to make a special physical effort.

Fig 6.

A physical tool, which was rolled out, also in the ergonomics pillar, was the anti-fatigue insoles that were tested on 21 participants. It should help people dealing with musculoskeletal issues. Less than half struggling with back pain have seen relief. Also, the majority of the participants experienced a subjective improvement of the body posture and less tiredness in their feet and legs. Fig 7 and Fig 8.

An operator from the hardware sector said: “I am very satisfied with the insoles. I almost no longer have muscle pain in my back, legs and ankles. In the beginning, it took a few days to adjust the foot with the insole, but after this adjustment, the tiredness decreased a lot, until you notice it in the way of walking.”

Another operator from the assembly sector stated: “Since I started using the ergonomic insoles I noticed the difference. Before my feet hurt a lot and to reduce the pain, I started walking with the heel, which greatly influenced my body posture. With the insoles, I almost have no pain.”

There was only one participant taking part in the exoskeleton trial because only one person was working in a position where it was possible to make use of it and was of the right age to use it. This person said the exoskeleton was easy to use and that it was sometimes comfortable to wear. It did, however, compromise the movements of the person. The effects on the work and the body were rated positively. It reduced back pain, push and pull actions were easier to www.steeltimesint.com

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carry out, and even posture was subjectively better. Fig 9.

People use smartphones without problems, but they’re not using many useful apps to control health-related activities. The use of apps was an alternative to the solutions not implemented because of Covid-19 and revealed interesting results and improved levels of digital literacy among workers, as shown in the results from questionnaires implemented in phase 1 of the project. The project encouraged the use of apps among workers and raised awareness of the possibilities offered by the use of technology and how to best to use it. Tutorial videos were created for each of the apps promoted. Fig 10.

OptimaSteel activities around app

51

usage revealed that just one-third of the 100 particpants installed one of the suggested apps, but those who did mostly encountered no problems in terms of usage and found them helpful. Fifty per cent claimed that they modified their choices based on app feedback, while 50% felt the health benefits and 75% claimed they were satisfied with the apps recommended

by OptimaSteel. The majority of app-users changed their lifestyle and experienced improvements in health. Fig 11.

Despite the obstacles presented by Covid-19, the overall feedback from the implementation of these solutions was very positive, not only from the workers, but from the Stellantis administration (former PSA), which intends to maintain the good

Fig 4. Results of Rula evaluation

Fig 5. Data Retrieved from the QUS

Fig 6. QUS Tshirt

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WORKFORCE

I HAVE FELT THAT MY POSTURE HAS BEEN BETTER IN THE PAST FEW DAYS

I HAVE FELT THAT THE TIREDNESS OF FEET, LEGS AND BACK HAVE BEEN REDUCED IN THE PAST FEW DAYS

Fig 7. Results from the Anti-Fatigue Insoles Survey

I FELT HEALTH PROGRESSES DUE TO THE USE OF THE APPS

Fig 11. Results from App Usage Survey

practices and even implement some of the solutions that were not possible to implement during the project. If in the beginning workers were sceptical of the solutions because they were new, in the end, they wanted to use some solutions on a daily basis, and younger workers also wanted to be included in the tests.

There is a variety of useful technologies, tools and methodologies available, and ready to be rolled out in a wider context. A one-size-fits-all solution does not exist, but an individual mix of them has to be found.

With some technologies, people need help and guidance to use them, but once they are up and running, they experience improvements. All of this takes an effort, but there are many positive effects. We conclude that “each step counts and every action makes a difference”. � Fig 8. The anti-fatigue insoles process of individualization

Fig 9. Image of the exoskeleton in use

Fig 10. Tutorial for Google fit app (in Portuguese)

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INNOVATIONS

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Danieli: keeping busy on the global stage Danieli is very busy at the moment. The Italian plant builder has recently announced a number of major contracts awarded by leading steelmakers including thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG; Russian steelmaker PJSC Magnitogorsk; Topy Industries of Japan; and Vietnamese steelmaker,Hoa Phat.

The German steelmaker, thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG has awarded Danieli Centro Combustion the order to supply two new walking beam furnaces to thyssenkrupp’s Bruckhausen hot rolling mill 4 in Duisberg, Germany. The order forms part of the steelmaker’s Strategy 20-30. Start-up of the slab-reheating furnaces is scheduled for early 2024.

According to Danieli, the new furnaces will achieve high production while reducing energy consumption, NOx emissions and improving slab surface quality. They have a capacity of 380 tonnes/hr cold charging and up to 560 tonnes/hr with hot charging. Furnace design and performance will be based on maximizing energy efficiency, fuel consumption and emissions reduction.

It is claimed that the optimization of the combustion system will lead to an increase in furnace efficiency and CO2 emissions reduction up to around 53kg/tonne by continuous running at maximum productivity.

In Russia, PJSC Magnitogorsk (MMK) has taken on Danieli Automation to upgrade processing lines, including a galvanizing line supplied by the Italian plant builder in 2007. The upgrade work being undertaken at MMK’s plant in Magnitogorsk in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region revolves around implementing new process control systems based on virtual servers and new HMI applications and a new Ethernet network infrastructure for galvanizing, cut-to-length and colour coating lines. The aim is to improve process control reliability with modern solutions and ease maintainability. Danieli is undertaking similar work on MMK’s rolling mills.

In Japan, Topy Industries Limited is using a new off-line straightener for long products installed at the company’s Toyohashi plant where it is already running the first spooler line in Japan, supplied by Danieli in 2018.

The new machine weighs 60 tonnes and

works separately from the rolling line. Its job is to straighten profiles and sections including equal, unequal and inverted angles, grating beams, deformed flats and mast rails.

Topy wanted the machine specifically designed to allow roll-change sequences in just 30 minutes and was manufactured in Danieli workshops in China and then shipped as a single piece to Topy’s private dock.

Vietnamese steelmaker Hoa Phat has announced that a new Danieli casting and rolling line for high quality coils passed the 1Mt produced point eight months after start-up.

The Dung Quat plant, which is currently in an advanced commissioning phase, produced 200kt of hot rolled coil in January, representing 94% of the plant’s nominal capacity.

The new line features Danieli Quality Strip Production Technology that includes two vertical-curved thin-slab caster strands, a 210-metre tunnel furnace and a six-stand hot-rolling mill, followed by a strip cooling system, downcoiler and coil-handling process areas.

The complete electrical and automation system for all strip process areas, from Level 0 to the large drive system for HSM stands is designed and supplied by Danieli Automation.

The steel coils produced have strip widths of 1250mm and 1500mm and serve the needs of privately owned cold rolling mills, as well as domestic steel re-rollers and producers of pipeline products.

The cold test was completed in May 2020 with the production of the first hot-rolled coil, which was followed by the hot-commissioning in June.

The results obtained during this period corresponded to 90% of nominal capacity, confirming that Hoa Phat is on track to achieve its production target of 2.7 Mt/yr in 2021. An upstream melt shop expansion, planned for the end of this year, will bring the plant’s full capacity 3.5 Mt/ yr, a global benchmark in casting and rolling technology.

For further information, log on to www.danieli.com

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INNOVATIONS

Fossil-free fuel for Konecranes lift trucks Konecranes has been testing the use of HVO100 fossil-free fuel in lift trucks at its factory in Markaryd, Sweden, part of ongoing efforts to reduce its climate impact and meet customer demand for equipment using renewable fuels.

Results show the latest generation of Konecranes lift trucks can use HVO100, giving customers

driving 15,000 kilometres annually.

“The testing of renewable fuel compatibility shows how Konecranes Lift Trucks has put sustainability at the core of its strategy, driving business development and decisions. It’s fully in line with our mission – and Konecranes’ mission as a whole – to meet or exceed environmental laws and regulations,” said Zandra Wallin, environment health and safety manager, Konecranes Lift Trucks.

"Konecranes is stepping up efforts to decarbonize not only its own operations, but those of its customers. Fossil-free fuel,

the possibility to reduce their carbon footprint.

Demand for fossil-free fuel is growing as lift truck owners seek to reduce emissions and, in certain markets, meet governmental regulations. HVO100 is a 100% renewable and fossil-free chemical copy of regular diesel made mostly of vegetable oils as well as suitable waste and residue fat which can reduce fossil-based carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by up to 90%. With nearly the same characteristics as regular diesel, renewable HVO100 can be used in most, but not all, diesel engines without further modification.

Starting in Q4 2020, Konecranes has been testing HVO100 in selected lift trucks at Markaryd and found that it works as efficiently as regular diesel, with no engine modifications required. The results mean it can be used in all of Konecranes’ latest generation of lift trucks – Generation C – representing approximately 40% of the company’s fleet operating globally. Full compatibility with all legacy Konecranes lift trucks cannot be guaranteed given the age and variety of engines in older models.

While broader HVO100 adoption in the market will depend on customer preference and fuel availability, the potential for significant emission reductions is clear. Looking at Markaryd alone, the estimated reduction of tailpipe CO2 emissions from HVO100-fuelled trucks both produced and used at the site is expected to fall by over 300 tons per year – equivalent to 100 passenger cars

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INNOVATIONS

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Chemcoaters passes body-in-white test together with our energy-efficient Lift Trucks, provide a great opportunity for our customers to reduce their carbon footprint and give us a strong competitive advantage,” said Mikko Välimaa, vice president for health, safety, environment and quality (HSEQ) and sustainability at Konecranes.

For further information, log on to www.konecranes.com

Chemcoaters, a provider of anti-corrosion metal coatings for several industries, passed Bodyin-White (BIW) testing near the end of 2020, allowing customers to use their products in the automotive supply chain. This is the first time Chemcoaters’ rust-preventing products have been approved for use in BIW automotive applications.

Chemcoaters products include the InterCoat® ChemGuard line, a portfolio of corrosion-inhibiting coatings that extend zinc life and protect galvanized and galvannealed steels from rust.

While previously used primarily as a standalone corrosion inhibiting coating, recent technological developments allowed Chemcoaters to bring the line into post-paint markets as a hybrid pre-treatment or primer.

“Our team is excited about this development and what it means for the automotive industry,” said Brit Capizzano, head of new product development at Chemcoaters. “The BIW treatment process has rigorous requirements, and in passing this test we’re ecstatic to provide new cost-saving opportunities for automotive and truck OEMs.” The testing was conducted jointly with a leading supplier of BIW chemistries and a major transportation OEM. Both groups approved ChemGuard’s compatibility through all stages of the BIW process. Completed studies showed no interference with, or negative impact on, bath

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chemistries in the cleaning or pre-treatment sections. ECoat primer compatibility testing illustrated flawless adhesion free of any visual defects.

In the full automotive paint system, accelerated testing showed improved performance in paint creep and general corrosion.

“Automotive vehicles undergo plenty of harsh conditions on the road, and ensuring they can withstand those conditions is necessary for quality vehicles,” Capizzano said. “OEMs could benefit from InterCoat® ChemGuard in any area that requires additional corrosion and protection support.”

Chemcoaters plans to focus its efforts on specialty applications for automotive and transport customers. Because ChemGuard can be tailored to prevent issues like stone-chipping and oil or dust accumulation around sensitive electronic components, the company anticipates its use on parts prone to rust or exposed to extreme conditions. ChemGuard also offers robust self-healing and cut-edge protection to a number of compatible galvanized substrates.

Chemcoaters anticipates that ChemGuard’s BIW compatibility will greatly expand the company’s ability to provide anti-corrosion solutions to its customers.

For further information, log on to www.chemcoaters.com

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PLANT SAFETY

28th April is Steel Safety Day. Established in 2014, Steel Safety Day was set up to reinforce awareness of the five most common causes of safety incidents and to create a safer working environment across the entire steel industry worldwide.

The five most common causes of safety incidents are: (1) moving machinery, (2) working at heights, (3) falling objects, (4) on-site traffic and (5) process safety. While we encourage and give continuous support for the identification and control of hazards and risks related to all of these common causes, every year we select one of them to focus on. The focus for 2021 is moving machinery

Machinery safety – moving machinery People who work in the steel industry, especially in operational areas, must recognise that working and interacting with machinery exposes them to kinetic and potential (or stored) energies, which need to be controlled and isolated in order to prevent harm.

Depending on their nature, machines can be the source of multiple hazards and risks. These may be related to pressure, chemicals, or electrical or mechanical energy. Therefore, strategies to implement risk management and control should consider the nature of these hazards and the way the machine functions.

Our focus on moving machinery covers mainly static machines with moving parts, such as conveyors, product handling equipment, moving parts embedded within steel manufacturing and finishing processes, and lifting equipment.

In a survey of machinery-related incidents, worldsteel identified the need to reinforce April 2021

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Keeping safe on-site

several aspects such as the critical role of isolation, control systems, safety devices, human error, guarding and interlocks. The last three emerged as the top causes of serious incidents.

The importance of risk management for machines and the application of the hierarchy of controls is clear, however there is a strong need to keep risk assessments current.

Circumstances change, and due to contextual factors, such as old and ageing equipment that could not have considered contemporary issues during their design phase, companies should ensure that risk assessments are regularly refreshed. These assessments will determine the necessary

level of guarding and interlocking, considering provisions for maintainability, ergonomics, and potential threats because of human error.

Risks and controls The main risks we are aiming to highlight with this year’s campaign are those associated with moving parts. These include risks of crushing, shearing, cutting or severing, entanglement, drawing in or trapping, impact, stabbing or puncturing, friction or abrasion, and high-pressure fluid injection (a result of a person being struck by hydraulic fluid, steam or air).

We strongly encourage the implementation of the hierarchy of controls, www.steeltimesint.com

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PLANT SAFETY

which are: Elimination The best way to manage a hazard is to remove it, and machinery hazards can be eliminated through good design. We encourage our members to implement inherent safety design. Project management should ensure that systems are in place to challenge design teams to identify opportunities in the early stages of projects.

The potential risk reduction is higher and more cost-effective during conceptual design.

Engineering controls Where hazards cannot be eliminated, www.steeltimesint.com

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engineering controls to reduce the hazards should be applied, for example: 1. Fixed or movable guarding (consider interlocking) 2. Self-closing guards 3. Safety devices without physical barriers (camera, radar, lights, optoelectronics, photoelectric effect, etc) 4. Sensitive safety mats 5. Two-handed controls

Unintended behaviour of the operator or reasonably foreseeable misuse of the machine Human error will always be normal, and organisations should consider the design of the activities to cope with human performance variability. Building capacity to respond to any abnormal situation which can cause a serious injury or fatality is essential.

Administrative The systems for managing hazards via safety rules or permits to work (for example, isolation procedures) are examples of information, instruction, and training.

These aspects are important to ensure that machines are only used by workers who are competent. Workers need to be trained in the standard operation of their plant as

Human-related issues can be: • loss of control of the machine by the operator (especially for hand-held or mobile machines), • reflex behaviour of a person in case of malfunction, incident or failure during the use of the machine, • behaviour resulting from lack of concentration or carelessness,

well as its safety features, procedures to be followed in the case of start-up, shut-down, cleaning or maintenance as appropriate.

The level of information, instruction and training should take into account the nature and extent of supervision.

For example, the less or more remote the supervision, the higher the level of competency required. Employers may consider authorising workers to operate machinery as a method of formalising and recognising competence.

• behaviour resulting from taking shortcuts (the ‘line of least resistance’) in carrying out a task, • behaviour resulting from pressures to keep the machine running in all circumstances, and • behaviour of certain persons (for example, vulnerable workers).

Personal protective equipment There are only limited occasions where personal protective equipment can protect against kinetic hazards. Personal protective equipment is usually to protect against other hazards associated with plant, such as hearing protection for noise or eye protection for the risk of ejection of dust or waste.

Call to action worldsteel encourages all steel producers to elaborate effective risk assessments for machinery using recognised standards such as: • NF EN ISO 12100 • ISO 14120:2015 • NF EN ISO 13 8491 • European directive 2006/42 Moving machinery incidents can cause serious injuries and fatalities, thus it is very important to identify the precursors of these incidents. � April 2021

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PERSPECTIVES Q&A: REDEX GROUP

Strong demand driven by new tech While business was uncertain at the beginning of the pandemic, today it’s the complete opposite for Redex Group. The company has been working hard to meet the demands of its growing customer base for stretch-levelling solutions, says Pascal Vieugué* 1. How are things going at Redex Group?

At the beginning of the pandemic, we received far fewer contacts and requests, and forecasts were uncertain. A year later, the situation the complete opposite and we are working hard to meet the specific needs of our many customers.

2. What is your view on the current state of the global steel industry?

We are seeing very strong demand for precision steel strip driven by new technologies such as batteries and fuel cells. Demand for stainless steel continues to grow.

Our customers are also looking for solutions to improve their competitiveness in the market place, including upgrading their existing processing or finishing lines.

3. In which sector of the steel industry does Redex Group mostly conduct its business?

Beyond its own skills and long experience, the acquisition of Ungerer GmbH in 2017, and more recently of the patents of BWG GmbH, and the integration of its most talented engineers into its teams, have made the Redex Group a true European engineering company. In the specific field of steel, the Group’s enriched offer enables it to support its customers in a very large number of specialised processes.

To mention only the most significant ones: - The most complete range of stretch bend levelling solutions.

- Backing assemblies and maintenance solutions on 20-high mills.

- Entry and exit of processing lines.

- Any type of shears.

- Scale breakers.

- Skin pass mills.

- Cleaning sections.

- Coating section and flotation drying.

4. Where in the world are you busiest at present?

We are truly experienced in supporting our customers all over the world.

For many we export to more than 50 countries, mainly Asia, the Middle East, South Africa, the USA and Europe. And our service centres in Asia, America and Europe enable us to cover support needs, from advice, training, or spare parts, or even to larger investment requirements, very quickly.

5. Can you discuss any major steel contracts you are currently working on?

In the specific field of steel, we have built and delivered during 2020 and early 2021 several stretch-bend levelling lines for copper and stainless steel, and a specific slitting line for stainless steel.

A good example of the success of listening to our customers and the market is the recent commissioning of our new, patented multi-axis robot, called ROBEX®.

Dedicated to handling the backing assemblies and second intermediate rolls on a 20-high mill type ZR22, this very first

robot was delivered to one of our longstanding steel customers in France. And we are already working on new requests for 20-high mill ZR21 and 22 types for this unique equipment, which meets a definite need of steel processors who use this type of rolling mill.

6. Where does Redex Group stand on the aluminium versus steel argument?

Since we have the expertise to provide comparable equipment for strip processing and finishing of both metals, our stated goal is to help each of our customers and partners to get the most out of the technologies in which they are investing the most, and thus to achieve better performance in both of them.

7. What are your views on Industry 4.0 and steelmaking and how, if at all, is Redex Group using it?

For many years, REDEX Group engineers have been developing, improving and integrating automation intelligence in the equipment we supply to our customers, within our own firmware, always supplied with lines and equipment. This specialized software, which was already increasingly oriented towards data exchange with external networks, is a great help for end users during line configuration and set-up, and for monitoring during production. The same software is now also increasingly used to optimize predictive maintenance actions, in conjunction with our own technical services.

We are again taking a step forward by giving our customers the possibility to use the data recorded on their equipment, not only for monitoring instantaneous performance, but also and above all to enable them to draw on past experience to improve their processes and efficiency.

* Managing Director, Redex Group.

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PERSPECTIVES Q&A: REDEX GROUP

8. Hydrogen steelmaking appears to be the next big thing. What’s your view?

Thanks to hydrogen, steel can be produced without CO2 emissions, which is good for the planet, and good for an industrial sector whose environmental impact has often been discussed.

9. Are steelmakers looking to companies like Redex Group to offer them solutions in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability?

Sustainability and energy efficiency are now major concerns, and thus are expressed in the background of most of the requests we receive. Without waiting for this type of request, the concern of our engineering teams has always been to provide solutions that guarantee the quality of the finished product while minimizing energy expenses. The recyclability of components and consumables is also systematically examined when choosing the technical solutions integrated into the REDEX Group’s equipment. And the skills integrated into the Group in terms of tooling repair (backups and flatness rollers, in particular), allow us to considerably increase their lifespan.

10. Where does Redex Group lead the field in terms of steel production technology?

The REDEX Group is now part of a tiny club of leading engineering companies in the field of solutions for the processing and finishing of steel strip. The company supports steel production technology: we are constantly developing new solutions and products and we have a very large patent portfolio.

We are the clear market leader in stretch-bend levelling technology with the largest range of solutions. REDEX Group is an industrial group strongly invested in its own manufacturing process thanks to its production plants in France and Germany. The mastery of the most strategic manufacturing in our own workshops allows us, for example, to aim at becoming very quickly the market leader in backup assemblies for 20-high rolling mills or cassettes, including bending rolls and levelling units.

11. How do you view Redex Group’s development over the short-tomedium term?

The current installed steel production

capacity is huge. The very large investments made over the last decade mean that most of the existing equipment is unfortunately not used to its full capacity. And it is foreseeable that future mergers of steel producers will lead to the shutdown of some lines or to the modernization of others in order to increase efficiency and improve quality. The REDEX Group is well suited for this type of mission, with more than 50 qualified engineers working with customers to develop unique solutions to upgrade standard equipment or to bring ageing equipment up to new standards.

12. How should the industry react to China?

China is the largest steel producer in the world, and so it is not surprising that more than 30% of the Redex Group’s production is now destined for China.

However, we have noticed for some years that Europe and the United States are reacting strongly, thanks to innovation in new materials and processes.

The REDEX Group, is clearly available to help the steel leaders regain their footing in this competition. Innovation is the best way to do this, and our broad engineering capabilities and experience will be put at the disposal of our customers to do so.

13. Where do you see most innovation in terms of production technologies – primary, secondary or more downstream?

We are much more interested in downstream processes. These require very innovative technologies to industrialize new materials recently developed, and to obtain better performance with the equipment

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already installed. Thus, REDEX Group is developing technologies to improve the quality produced on existing lines, with a particularly interesting ROI. 14. How optimistic are you for the global steel industry?

Knowing by experience its strong resilience and its innovative capability, we have no doubt that the steel industry will continue to grow and renew itself as much as necessary to solve these challenges and still be in position to supply the world with one of the most necessary products for its development.

15. What exhibitions and conferences will Redex Group be attending in over the next six months?

Redex will not participate in any event of this type in 2021, especially as these events are international in nature and the possibility of travelling may still be complicated for many months.

16. Redex Group is headquartered in France, but what’s happening steel-wise in the country?

REDEX has a long history of working with steel specialists in France.

The sector has evolved a lot in the country over the last 40 years, but thanks to the relationships of trust that our teams have built up over time with their contacts, we are very proud to be able to count among our customers the historical factories of today’s majors, such as Tata Steel and Arcelor Mittal. We continue to work closely with them and will continue to bring real added value to their activities. �

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HISTORY

Recitza – A new 18C ironmaking plant Last month he wrote about the rise and fall of Bocsa in Romania. In this follow-up article, Romulus Ioan* looks at Recitza, which remains a centre of ironmaking today as part of TMK’s European Division.

BY 1768 Bocsa was in serious decline.

At this time, prior to the emergence of Romania as a country in 1859 by unification of Moldova and Wallachia, Banat was owned by the Imperial Hapsburg Crown and the works were funded by the Austrian Treasury and administered by the Aulic Chamber of Mines & Mining.

Despite leasing out parts of the plant to cut costs, in 1757, the Treasury mortgaged the Province to the Wiener Gemerinde Bank of Austria for 10 million florins in return for payment to the Bank of all taxes raised, fees received and income from Banat-Timisan. Banat-Timisan included the mountainous region of Banat where ore, timber and water power for ironmaking initially abounded, while Timisan is a more agricultural part of the province.

The Treaty of Paris of 1763 resulted in the Hapsburgs losing the mining region of Silesia, given over to Prussia. Desperate efforts were needed to compensate for this loss and to close a growing technological gap in ironmaking. To achieve this, intensive exploitation of the iron and coal deposits of Banat and Transylvania was required. Transylvania, to the East, with a common border with Banat, was an autonomous principality under the control of the Hapsburg Empire, and included the important ironmaking region of Hunedoara.

A review of the condition of the Bocşa works in 1768, concluded: ‘the land in Bocşa no longer corresponds to an expansion of the plant’, and proposed the establishment of a new facility some 20km upstream at Recitza-Resita. Here, falls on the river Bârzava could provide power to drive water wheels and local forests supplies of timber for charcoal and construction. Earlier surveys had found numerous deposits of iron ore.

On 31 October 1768 the Aulic Chamber of Mines and Mining recommended the building of a new plant to Empress Maria Theresa who approved it on 12

Useful volume (m3)

Height of stack

Diameter of crucible

6.94

m 6.64

0.735

feet

21 2.39

5

Max Diam at Bosh

Diameter of top of furnace

1.85

0.632

2

Table 1. Dimensions of the blast furnaces

August 1769. The engineer Carl Alexander Steinlein was entrusted to build it and work commenced on erecting two furnaces, three forges, a grinding shop and a saw mill in November that year. Two lime kilns and two brick kilns were the first items to be constructed to supply materials for building.

Over a period of 21 months, the labour force ranged between 17-21 masons, 1623 carpenters and 170-224 labourers. Forty eight carts were employed to transport materials and 70,000 bricks made for buildings. The furnaces were 10.8m high and were built by the Franciscan monk, Mihail Gozdici, and named Franciscus and Josephus. On 3 July 1771, the first blast furnace was lit. Its dimensions are provided in Table 1.

In October the same year the first of the refining forges was commissioned and by the end of the year both furnaces were in operation along with four forge hearths.

In 1776, two more forge hammers were added to produce bar iron and two to produce forged products. By 1778, the output of each furnace was around 12.6 tons a month each averaging 0.42t a day.

Outputs for forged products for various periods in 1778 are recorded in Table 2.

Output of iron for castings is not recorded in the table and accounted for about the same quantity as iron sent to the forges for refining. By 1780, sufficient orders had been placed to require an updating and expansion of equipment. However, after nine years in operation, the problem of timber depletion for charcoal production now impacted Recitza. In 1782, a furnace with a greater useful volume replaced one of the two original furnaces.

600 horses were registered for the production and transport of wood and charcoal. From 1783 wood was floated down river to the ironworks. This method of rafting timber was abandoned in 1803.

Today, Recitza remains a centre of iron production with TMK Recitza within TMK’s European Division making steel from scrap via the EAF-ladle furnace route to provide continuously cast billet for tubes, heavy round profiles and blooms mainly for pipe and seamless tube production at TMK-Artrom located at Slatina, in southern Romania. �

Production in period

2 blast furnaces, cast iron for refining 4 refining hearths and hammers for thick bars

1 Bohemian oven for carburising wrought iron* with a hammer for straight bar 2 rolling mill lines, for wrought iron

Period 11 months

tons 138.564

348days (~11.6 months)

163.835

102 days (~3.4 months)

41.411

185 days (~6.1 months)

120.184

[*A Bohemian type oven, probably from Bohemia in the 16th century, was a process to make steel by cementation. It was patented in England by William Ellyott and Mathias Meysey in 1614 and consisted of sealing wrought iron in crucibles containing carbonaceous material and heating these in a reverberatory furnace – fuelled by coal in England]

Table 2 .Pig iron for forging and forged iron during 1778

* Dr Ioan is executive director of the Resita steel plant, part of the TMK Group April 2021

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IT‘S MORE THAN JUST A MACHINE.

WE MAKE YOUR PRODUCT GOLD KOCKS.DE