MPT International 2-3/2020 (June)

No. 2 / 3 | June 2020

In focus: Hydrogen The right stuff for cleaner steelmaking | 22

Industry 4.0 Umati on the way to become the language of production | 41

Steelanol and Torero Converting waste into valuable new products | 53

Direct-Reduced Iron becomes more popular Part I of a Series | 44

IT’S MORE THAN JUST A MACHINE.

WE MAKE YOUR PRODUCT GOLD

EDITORIAL

Dear Readers,

At the time the first issue of MPT of the 2020s went to press, coronavirus had only cast its first shadows on the industry, resulting in the cancellation of various trade fairs and other events where many people would come together. In the meantime, the regular operation of almost all companies we care about have been negatively affected.

The steel industry and its suppliers were—and still are—among the hardest hit in the manufacturing industries. As an industry magazine, MPT International suddenly had to take an involuntary and unplanned break, basically skipping the regular second issue, and now continuing in June with a double issue. We hope to resume to our regular publication schedule in the second half of the year.

At the time of our first issue, the problems for plant builder companies were confined to their Asia business. Shortly thereafter, lockdowns had taken a grip on virtually every country in the world.

Several companies will present their view on the circumstances in this issue.

Direct-reduced iron (DRI) is the metallurgy topic that became hot after several heads of German mills at a conference agreed that this would be the direction to take. We asked for your comments on DRI for a series on the technologies and issues around DRI. The C-19 lockdown has made the topic even hotter because, in times of a radical economic break, traditional blast furnace are the hardest to stop when demand goes down.

The stopping and restarting of blast furnaces is one of the most critical challenges in the business of running an oxygen-route steel plant. Hence, we will continue asking experts for insights on blowing down and blowing in.

For MPT itself, the radical publication break means that we cannot give all topics the space they deserve in the printed edition. We are currently reorganising the website we share with our two German sister publications, Stahlmarkt and stahl+eisen, to provide English-language updates in between the publication date of the printed edition.

Stay healthy,

Christian Köhl Editor in Chief, MPT International

MPT International / June 2020

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CONTENTS

23

JUNE 2020

A comprehensive study on carbonreducing technologies that is easy-tounderstand even for newcomers

NEWS 6 People &Places Outokumpu, Liberty, Severstal, Scholz Recycling

7 International Industry Voestalpine, Severstal, SMS group, Tenova, Redex, and more

10 Equipment: Orders & Commissionings Nucor, SAIL, Baosteel,Posco, PT Krakatau, and more

15 Calendar of Events

BUSINESS & POLITICS 18 … and the virus goes on Let’s hear from various companies what they have to say about the crisis and the measures they have taken so far.

18 German plantbuilders hold their own

in a difficult environment in 2019 In a slowing economic environment, particularly activities by metallurgical plantbuilders contributed positively to the sector’s performance in 2019.

20 Blowing in and blowing down of

blast furnaces The procedures for blowing in and blowing down of blast furnaces are influenced by many factors and vary from plant to plant.

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29

Who-is-Who in the steel industry – A showcase of suppliers and service providers worth knowing

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT / SPECIAL: HYDROGEN 22 H2-based DRI is best for CO2 reduction A new study by consultancy group Roland Berger evaluates possible technologies and shows how the transformation can succeed.

24 Green Hydrogen for Renewable Products Refinery in Rotterdam CEA, Neste, Paul Wurth, Engie and Sunfire announce a project-partnership for highly efficient hydrogen production.

25 Thyssenkrupp enters hydrogen

partnership with RWE Green hydrogen from an RWE electrolyzer will help thyssenkrupp sustainably reduce CO2 emissions from steel production in the future, starting in the middle of the 2020s.

26 SALCOS – Salzgitter initiative for reducing CO2 in the steel production of the future Plus: Germany brings hydrogen strategy on the way

27 SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall one step closer to production of fossil-free steel Within the framework of the HYBRIT initiative, preparations are now under way for the construction of a demonstration plant in Norrbotten, Sweden.

28 Ovako to heat steel using hydrogen Together with Linde Gas AB, Ovako has conducted a full-scale trial using hydrogen to heat steel before rolling, at the Hofors rolling mill in Sweden

June 2020 / MPT International

COVER STORY: In our series on DRI, this edition will be dedicated to the Energiron process

by Tenova and Danieli.

53

ArcelorMittal Gent will be converting waste into valuable new products.

ADVERTORIAL 50 Your partner in metallurgy worldwide AUMUND Group technologies provide solutions for numerous conveying applications in ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy as well as in foundries.

INNOVATION 53 Giant 3D Printer to produce Gear Parts

46

In the future, components for marine gearboxes might come from the 3D printer instead of the foundry.

Energiron Direct Reduction Technology by Danieli and Tenova

53 Steelanol and Torero projects by ArcelorMittal get boost The European Investment Bank (EIB), has granted a €75 million loan to ArcelorMittal for converting waste and by-products into valuable new products.

WHO IS WHO 29 SPECIAL COMPANY INDEX A showcase of suppliers and service providers, including Glama, Filtratec, HPL, and many more

INDUSTRY 4.0 / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 41 Umati on the way to become the world language of production Two major German industry associations, VDMA and VDW, will jointly promote the use and distribution of OPC UA standards for the entire mechanical engineering industry under the Umati brand.

MILL TECHNOLOGY / FLATNESS MEASUREMENT 54 UMS PRO: A new unflatness measurement

system for SBL lines Ungerer introduces a system for unflatness measurement of strip steel that combines the commonly used high tension and low-tension measurement methods.

MILL TECHNOLOGY / IRONMAKING 56 Thyssenkrupp: SIP oxygen technology for the

CO2 neutrality A profile of Smart Steel Technologies, a Berlin-based start-up whose solutions are already employed by ArcelorMittal

blast furnace process Thyssenkrupp in Duisburg is testing the “sequence impulse process with induced shockwaves (SIP), a new blast furnace technology designed to enhance process efficiency.

MILL TECHNOLOGY / STEELMAKING

OPINION / A THOUGHT FOR THE ROAD

44 DRI for the future? – Part I

57 A return to the home range intimes of crisis?

42 AI-start-up ventures big step towards

several techologies and issues around the topic

46 Energiron Direct Reduction Technology In our series on DRI, this edition will be dedicated to the Energiron process by Tenova and Danieli

The experience of disruptions in the fragile supply chain caused by the COVID-19 will have end-users rethink and remember that price should not be the only concern.

COLUMNS 3 Editorial 58 In the next issue / Advertisers’ index / Imprint

MPT International / June 2020

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NEWS

PEOPLE, PLACES & COMPANIES

Outokumpu appoints Heikki Malinen as President and CEO

Heikki Malinen

Outokumpu’s Board of Directors has appointed Heikki Malinen, as president and CEO of Outokumpu and the chairman of the Leadership Team. He assumed his role as the CEO on May 16, 2020. Heikki Malinen has previously worked as CEO in Posti Group Corporation and in Pöyry PLC. Prior to these, he has held various leadership positions in UPM in the USA and in Finland.

Malinen has been a member of the Outokumpu

Board of Directors since 2012, and due to his appointment, he will resign from the Board at the end of April.

Kari Jordan, chairman of the Outokumpu Board of Directors, highlighted Malinen’s previous CEO roles in demanding environments, as well as international experience in sales and process industry. Malinen is succeeding Roeland Baan, who left in May.

LIBERTY Steel appoints global executive for Primary Steel and Integrated Mining LIBERTY Steel Group has announced the appointment of Paramjit Kahlon as CEO, Primary Steel and Integrated Mining. This newly created role will bring together all of LIBERTY’s primary steel making and integrated mining operations into one global structure to drive synergies and operational efficiencies. Paramjit Kahlon has held senior positions at ArcelorMittal between 2008 and 2019, including as chief technical officer, chief operating officer and more recently as CEO for CIS and the Middle East.

“Paramjit is one of the world’s top steel executives whose experience will be invaluable as we execute

Paramjit Kahlon

our global strategy, drive synergies across the group and achieve carbon neutrality by 2030,” said executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta commenting on the appointment. Kahlon will oversee all of LIBERTY Steel Group’s primary steel and integrated mining businesses located in Ostrava in the Czech Republic, Galati in Romania, and Whyalla and Tahmoor in Australia.His immediate focus will be on dealing with the COVID-19 crisis and then ensuring the operations are sustainable over the long term through investment in lower carbon technologies such as hydrogen, DRI and Electric Arc Furnaces, the company says in its announcement.

Head of Environment to lead Severstal’s Climate Strategy

Olga Kalashnikova

Severstal has appointed of Olga Kalashnikova as its new head of environment to lead the company’s strategy to reduce its carbon footprint and meet the climate challenge. The creation of this new role underlines Severstal’s commitment to achieving a leading sustainability performance among global steel producers, the company says.

Olga Kalashnikova, who was previously responsible for upstream environmental performance at Shell Russia, is now primarily focused on the development of a clear strategy and roadmap to bring down Severstal’s carbon emissions. She is also working closely with departments across the

business to ensure the company’s environmental initiatives are aligned to Severstal’s stated ESG targets with a particular focus on the reduction of air emissions and wastewater.

During more than 10 years at Royal Dutch Shell, she was responsible for ensuring best environmental practices were maintained at the group’s joint ventures in Russia, as well as for developing and running strategies to address local environmental issues, including those related to biodiversity, environmentally sensitive areas, managing greenhouse gas emissions and energy efficiency.

German-Chinese Recycling Group Appoints New CEO The Scholz Group, one of Europe’s largest metal recyclers, and the Chinese holding company Chiho Environmental Group (CEG) are now headed by a new, joint managing director. As chief executive officer (CEO), Rafael Suchan is to manage the international business across the entire group and thus bring the global companies closer together. He has assumed duties filled previously by Chiho director Henry Qin, who remains chairman of CEG. As a result, not only the activities of Chiho in China and Asia, but also the entire Scholz Group, with its subsidiaries in Europe and North America, will be managed from a single position. Suchan is an internationally experienced manager from the chemical group Lanxess. He was born near the founding place of the Scholz company in Silesia, now Poland. He grew up in Germany, and has lived in China with his family for almost fifteen years.

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June 2020 / MPT International

NEWS

INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY

tk Industrial Solutions for ore extraction and processing as well as coking technology

Thyssenkrupp sells parts of plant engineering activities

Source: Thyssenkrupp; Semiotic Labs

As part of its strategic realignment, Thyssenkrupp is currently examining opportunities for partnerships or sales of our plant construction businesses, Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions. The aim is to improve the competitive position of the businesses and give them the best possible future prospects, the company says. The usual formal process has already been initiated and information materials have been sent out to potential interested parties, it says.

Thyssenkrupp’s plant construction business employs around 11,500 people worldwide and generated sales of around €4 billion in fiscal 2018/2019. Its portfolio includes customized, turnkey special and large-scale plants, plant components and services for customers in the chemical, fertilizer, cement, mining and steel industries among others. For the steel industry it supplies solutions for the mining, processing and transportation of raw materials through to product optimization, especially in the areas of ore extraction and processing, coking technology, metallurgy, transport and storage solutions. tk Industrial Solutions has combined the know-how of the former coke oven plant engineering and construction companies Dr. C. Otto, Carl Still, Krupp-Koppers and Didier under its roof. It claims to be the only company in the world who can offer, supply and commission complete coke oven plants of widely differing designs from a single source.

Italian manufacturer for welding machines. By adding welding machines to the portfolio, the austrian company now intends to offer “comprehensive full welding solutions”, states a press release. In the next few months, Selco should be integrated into the Böhler Welding brand, with the preservation and expansion of the comprehensive know-how relating to machine construction and programming of welding software with Selco’s technology inside remaining an important part. The companies already cooperated at the launch of Voestalpine’s “Terra” and “Uranos” welding machine lines in June 2019.

SMS group and Semiotic Labs sign collaboration agreement Semiotic Labs, a scale-up company based in Leiden, Netherlands, and SMS group have signed an agreement under which the two companies will cooperate in the field of predictive maintenance. The AI-based (Artificial Intelligence) technology developed by Semi-

otic Labs uses electrical signals and the data fingerprint of AC motors and other rotating equipment to monitor and analyze the condition of critical plant assets and enable reliable and early prediction of developing faults. In contrast to traditional, vibration-based solutions, SAM4 developed by Semiotic Labs operates based on sensors installed directly in the control cabinet – not on the asset itself. “This solution is particularly useful for the monitoring of equipment in service under rough operating conditions as typical in the metallurgical industry”, SMS group writes in a press release. According to the company SAM4 has already been implemented successfully on numerous hot wide strip mills and other applications in steel plants throughout Europe.

Tenova restructures businesses and governance Tenova has announced the decision to reorganize its business and to review the governance structure accordingly.

The changes are intended to steady the

Voestalpine Böhler acquires Italian manufacturer Selco Voestalpine Böhler Welding has aquired a majority stake in Selco, a traditional

MPT International / June 2020

Simon Jagers, Semiotic Labs (3rd from right); with Tobias Wachs, Ralf-Martin Rautmann, Christoph Häusler, Eike Permin and Holger Hermeling from SMS group

7

INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY

company around the two businesses in which it operates – metals and mining, so as to “better focus on each’s specific priorities, market approach and global presence. In the context of this reorganization, the role of Tenova CEO has been assigned to Roberto Pancaldi, previously CEO of the Metals Division, while Andrea Lovato, the former Tenova CEO, will assume the role of Takraf CEO. “The extraordinary situation caused by the outbreak of COVID-19 at a global level has accelerated the rethinking of our business model and the definition of a new structure to better fit the complexity of the current business scenario, with a leaner structure and a clearer definition of roles”, commented Andrea Lovato. This change should leave more autonomy to the respective CEO’s “in developing their businesses and in building their long-term sustainability while they concentrate on short-term consolidation and continuity”, Tenova writes in a press release.

Severstal invests in 22.5% reduction of atmospheric emissions at Cherepovets Severstal plans to invest RUB2.5 billion ($36 million) in upgrading gas cleaning equipment for the sintering process stage at Cherepovets Steel Mill (CherMK). This investment will result in a 22.5% reduction in the plant’s gross emissions in comparison with 2017 levels, Severstal says.

The equipment upgrade includes the installation of a sinter gas recirculation

system and replacing current dust gas purification devices. The new recirculation system will enable recirculating exhaust gases to be re-used during the sintering process, reducing the overall volume of gas emissions from the plant and saving consumption of solid fuel.

New equipment to reduce emissions will be installed at sintering machines No.10 and No.11 at CherMK.” Also, the plant’s battery cyclones will be replaced by electrostatic precipitators.

Seperately, the company announced that it has installed one of three Danieli Corus sublance systems for oxygen converters at the BOF shop at Cherepovets.

Earrlier this year, it announced the investment of RUB3 billion ($47 million) into the replacement of No.1 shaft furnace at Cherepovets steelworks’ electrical steel smelting and processing facility. Severstal commissioned Danieli to supply and build the equipment, including both basic and secondary engineering solutions, which will replace the shaft furnace.

NLMK Tests new air purification systems NLMK Lipetsk, NLMK Group’s flagship production site, has completed performance testing of new air purification systems installed on facilities that underwent capital repairs in late 2019, namely Basic Oxygen Furnace No. 2, which has a capacity in excess of 3 million tonnes of steel per year and Blast Furnace No. 6, which has a capacity of 3.4 million tonnes of pig iron per year.

Gas exhaust ducts at Basic Oxygen Furnace No. 2 have been overhauled and a highly efficient system for the capture

and purification of fugitive emissions has been installed at the BOF Shop. At the upgraded Blast Furnace No. 6 complex, new air purification systems have been integrated at feedstock supply and slag processing areas, and at the cast house. The new air purification systems can capture up to 99.9% of dust and are in line with best available technologies.

REDEX Group opens a Technical Center and reinforces its Metal Strip Processing solutions After taking over Ungerer GmbH in 2017, REDEX Group has acquired strategic patents from BWG GmbH. As a result, REDEX says is now able to offer the largest portfolio of Metal Strip Processing solutions, from foil to heavy gage coils. With the aim to develop new technologies and support metal strip producers worldwide, REDEX Group says it has strengthened its R&D by opening an Engineering Center in Duisburg. The portfolio of Metal Strip Processing solutions from REDEX Group includes consulting service, engineering and line modernization, complete process lines (heat treatment, coating, cleaning & more), finishing lines (tension leveling, slitting, cut to length), in-line flatness measurement and closed loop control systems, as well as key equipment (skinpass mills, flying shears, Stacking units, edge trimmer etc) and toolings (20-high mill backing assemblies, leveler cassettes and working rolls, among others). REDEX is a 70-year old family owned European group with facilities in Europe, USA, China and India.

Sources: REDEX Group

NEWS

REDEX Group has opened an engineering center in Duisburg.

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June 2020 / MPT International

Dansteel supplies first batch of high-yield strength plate NLMK Dansteel is supplying its so-called S500MC high-strength plate to the machine builders and the first batch of 1,000 tonnes has now been delivered, the company says to the industry platform Kallanish. This grade has a yield strength of 500 Mpa and is used to manufacture heavy vehicle components including wheel axle parts. According to NLMK, the use of high-strength steel ensures strong performance under high static and dynamic loads at temperatures as los as -50°C and increases the reliability of equipment. Dansteel launched the industrial production of its 13 – 60 millimeters thickness S500MC plate in 2019 after an accelerated cooling system was installed a the site’s plate mill. Thermomechanical treatment ensures high strength and viscosity properties and better plate weldability, Kallanish refers to the company. Slabs used by NLMK DanSteel for the production of high-strength plates are supplied by NLMK Lipetsk, NLMK Group’s flagship site in Russia.

Source: Danieli

NLMK opens R&D centre for product innovation NLMK Group has opened a laboratory centre in Lipetsk for microstructure analysis, which will analyse the properties of steel to develop new premium products and optimize metal processing techniques. The centre is equipped with the latest high-precision measuring equipment. Several dozen unique devices enable more than a thousand types of microscopy and chemical analysis measurements to be taken.

This multi-method research will facilitate the development of new steel grades, NLMK says. For example, a transmission electron microscope makes it possible to visualize the atoms of a crystal lattice that are 0.15 nanometres in size. A similar microscope was employed by scientists Dubochet, Frank and Henderson in 2017, which earned them a Nobel Prize in chemistry for the development of high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy. The optical emission spectrometer may be used to quickly determine the content of non-metallic inclusions, among other applications. The

MPT International / June 2020

Magnesium Research Rolling Mill

quenching-deformation dilatometer enables real-time simulation of mechanical loads being applied to steel.

Danieli to overhaul research rolling mill after severe fire damageplate Danieli Fröhling supplied a rolling mill to the Helmholtz Materials Research Center in Geesthacht, Germany, in 2011, as part of the core research equipment of the Magnesium Innovation Center for developing magnesium alloy sheets. In July 2017, the research rolling mill was seriously damaged by a major fire. The mill was fully dismantled after the fire and then stored.

Recently, the institute decided to fully rebuild the Cast & Roll shop. The overhaul of equipment will be conducted In the Danieli Germany workshops, with final re-installation and commissioning at Helmholtz Center in 2021.

MMK Group Allocates RUB13 billion for Environmental Programs in 2020 Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works at the end of April approved environmental goals for 2020 and the group’s environmental programme, which will swallow RUB 13.3 billion ($191 million) this year. The most significant part of environmental investments, more than RUB 6 billion, will be spent on the construction of environmental protection structures at new production facilities, primarily in coking production. In particular, environmental protection facili-

ties at the coke oven battery complex No.12 are under construction, as well as facilities being built as part of the reconstruction of the chemical products capture and processing plant. The plan also covers recycling efforts and recultivation of disturbed lands at the West pit of Magnitogorsk Mountain and the biological reclamation phase of the Western quarry. RUB2.4 billion have been lined up for 20 measures to reduce the discharge of pollutants into water bodies, the largest of which is the reconstruction of the mechanical and biochemical wastewater treatment plant at the chemical products capture and processing plant.

Arcelor-Mittal Nippon Steel India acquires Bhander power plant Arcelor-Mittal Nippon Steel (AMNS) India announced that it has completed the acquisition of Bhander power plant in Hazirain Gujarat from Edelweiss asset reconstruction company. Bhander, a natural gas-based thermal plant with an installed capacity of 500 megawatts, will remain captive to AMNS India’s steel manufacturing operations in Hazira.

The plant was commissioned in 2006 and commenced commercial operations in 2008. Also, earlier in February 2020, Arcelor-Mittal India Private Limited (AMIPL) was selected preferred bidder for an iron ore mine license in Odisha following an auction process facilitated by the state government. Thakurani block in the district of Keonjhar, with estimated reserves of almost 180 million tonnes, is expected to make a valuable contribution to AMNS India’s long-term raw material requirements.

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NEWS

EQUIPMENT: ORDERS & COMMISSIONINGS

Americas CANADA

Two of a total of seven previously delivered heat treatment plants for electrical steel to Shougang

established continuous casting and rolling endless operation on day 3, achieved the design casting speed on day 5, producing a billet more than 1 km long. On February 18, after it had produced more than 500 short tons of rebar No. 4 in endless mode, the provisional acceptance certificate was signed. Nucor Steel Sedalia (NSSED) is the tenth Danieli minimill featuring Endless Casting-Rolling ECR technology for long products in operation worldwide, and the third in operation in the USA. This will be followed soon by the second MIDA-ECR plant ordered by Nucor from Danieli, which is under construction in Frostproof, Florida.

Asia CAN-ENG’s continuous mesh belt atmosphere furnace

USA

Nucor Corporation has awarded SMS group a follow-up order for the supply of reheat and heat-treatment facilities. The new equipment will be part of the new plate mill being built in Brandenburg, Kentucky. According to SMS group, the new casting machine will become the largest slab caster in the world. It will produce slabs of 200 to 305 mm thickness and up to 3,150 mm width. The follow-up contract now received by SMS group is for all of the new plate mill’s slab and ingot reheat equipment, for a heat-treatment line for heavy plate of up to 356 mm thickness and for a continuous heat-treatment line with MultiFlex-Quench technology for plate between 4.8 and 102 mm thickness and up to 4,267 mm width.

The fast ramp-up of the Danieli MIDA plant at Nucor Steel Sedalia is continuing. The MIDA-ECR minimill

10

CHINA

Chinese company Shougang Qian’an Electrical Vehicle Steel Co., Ltd. has signed another major order with Tenova LOI Thermprocess. The order includes the heat treatment portion (furnace system) for two annealing and coating lines (ACL) for non-grain-oriented (NGO) electrical strip. The two furnace systems, for which the basic design is almost complete, bear the internal designation SACL 7 & 8 and will meet the highest requirements for the production of non-grain-oriented electrical steel. They are at the core of every treatment line for electrical steel with a special and exact temperature control, changing gas compositions, a precisely working slow and fast cooling system as well as an automated working method that is as model-based as possible. The scope of the contract includes engineering, the largely turnkey delivery of all furnace-related key components, as well as supervision of assembly and commissioning including training.

Chinese steel producer Taiyuan Iron and Steel (Tisco) has entrusted Fives with the design and supply of two new silicon steel lines for very demanding applications. Specifically, these are a decarburizing and coating line (DCL) and a flattening and coating line (DCL). They will process steel with less than 3.5 percent of silicon content, with strip thicknesses between 0.15 to 0.5 millimeters at the full strip width of 1,280 millimeters. Tisco decided to invest in the production of grain-oriented silicon steel grades with high permeability to meet local market demands for electric generators and transformers.

Shougang Zhixin Qian’an Electromagnetic Material, China, has awarded an order to SMS group for the supply of two annealing and coating lines for electric steel strip. The lines will expand the annual production capacity of fully-finished non-grain- oriented electric steel strip with high silicon content at the existing production location in Hebei province by 360,000 tons. In both annealing and coating lines, the internal microstructure of the cold rolled material will be adjusted during the annealing process and the material then be provided with an insulating layer. The steel will mainly be used for the production of motors and generators to meet the increasing demand for efficient and effective electrification in China.

A Chinese customer, who preferred not to be named, has signed a contract with Primetals Technologies for three high-speed wire rod mills in the northern region. The new mills improved thermo-mechanical rolling capabilities will complement additional mills moving into the company’s main production base. The scope of supply for

June 2020 / MPT International

Sources: CAN-ENG; Tenova LOI Thermprocess ; Primetals Technologies

CAN-ENG Furnaces has been contracted to design and commission a 6,600 lb/hr continuous mesh belt atmosphere furnace system for Metex Heat Treating of Brampton, Ontario, CA. This new system will be commissioned for the hardening and tempering of high-volume automotive critical fasteners, stampings, and assembly components. It includes a computerized loading system, a mesh belt controlled atmosphere hardening furnace, an oil quench system, a mesh belt tempering furnace, pre and post wash systems and CANENG’s PET system. By integrating the latter, Metex has access to numerous functions like vital tracking of their product’s status or detailed data for continuous process improvements.

matic topfeeding, calibration tasks prior to casting, start-up procedures at the start of casting and automatic end-ofcasting procedures. Primetals has equipped the new control center with HMI touch panels and equipped the plant itself with automation software and technology packages such as LevCon mold level control, DriveCon for controlling the withdrawal drives and DynaGap Soft Reduction for improving the internal quality of the slabs.

Morgan Vee Mini-Block in operation

the single-strand high-speed wire rod mills include three Morgan Vee Mini-Blocks as mini-finishing mills (MFM) with three sets of Morgan Intelligent Pinch Rolls and high speed laying heads, hydraulic systems, and oil lube systems.

Two mills will have a two-stand 230 MFM and the third will have a two-stand 250 MFM. Primetals Technologies will also supply air and oil systems for a snap shear and rollerized turndown.

Start-up is expected in mid- to late 2020.

Baosteel commissioned an integrated control center (ICC) for the CC3 twostrand continiuous caster. The work was carried out in collaboration with Primetals Technologies at the company‘s Steelworks No. 1 in Shanghai. The objective was to reduce the number of personnel working in the hazardous area (liquid steel area) and to relocate the work to the air-conditioned ICC. Standard tasks, which previously had to be performed manually, can now run automatically.

These include, for example, fully auto-

Danieli HQ will manufacture the highspeed technolological equipment for a high-speed bar mill of Luzhou Xinyang I&S that is currently in its engineering phase. The company will also integrate the equipment supply manufactured by Danieli China. The new mill is aimed to produce 1.4 Mtpy of rebar products in the range from 12 to 40 mm diameter, for grades HRBF 400E 500E. Starting from 165 mm diameter billets weighing up to 2,500 kg, the new mill will operate at speeds up to 240 tph. The main equipment to be installed includes four housingless stands followed by a split-rolling arrangement for

WORLD MARKET LEADER FOR THE HEAT TREATMENT OF ELECTRICAL STRIP (GO & NGO) Other suppliers talk about it, we have the references!

More than 180 references in the period from 2000 to 2020:

Our well-known customers include: AK Steel (USA) – Angang Iron & Steel (China) – ArcelorMittal / Aperam (various countries) – Baoshan Iron & Steel (China) – China Steel Corporation (Taiwan) – GO Steel Frýdek Místek (Czech Republic) – JSW Steel (India) – NLMK & VIZ Steel (Russia) – Shougang Iron & Steel (China) – Stalprodukt (Poland) – thyssenkrupp Electrical Steel (various countries) – voestalpine (Austria) – U. S. Steel Košice (Slovakia) – Wuhan Iron & Steel (China)

LOI Thermprocess GmbH | Am Lichtbogen 29 | 45141 Essen (Germany) Tel. +49 201 1891-1 | Fax +49 201 1891-321 | loi@tenova.com | www.loi.tenova.com

EQUIPMENT: ORDERS & COMMISSIONINGS

finish rolling of different product ranges. For product sizes between 12 and 22 mm diameter there will be two lines, each with four-pass blocks operating at finishing speeds of up to 45mps. Larger-diameter products will be rolled on a central line through two housingless stands. A dual, high-speed twin-channel arrangement will complete the supply, to perform the fast discharge of the bars on the cooling bed. First billet rolling is planned for the end of 2020.

In December 2019, a continuous pickling line (CPL) supplied by Primetals Technologies started up at Shougang Jingtang. It is designed to process around 1.5 million metric tons of hot rolled strip per year. Also it is part of the second phase of a new production plant in Caofeidian, Hebei Province, which is designed to process ultra-high strength steel (UHSS) grades for high added value products to be used, for example, in automotive. With the new CPL Shougang Jingtang aims to pickle hot rolled strip with thicknesses ranging from 0.8 to 7.0 mm, and widths from 750 to 1,630 mm, and handle coils weighing up to 33.6 metric tons. The strip speed upon entry is 650 meters per minute, the pickling itself runs at 320 meters per minute, and speeds of up to 400 meters per minute are reached in the exit section.

Baosteel awarded the order to Primetal Technologies two supply two LiquiRob systems for the group‘s Meishan plant. This project include two robots performing shroud manipulation with the Safe Opening System (SOS) shroud, where oxygen lancing is included in the shroud. The systems, for two continuous casting machines, provide tundish temperature measurement, O2 content meaurement and steel sampling as well as oxygen lancing and tundish powder handling. The LiquiRobs are now operating on casters CCM4 and CCM 3 in the Meishan plant. According to Primetals, LiquiRob has been developed to improve occupational safety and the quality of measurement under the severe operating condition encountered in the iron and steel industry.

ternational. The system is designed to heat treat a wide range of plates from 6 to 100 millimeters thickness and 3,000 millimeters width as well as lengths up to 13,000 millimeters in a wide variety of grades for commercial and non-commercial applications. With an overall length of 122 meters and a restrained roller spray quench at the heart of the system, the heat treatment process results in true flat plates with metallurgical properties that are intended to exceed the contractual requirements.

Suryadev Alloys and Power has contracted AIC India to supply drives and an automation system for its upcoming 350,000 TPA rolling mill in Chennai, India. The scope of the project includes hardware and software engineering, the installation of the DC drives from ABB in accordance with the requirements of rolling mill applications backed by the latest generation PLC controllers from Siemens and integrated under the TIA portal providing users advanced mill control features. AIC India will also be involved in site installation and commissioning phases, start up support and the remote assistance.

JSW Steel contracted Danieli Service to improve the performance of its bar mill at its Vijayanagar Works. Two rolling modules have been added to an existing fast-finishing block, which was previously supplied by Danieli and designed for future expansion from 6 to 8 passes. The great teamwork between JSW and Danieli Service made possible the installation of the additional passes along with an automation upgrade, and the achievement of 40 m/sec finishing

INDIA

Indian steelmaker Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) at its Rourkela Steel Plant has issued the final acceptance certificate for the roller hearth plate quench and temper system supplied by CAN-ENG Furnaces In-

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A two-strand slab caster at Tata Steel in Kalinganagar, supplied by SMS group in 2016.

speed for 10 mm diameter bars, in just one week from production stop.

Tata Steel India has awarded SMS group the order to supply a slab conditioning line (scarfing line) for its Kalinganagar works. The scarfing line will be installed in the slab yard of the existing slab caster shop. It will scarf cold and hot slabs and will be designed for approximately 1.02 million tons per year of scarfed slabs within a width range of 1,000 to 2,150 mm. The line will comprise a two-side scarfing machine - for the simultaneous processing of the upper and lower slab

General overhaul of JSW Steel’s converter gas recovery system by SMS group.

sides - and an in-line slab inspection system. Slabs charged into the line will be scarfed in two passes. Subsequently, they will run through a surface inspection system which checks them for any imperfections or defects. The slabs to be processed will come from two SMS group-supplied continuous casters: a two-strand slab caster commissioned in 2016, and a brand-new two-strand slab caster to come on stream during 2020. Commissioning of the slab conditioning line is scheduled for the first quarter of 2021.

At its works in Vijayanagar, India, Jindal South West Steel has resumed operation of the converter gas recovery system after it had been completely overhauled by SMS group. The overhaul became necessary since the gasholder seal had reached the end of its service life after 15 years of operation and, therefore, had to be replaced.

In this time, it has recovered more than 360 million Nm³ per year of high-energy gas from the oxygen blowing process of the 120-ton converter and efficiently converted this volume into electricity in the in-house power station. The scope of supply of SMS group comprised the delivery of all crucial components and the supervision of installation activities.

June 2020 / MPT International

Sources: SMS group; Friedrich Kocks

NEWS

JSW Steel entrusted Fives with an upgrade project of its reheating furnaces at its Vijayanagar works with the current production of 12 million tons per year. The steelmaker aims to increase the furnaces‘ efficiency and capacity from 250 tons per hour to 295 tons per hour to meet the new requirements of the hot strip mill No. 1. The modenrization also aims to optimize the overall furnace heat distribution by integrating a new combustion zone. It will ensure homogeneous heating of slabs throughout the furnaces and will enable to increase their capacities. Therefore, the furnace roof level will have to be raised and the furnace casing will be modified. For each furnace, Fives will replace some existing burners with AdvanTek BLF (Long Flame Burners) which will substantially improve crosswise and lengthwise temperature profiles of the products, as well as reducing NOx emissions and energy consumption. Virtuo Edge-R, a process optimization system for Level 2, will be implemented for both furnaces to enable control of the slab temperature profile in a real time mode.

The revamping project for both furnaces is scheduled to be completed by 2021.

INDONESIA

A final acceptance certificate was signed at PT Krakatau, Indonesia, for the electric automation revamping of the company‘s hot skin-pass mill. The modernization by Danieli included new AC drives and a new automation control system to ease and reduce maintenance requirements and enhance the line’s performance. The new drives are more user-friendly and introduce powerrecovery capability (regenerative DC Link) that improves mill performance and reduces power consumption. The line rolls low- and medium-carbon or high-strength, low-alloy hot-rolled strip, with a thickness range from 1.2 to 7.0 mm.

KOREA

Posco has commissioned its bar mill No. 2 incorporating a Reducing and Sizing Block (RSB) 370++/5 in 5.0 design by Friedrich Kocks. This system is finishing round dimensions of 14 to 55 mm diameter but also produces flexible all feeders for the wire rod line. The new RSB is replacing an existing Kocks block which was operating since 1995 producing more than approximately 12,5 million tons of round SBQ grades for the automotive industry. Included in the scope

MPT International / June 2020

Kocks RSB 370++/5 with SCS and 4D Eagle measuring gauge.

Modernised INBA plant at Rosega‘s BF4.

was also a Size Control System (SCS) which allows real time adjustments of the operating parameters of the rolling block, as well as the light section measuring gauge 4D Eagle.

PHILIPPINES

Real Steel Corporation awarded Danieli the contract to supply a new high-speed rolling mill to produce deformed bars in the range of 10 to 32 mm diameter, starting from 150 mm square billets weighing up to 2,000 kg.

The plant will be installed in Pampanga, San Simon province, Philippines, and with a finishing speed up to 48 m/s onto the cooling bed for 10 mm diameter bars, it will be the fastest bar mill in Asia, Danieli says. It is comprised of 14-housingless stands followed by a 6-pass. multidrive high-speed twist-free finishing block. An in-line quenching and self-tempering process will improve the mechanical properties of deformed bars, in particular the yield strength, aimed to reduce costs for micro-alloyed elements. A single high-speed twin-channel system will discharge the bars on to the 102-meter-long cooling bed. The finishing area design is customized to fulfill the Philippine market, which is demanding in terms of various lengths and number of bars per bundles requirements.

Europe GERMANY

Dillinger and Paul Wurth recently completed the modernisation of the slag granulation plant at Rosega‘s No. 4 blast furnace. Paul Wurth’s INBA granulation and dewatering technology has been operating there since its initial installation in 2003. It is a cold water

system with steam condensation designed for a daily capacity of 1,600 tons of blast furnace slag sand and a maximum slag flow of up to 8 tons/min. After 16 years of operation, the plant was relined by Paul Wurth and Dillinger between March and September 2019. A special focus of this modernisation was on the cooling tower area as well as on the hot water tank, allocated below the INBA dewatering drum. For Dillinger, it was a crucial criterion to minimise the loss of BF slag sand to one monthly production only. Therefore, Paul Wurth came up with the idea to reline the complete cooling tower gradually during uninterrupted, regular production and to use the four granted stoppage weeks in August to modify the hot water tank with a new water recirculation concept.

ArcelorMittal Bremen has commissioned the AI company Smart Steel Technologies (SST) to introduce its “SST Casting Optimization AI” and “SST Surface Inspection AI” software products. These AI solutions serve to optimize the continuous casting process and automated surface inspection.

ArcelorMittal Bremen will permanently reduce downgradings due to surface defects, and will install a system for AI-supported analysis of production data to implement effective further optimization measures. Smart Steel Technologies will also improve surface inspection for ArcelorMittal Bremen with a centralized, cross-plant aggregation of all detections and application of robust defect classifiers based on SST’s proprietary Deep Learning technology. The implementation of the optimization measures in production will take place after a project duration of six months.

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NEWS

EQUIPMENT: ORDERS & COMMISSIONINGS

ITALY

Automazioni Industriali Capitanio (AIC) has been contracted by Cogne Accial Speciali (Aosta, Italy) for the second and final step of the design and implementation of a safety system for the finishing area of Wire rod and Garrett lines. The new project aims to implement all the safety improvemts previously identified and, in the meantime, to completely upgrade the PLC and HMI control systems of the finishing area for both Wire rod and Garret line. The scope of supply will include an upgrade for the existing automation and control system replacing the obsolete S5 controllers with Siemens S7-1500 PLC, the new safety and PLC control cabinets as well as the revamping of network interfaces and the communication between new PLC and existing PLCs of Mill and WTP.

LD (BOF) converter modernized by Primetals Technologies at the steel works of Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant

RUSSIA

In May, the Mechel Group issued the final acceptance certificate for a LD (BOF) converter modernized by Primetals Technologies in the steel works of the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant in Russia. The project aims were to replace worn-out equipment, to further increase capacity by raising the tapping weight to 160t and to optimize tapto-tap times by cutting the blowing time. At the same time, Mechel installed a new cooling stack and the associated offgas cleaning plant to reduce converter emissions. This is the third converter

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Primetals Technologies had modernized in the Chelyabinsk steel works. The other two converters were brought into operation in August 2011 and November 2013.

Metalloinvest, a global iron ore and merchant HBI producer and supplier, invested in the modernisation of their plant‘s Electric Arc Furnace Shop at Ural Steel, using Tenova‘s FMF technology. The furnaces began pilot operation in 2019, with EAF #2 launching in February and EAF #1 in September. Since then, the furnaces have produced over 600,000 tonnes of high-quality steel. The FMF technology allows the production of steel using a converter method without electrodes or requiring electric energy. The FMF furnace can use any charge components (hot metal, pig iron, HBI, scrap) with the possibility of increasing the share of hot metal in the charge to 85%.

SWEDEN

SSAB has chosen Paul Wurth‘s service team to carry out, on EPC basis, a revamp of its coke oven battery at Luleå steel works in northern Sweden, which focuses on battery life extension and emission reduction. In the successfully developed feasibility study, Paul Wurth included its patented technology of the Single Oven Pressure Control (SOPRECO) system for emission reduction. As this proposal fitted into SSAB’s strategy, Paul Wurth was awarded the order in result of the subsequent of-

ficial bid. This covers the replacement of the entire raw gas system including ascension pipes, goosenecks, the SOPRECO® system, gas collecting main (GCM) and off-takes. Furthermore, taking the occasion of empty ovens during GCM replacement, Paul Wurth will also renew the battery ovens roof by replacing the rails for charging machines, transversal tie rods and some refractory layers.

TURKEY

Turkish steelmaker Atakaş has released the final acceptance for six bell annealing furnaces in operation at Iskenderun. The supply consisted of the addition of six new bases (three furnace bells and three cooling bells) to the existing BAF eight-base line installed and started-up by Danieli in 2018, along with the complete cold-strip complex. The upgraded facility now is capable of processing prime-quality annealed sheet products of cold-rolled carbon steel for the general and automotive markets – CQ , DQ , DDQ and EDDQ quality, according to the related international standards. Maximum diameter of coils is 2,000 mm, with strip thickness ranging from 0.3 up to 2.0 mm. Up to five coils (100 tons) are charged on the treatment base, which is enclosed by a stainless steel inner cover that maintains a perfectly sealed working atmosphere. Latter is purged with nitrogen, then filled with hydrogen, which is used to speed up heating and cooling times, to protect coil surface from oxidizing and to ensure brightness.

June 2020 / MPT International

Sources: Primetals Technologies

Automazioni Industriali Capitanio (AIC) has completed the first part of the revamping project of the Proler control system at Ecoacciai in Pontedera (Italy). The scope of the project included the automation part replacement of the scrapping mill, the hardware integration and the software security installation. As part of the solution, AIC has replaced logic and power boards, the PLC software (Point I/O Point Rockwell remote node) for Euromec supply management, local commands with the new latest generation radio controls as well as the internal hardware of the board with a safety logic. In the second step, the modernization will include the safety boxes installation and the activation of the entire security system, local boxes installation with the coded key system for the area access, the management of the maintenance & production according to the opening of the guards and the TVCC installation.

NEWS

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

CWIEME Shanghai 29-31 July Shanghai, China With the recent announcement by the central government of China that events may be held from July 1 onward, Asia-Pacific’s professional event dedicated to coil Windung, electric motors and transformer manufacturing will take place as planned at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center from 29-31 July. http://cn.coilwindingexpo.com/en

AISTech 2020 31 August – 3 September Cleveland, Ohio, USA The US Iron & Steel Technology Conference and Exposition, originally planned for May, will feature technologies from all over the world that help steel producers to compete more effectively. AISTech is the event for anyone involved at any level of today’s steel marketplace, providing perspective on the technology and engineering expertise necessary to power a sustainable steel industry. www.aist.org/conferenceexpositions/aistech

Euroblech 27 – 30 October 2020 Hanover, Germany The 6th International Sheet Metal Working Technology Exhibition is holding on to its regular autumn time slot. Manufacturers and suppliers of materials, machines, tools and systems will meet with trade visitors whose requirements for innovative equipment are substantial. Key topics such as e-mobility and sustainable production are important drivers for new materials and products as well as the digitalization of manufacturing processes including planning, control and logistics. https://www.euroblech.com/

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BUSINESS

POLITICS

… and the virus goes on The consequences of the slowdowns and stoppages brought by the coronavirus to the industries will have to be assessed by and by; for sure is one thing: they are bitter. And we should be really careful with making forecasts. Let’s hear from various companies what they have to say about the crisis and the measures they have taken so far.

In coordination with the Minister of Innovation for Spain’s Asturias Region, ArcelorMittal has helped produce ventilators using 3D printing. The ventilators are currently undergoing trials and safety tests and will be contingent on regulatory approval.

Once approved, they could support patients with acute respiratory difficulties, which occur in severe cases of coronavirus. Spanish health authorities have also asked ArcelorMittal’s Research & Development team based in Avilés, Spain to support and develop 3D printed face shields for health professionals.

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A

June 2020 / MPT International

Source: ArcelorMittal/Jeroen Op de Beeck; Shutterstock; Danieli

Face masks and ventilators from ArcelorMittal

t ArcelorMittal, the most inter- we still must go through a period of national steel company with op- tougher measures that will be difficult erations affected in all corners and unpleasant.“ of the globe, chairman Lakshmi Mittal Another company chief adressing himself stepped forward with an address business partners personally is Giacomo to the wider public. „It seems likely that Mareschi Danieli of Danieli, at home in countries that have not so far been sig- the country that was the most paralyzed nificantly impacted may be soon,“ he by the virus in Europe, in Italy. „We have stated in April. From a practical point of been preparing for this scenario in that view, ArcelorMittal is following World we have organized ourselves in advance Health Organisation guidelines and is for massive usage of smart working from implementing the recommendations home. Therefore, we can confirm that in and instructions of governItaly, as well as other counments in the countries tries where similar restricwhere it operates. „None of tions are in place, we have us have ever experienced our technical offices, our anything like this. But I am project managers and our certain that the global sales teams fully operative. community, and ArcelorAs a result, we are able to Mittal, will come through continue our activities on the it together,“ Mittal contincurrent contracts, to limit ues. „And while there is the negative consequences. „ In mid-May, Primetals encouraging news from stated that „after several regions where the virus first appeared of cases deweeks of working remotely creasing, in many regions Giacomo Mareschi Danieli due to Covid-19 lockdowns,

Customers deny access to factory premises According to Germany’s mechanical engineering association VDMA, plant builders are facing significant problems due to travel and residence restrictions. More than 80% of the companies surveyed stated that residence permits are not granted, or their employees are not allowed access to their customers’ premises. In addition, 62% of customers delay or refuse acceptance of delivered machines, while 43% of machine manufacturers report liquidity bottlenecks. Almost one-third of the companies also see difficulties in transport and logistics handling or health and hygiene requirements.

we are slowly returning to our different locations — following strict guidelines on distancing and hygiene. We are deeply grateful to all our business partners around the world, who work with us in maintaining maximum business continuity while enduring similar conditions.”

The company highlights that its development of remote monitoring via VPN (Virtual Private Network ) pioneered amid tight COVID-19 restrictions. It configured a set of remote connections over a (VPN) that has allowed site engineers to limit the disruption in scheduled commissioning activities, while also demonstrating the effectiveness of real-time remote systems for controlling plant automation with a view to extending remote-mode to other installations world-wide. In addition to dealing with the existing challenges,

companies also need to anticipate the „what if“ scenarios, says SMS group’s Burkhard Dahmen. „What if office closures occur due to government regulations, as in Italy. How do we then organize our business operations, for example signatures, communication processes, working in the home office?,“ he says in an interview with business weekly Wirtschaftswoche. He even anticipates the „Day X, when suddenly all regulations are abandoned - and our customers expect us to catch up on the orders all at once.“ SMS group operates a crisis management team that informs our employees about the current status via intranet and our own app. „In addition, I regularly approach employees in writing and, more recently, also by video message,“ Dahmen notes in the interview.

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BUSINESS

POLITICS

Converter steel plant BOF at Tata Steel, India (SMS group)

German plantbuilders hold their own in a difficult environment in 2019

T

he new orders booked by the members of the VDMA Large Industrial Plant Manufacturers‘ Group (AGAB) in 2019 were stable at the previous year’s level of €18.3 billion.

This means that the companies were able to hold their own in a volatile market environment characterised by strong price and competitive pressure as well as various political and economic uncertainties. With a world market share of about 15% and an export quota of more than 80%, the companies have a considerable locomotive effect on the supply industries, VDMA underlines.

The importance of foreign business in large-scale plant construction remains

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high. In 2019, the export ratio was 81%, as in the previous year, and the order level reached €14.7 billion (2018: €14.8 billion). The USA was the most important foreign market for the VDMA’s large-scale plant engineering companies (€1.5 billion) due to several major orders for metallurgical plants.

USA were the most important market in 2019 Companies including SMS group, Primetals or Kocks in 2019 recorded an order intake of €2.5 billion ($2.7 billion), up from €2.2 billion a year earlier. Nearly €1.0 billion thereof were acquired in North America including Canada and

Mexico. VDMA attributes this to the “Trump effect” of shielding the USA against imports and encouraging domestic investment. However, the peak of this trend is considered over, and companies expect that orders will diminish going forward. “The lion share of orders will have been placed by now,” says Jürgen Nowicki, spokesman for AGAB and CFO of Linde Engineering.

Even before the Covid-19 effect, VDMA expected investments to go down, on account of an economic slowdown that of course will be aggravated by the virus and its consequences. “At the present time, a decline in incoming orders in 2020 appears inevitable,” Nowicki

June 2020 / MPT International

Source: SMS group ; VDMA Large Industrial Plant Manufacturer‘s Group

The Large Industrial Plant Manufacturers’ Group within Germany’s mechanical engineering association VDMA claims to be the most important network of large plant construction companies in Europe. In a slowing economic environment, particularly activities by metallurgical plantbuilders contributed positively to the sector’s performance in 2019.

stated at a press conference call. “If taking the financial crisis in 2008/2009 and the oil price shock in 2014, there seems to be a pattern for big crises coming every 5 to 6 years,” he said.

But there are promising long-term trends for the industry, too, such as the plans of many countries to curb climate change by using technologies to save energy. In addition, builders of largescale plants supply technology for the production of hydrogen, which could play a central role in the energy industry of the future as an electricity storage medium and energy carrier. This will require further expansion of renewables such as wind power, the VDMA subgroup notes. Without the use of renewable energies, no sector can make a decisive contribution to climate protection: “Green” hydrogen and the expansion of renewable energies are mutually dependent.

Offers for sustainability are becoming more and more important In a challenging market environment, the metallurgical plant and rolling mill manufacturing companies organized in the VDMA have to their innovative strength. The companies are challenged to develop solutions for flexible and cost-efficient production and to present convincing concepts for integrated quality management. In order to be able to offer innovative digital solutions, the industry is investing heavily in machine learning, data analysis and cloud computing and combining these skills with already existing process knowledge.

More and more customers in the metallurgical plant and rolling mill industry are focusing on resource efficiency and sustainability, because only companies that act sustainably will be competitive

in the long term. Demand in the steel industry for products and services that contribute to environmental and climate protection is therefore continuing to rise.

The suppliers of metallurgical plants organized within the VDMA benefit from their ability to develop and implement tailor-made concepts in close cooperation with their customers. In this respect, the general prospects for metallurgical plant and rolling mill manufacturing industry can be regarded as positive. However any forecasts for the industry are at that point of time very uncertain. The effects of the Corona pandemic and the low oil price on general economic growth in 2020 can now simply not be reliably predicted.

Health and safety become critical selling points The current quarantine does not necessarily mean a stop for plantbuilding activities. “Experts do not need to be on the construction site all the time; there

is plenty you can clear from the home office the digital way,” Nowicki says.

Meanwhile, customer requirements in the field of large-scale plant construction are becoming more complex. In addition to the classic expectations of high product quality, short project durations and low investment costs, many investors are articulating their need for high transparency throughout the entire life cycle of a plant more and more clearly. Many customers also want support in financing projects, servicing their plants and operating them.

Also, the responsibility of plantbuilders for the health and safety of employees and environmental protection is also becoming increasingly important as a result of rising customer demands. The implementation of management systems describing the development of accidents is often a prerequisite for being able to participate in a tendering process in large-scale plant construction at all.

www.kuettner.com The entire world of iron and steelmaking

BUSINESS

METALLURGY

Blowing in and blowing down of blast furnaces The procedures for blowing in and blowing down of blast furnaces are influenced by many factors and vary from plant to plant. A distinction must be made between the start-up of a new or relined blast furnace, a restart after a planned shutdown, or the restart of a blast furnace that was shut down unplanned due to a disturbance.

AUTOR: Dr. Hans Bodo Lüngen,

Executive Member of the Managing Board of the Steel Institute VDEh, Dr. Michael Peters, Director, Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe CONTACT: +49 (0) 211 6707 444 E-MAIL: hans-bodo.luengen@vdeh.de

B

last furnaces are built to run in continuous operation, for both technical and economic reasons.

They are shut down on purpose only if a repair is scheduled, or when economic circumstances necessitate a reduction of output.

Blowing-down procedures When shutting down a blast furnace, extra coke, blast furnace slag and limestone as well as low-iron burden are charged. When blowing down, it is particularly important to limit the blast furnace gas temperature to a maximum of 500 °C and monitor the chemical composition of the blast furnace gas in the four top gas exhaust pipes. Water is injected through nozzles at the top of the furnace to limit the temperature of the blast furnace top gas. Coal injection is stopped before starting to blow down.

Hot metal and slag are regularly tapped.

Burden materials are no longer charged at the top of the furnace, and the furnace is blown down by lowering the burden column. During the blow-down process, the CO2 content of the top gas decreases, while the H2 content increases due to the injection of water and steam for cooling.

Approximately 18 hours after the start of the blow-down measures, the furnace stock line level (position of the burden column) has reached the tuyere level. After the last hot metal tapping, the blast supply is turned off, and the

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blast furnace gas is blown over the bleeders. During the entire shutdown process, it must be ensured that no explosive gas-air mixture arises. The “salamander” (residual hot metal in the hearth) is tapped with a salamander drill below the usual tapholes to empty the furnace. It is always uncertain whether it is possible to tap the entire salamander or whether solidified salamander remains in the furnace hearth.

If the furnace has been shut down for relining, the remaining solidified salamander must be blasted and removed from the furnace in a solid state.

Blowing-in procedures When a new or relined blast furnace is being blown in, the furnace is first dried by the injection of a hot blast. After-

wards, there are generally two different procedures for further blowing in. In the first case the blast furnace is filled with wood in the hearth and layered up to the lower shaft with a lot of coke, additions, and blast furnace slag to compensate the coke ash. Above that, coke, and small quantities of iron ore burden (sinter and lump ores with additions and blast furnace slag) are added. In the second case, the use of wood is avoided, and the blast furnace is filled entirely with coke.

After filling the furnace, all tuyeres are opened, and the wood or coke is ignited by blowing in hot air. The reactions in front of the tuyeres produce hot reducing gas, and the first tapping takes place after about one day. Due to high silicon contents and low carbon contents, the hot metal does not yet meet the requirements

More Blast Furnaces Idled Since the overview we gave in the last issue, many more blast furnaces have been idled, in all corners of the globe. In India Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) has shut down two blast furnaces at its Visakhapatnam plant.

At Fos-sur-Mer in France, ArcelorMittal shut down a blast furnace, converter, and continuous casting line in March. It was planning to idle the second furnace at the plant from June, but it then announced to keep it operational at least until July. At its other integrated mill in Dunkirk, ArcelorMittal shut down a blast furnace and converter, also in March.

In the Czech Republic, Liberty Ostrava will at the end of April idle blast furnace no. 2 until the end of August In the USA, US Steel temporarily idled its #8 blast furnace at its Gary, Indiana, works; ArcelorMittal USA announced that it would temporarily idle one of its two blast furnaces at Cleveland.

In Japan, Nippon Steel brought forward the shutdown of the No. 2 blast furnace at Hokkai Iron & Coke. It will also bring forward the banking of the No.2 blast furnace at the Yawata area of its Kyushu Works, which will now shut down in early July. Its No.2 BF in the Kure area of the Setouchi Works was banked on 15 February. In April it banked the No.1 BF at the Kashima area of its East Nippon Works as well as the No.1 BF at the Wakayama area of its Kansai Works. It also planned to bank the No.2 furnace in the Kimitsu area of the East Nippon Works.

(The list is not complete)

June 2020 / MPT International

A look into the interior of Thyssenkrupp Steel’s blast furnace No 2 at Schwelgern, which in 2014 was relined for the first time after a campaign of 21 years.

for use in the steelmaking plant. The composition of the charge materials is adjusted continuously after the blow-in step, i.e. the coke rate is reduced, the proportion of iron ore burden is increased, and coal is added later via the tuyeres. Mostly regular operation of the furnace is achieved after around six days.

Source: Thyssenkrupp Steel

The complexity of restarting after a planned shutdown The procedure for the recommissioning of a shutdown furnace depends on the circumstances. Was the furnace shut down for a short or long period? To what level was the burden column blown down? Was the furnace completely emptied by tapping the salamander? In the event of a planned shutdown, all preparations are taken for a later restart. If the furnace is not completely emptied, it will be filled with lowiron burden with a high proportion of coke and blast furnace slag when it is shut down. During a more prolonged shutdown, the furnace turns cold. When restarting, it is customary to apply blast only to the tuyeres above the tapholes and to burn through the taphole and the opened tuyeres with oxygen for up to 24 hours before blowing in until a channel is created between the taphole and the tuyeres. Another method is the use of natural gas laces installed in the tapholes through which natural gas is injected to supply the necessary heat for blowing in the furnace.

In this example, the furnace is blown in with 15% of the maximum blast volume at a blast temperature of 800° C. After 8 hours the blast volume is increased to 25% and after 11 hours to 35%. The blast furnace top gas pressure is 1.5 bar. After the taphole has been opened several times, the first small quantities of hot liquid metal and liquid slag can be tapped after 11 hours. The slag to hot metal ratio is 4:1. Twenty hours after blowing in, the blast is turned off to open further tuyeres. 70% of the tuyeres are open now. On the third day after blowing in, the blast volume is increased to 70% and the blast temperature to 850 °C. The top gas pressure reaches 2.1 bar. On the 5th day, all tuyeres are open, and the furnace is operated with full blast volume. Seven days after blowing in, pulverized coal is injected through the tuyeres, and the coke rate is reduced. This is one possible way of blowing in a blast furnace.

MPT International / June 2020

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

SPECIAL: HYDROGEN

Roland Berger: Direct Reduced Iron is best for CO2 Reduction For the steel industry, there is as yet no conclusive answer to the question of which is the right technology solution for extensive CO2 reduction. A new study by consultancy group Roland Berger, “The future of steelmaking – How the European steel industry can achieve carbon neutrality,” evaluates possible technologies and shows how the transformation can succeed.

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tries can share development and infrastructure costs (for example, around the synthetic fuel market, transportation and storage).

Also, future operating costs are largely predictable. On the other hand, CCUS is not fully carbon neutral, as the carbon capture process alone captures only about 90% of CO2. Furthermore, public acceptance of carbon storage is not guaranteed, disadvantaging first movers

Hydrogen-based processes technologically advanced Other options such as plasma direct steel production or electrolytic reduction processes are at a very early stage of development. That brings great uncertainties for industrial application.

Hence, H2-based direct reduced iron either in a shaft furnace or a fluidized bed emerges as the dominant future technology to produce carbon-neutral steel. “We expect steelmakers to support the shaft furnace DRI process. As well as the promise of future carbon neutrality, it offers short-term, transitional benefits as it is ready to use. DRI can be fed into existing brownfield blast furnaces in the form of hot briquetted iron to make them instantly more CO2 efficient. This also creates operational breathing space to ramp up the replacement of blast furnaces with shaft furnaces,” the authors say. In a second transitional step, BOFs can be maintained alongside new electric arc furnaces until sufficient capacity is built up to fully switch to the H2-based DRI shaft furnace method.

However, hydrogen-based reduced iron processes cannot be implemented for steel production overnight. Hydrogen production requires very large amounts of energy. “The total energy requirement for climate-neutral steel production amounts to about 120 terawatt hours (TWh) per year,” says Bernhard Langefeld, partner at Roland Berger. By way of comparison, the world’s largest hydrogen electrolysis plant is currently being planned in Hamburg. It can generate just under 1 TWh per year when operating at optimum performance.

June 2020 / MPT International

Source: Roland Berger

T

he study assess a selection of the most promising of the new carbon capture and use/storage (CCUS) as well as alternative reduction technologies, including their pros and cons and examples of pilot projects.

It compares each against key criteria, such as industrial production readiness, expected duration until plateau of productivity, development and operating costs, and CAPEX requirements. Finally, based on the analysis it gives a recommendation on which technology to pursue – H2-based shaft furnace direct reduction – and gives reasons for it.

Europe’s steel industry is under pressure.

The steel-producing sector is currently the largest industrial CO2 emitter in Europe, accounting for 22% of total emissions. At the same time, the European Union has re- Akio Ito solved to become climate neutral by 2050 in order to comply with the Paris climate agreement. With the methods currently applied to make pig iron and steel, this target will not be met. Companies must therefore convert their production to a new, large-scale and, above all, climate-neutral technology. And time is pressing.

Because there are only five to ten years left to decide which new technology to invest in – and the transition has to be completed within 30 years.

“Europe’s steel industry will need to invest heavily if it is to reach the EU’s climate targets. We calculate that it will cost around €100 billion just to take the production of crude steel from iron ore and make it climate neutral,” says Akio Ito, partner at Roland Berger. However, even this sum could be understated, as global crude steel production is growing and is set to be between 30 and 50% higher by 2050. “If companies have to bear the investments alone, they will no longer be able to offer the steel at competitive prices in an already highly competitive market, and that’s if they can finance the transformation at all,” warns Akio Ito. Looking at carbon capture technology, Ito highlights the main advantage that CCUS systems can be fairly easily integrated into existing conventional brownfield plants. And as the technology is not specific to steelmaking, other indus-

Political support needed The steel industry cannot proceed with developing these capacities for hydrogen electrolysis from renewable energies and corresponding DRI furnaces without risking the competitiveness of its end products. The share of European steel production in the world market has already fallen significantly in recent decades. “Without political support, it is very likely that large parts of the value chain will be shifted from Europe to countries with cheap energy and less regulation,” warns Akio Ito. In addition to the potential negative consequences for Europe’s steel industry, this would mean that global steel production would continue to be very carbon intensive and thus harmful to the climate.

The cost of transition CAPEX requirements for carbonneutral steel production are high and operation is only sustainable and economically viable if cheap green energy is available. For example, as a rule of thumb, the CAPEX of every million tons of H2-DRI-EAF production capacity is €1 billion at today’s prices. This results in an EUwide CAPEX requirement of up to €100 bn to make the approximately 100 million tons of crude steel produced in the bloc today via the integrated blast furnace route carbon neutral. This means European steelmakers are dependent on political support to meet the EU’s carbon emissions targets.

Roland Berger’s study The future of steelmaking - How the European steel industry can achieve carbon neutrality turns out to be an extremely compre-

The full study can be downloaded for free:

hensive overview that is easy-to-understand even for interested newcomers to this critical topic. All different processes are described in a straightforward style, and accompanied by clear illustrations how the process works.

MPT International / June 2020

23

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

SPECIAL: HYDROGEN

Neste’s refinery in Rotterdam

MULTIPLHY – Green Hydrogen for Renewable Products Refinery in Rotterdam CEA, Neste, Paul Wurth, Engie and Sunfire announce a project-partnership to build and operate the world’s first multi-megawatt scale high-temperature electrolyser for highly efficient hydrogen production.

H2 - the reducing agent of the future of ironmaking For Georges Rassel, CEO of Paul Wurth, “our involvement in the MULTIPLHY project is an important part of our strategy for the transformation of the industry towards Zero Carbon Emissions, especially as H2 is considered the reducing agent of the future in the world of ironmaking.”

By the end of 2024, the electrolyser is expected to have been in operation for 16,000 hours or more, producing a total of around 960 tonnes of green hydrogen while avoiding approximately 8,000 tonnes of GHG emissions. The project

24

supports the most promising Carbon Direct Avoidance (CDA) approach by substituting “grey” hydrogen currently generated via steam-methane reforming (SMR) by certified green hydrogen.

About the partners: Sunfire GmbH, founded in 2010, develops and produces high-temperature electrolysers (SOEC) and high-temperature fuel cells based on solid oxide cell technology (SOFC). The company employs more than 170 people and is based in Dresden. Paul Wurth is a major shareholder in Sunfire Neste creates sustainable solutions for transport, business, and consumer needs, with a wide range of renewable products. It claims to be the world‘s largest producer of renewable diesel refined from waste and residues, introducing renewable solutions also to the aviation and plastics industries.

Engie Group is a global reference in low-carbon energy and services with the ambition to become the world leader in the zero-carbon transition Its turnover in 2019 was €60.1 billion. The group is listed on the Paris and Brussels stock exchanges.

Paul Wurth is known fort he construction of complete blast furnace and coke oven plants, along with direct reduction plants, environmental protection solutions and recycling technologies. Presently, the company is focusing on the development of innovative solutions for leading the transformation of the steel industry towards carbon-free steel production.

The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) is a public research organization, working in four main areas: energy transition (nuclear and renewable), digital transformation for industry, future health technologies, defense and security. It has 20,000 employees.

June 2020 / MPT International

Source: Paul Wurth

T

he MULTIPLHY project – “Multi-megawatt high-temperature electrolyser to generate green hydrogen for the production of high-quality biofuels” has recently been launched at Neste’s renewable products refinery in Rotterdam. The project involves Neste, worlds’s leading provider of renewable diesel and renewable jet fuel, and as key technology partners the French research organisation CEA, plantbuilder Paul Wurth, the energy utility Engie and the cleantech company Sunfire. The consortium will install, integrate and operate the world’s first high-temperature electrolyser (HTE) system in multi-megawatt-scale. The project consortium led by CEA, as project coordinator, is part of the EU Horizon 2020 FCH2-JU program with an overall funding of €6.9 million.

MULTIPLHY marks the first demonstration of an HTE in an industrial refining process with a nominal power input of 2.6 MW and a hydrogen production capacity of 60 kg/h reaching an electrical efficiency of up to 85% AC to LHV H2.

“This project shows the great progress being made in bringing our green hydrogen production technologies to the next level and paving the readiness for a further scale up to 100 MW” said Sunfire managing director Nils Aldag.

Thyssenkrupp enters hydrogen partnership with RWE On the very same day that the German government revealed its „National Hydrogen Strategy“, the country’s largest steelmaker, Thyssenkrupp Steel, announced a hydrogen partnership with energy supplier RWE. The alliance foresees that green hydrogen from an RWE electrolyzer will help Thyssenkrupp sustainably reduce CO2 emissions from steel production in the future, starting in the middle of the 2020s.

T

he hydrogen required for iron production is to be produced by electrolysis. At its power plant site in Lingen, RWE is already planning to build electrolysis capacities that could supply green hydrogen for the iron production in Duisburg.

A 100 MW electrolyzer could produce 1.7 tonnes of gaseous hydrogen per hour, corresponding to around 70% percent of the quantity required by the Duisburg steelmaker’s blast furnace earmarked for hydrogen use. This would translate theoretically into around 50,000 tonnes of

Aerial view of Thyssenkrupp Steel’s conglomeration of mills in Duisburg, Germany

climate-neutral steel, tk Steel notes. The conversion of the blast furnace is to be carried out by 2022. It wtll be the first important stage of a fundamental transformation process at the end of which the company’s entire steel production will be carbon-neutral, it emphasises.

One of the prerequisites for the collaboration is the development of a dedicated hydrogen network to transport the gaseous hydrogen from Lingen to tk Steel’s steel mill site in Duisburg. Pipeline transport of the hydrogen is the most economical delivery option.

Arnd Köfler, chief technology officer Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, talks about the company’s hydrogen ambitions MPTinternational: You want to secure hydrogen

with RWE for your steel mill in Duisburg. Why is Thyssenkrupp Steel banking on hydrogen?

Source: Thyssenkrupp Steel

Köfler: If we use hydrogen as a reducing agent,

because a blast furnace will always also need coal.

That’s why in the medium term we want to use hydrogen in new direct reduction plants. These operate on the basis of gas, without coal, and therefore permit a significant reduction in CO2 emissions.

water or water vapor is produced instead of carbon dioxide. The partnership now announced with RWE will enable us to secure significant MPTinternational: What are the challenges of using volumes of green hydrogen to implement an Arnd Köfler hydrogen? initial concrete project. There is hardly any other Köfler: The path towards climate-neutral and area in which climate protection can be imple-mented hydrogen- based steel pro-duction will be long and costly. more effectively. That’s why we also welcome the Nation- We need completely new facilities. So massive investment al Hydrogen Strategy that has now been adopted. It gives will be needed to create the new production base. A furus a further boost and sets the course for the future of ther challenge is the availability of hydrogen. Steel prohydrogen-based steel production. duction with hydrogen will only be truly climate-neutral if the hydrogen itself is produced on a climate-neutral MPTinternational: How exactly will the hydrogen be used basis. It helps nobody if CO2 emissions are simply moved in steel production? to a different place. So-called “green” hydrogen, i.e. hyKöfler: In Duisburg in November 2019 we launched a series drogen produced through electrolysis with renewable of tests into the use of hydrogen in a blast furnace. Our aim energies, is still a luxury item today. To produce our is to reduce blast furnace CO2 emissions by up to 20%. The roughly 11 million tonnes of steel, we will need very large advantage is that we can reduce CO2 emissions in the short volumes of green hydrogen. To be completely climate-neuterm and with the existing equipment. But it’s also clear tral, ee currently expect that we will need around 750,000 that for full climate neutrality this will not be enough, tons of hydrogen annually.

MPT International / June 2020

25

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

SPECIAL: HYDROGEN

SALCOS – Salzgitter initiative for reducing CO2 in the steel production of the future One of the farthest-reaching concepts for CO2 reduction involving hydrogen has been brought on the way by Salzgitter AG. Together with external partners involving Tenova, Paul Wurth, Sunfire and Linde, the German steelmaker is setting up a pilot plant at ist strip mill in Salzgitter. It emphasises that and a larger perspective of fundamental applicability at every site with similar, so-called “integrated” steel production.

E

lectrolysis to produce hydrogen is a key element in Salzgitter’s larger SALCOS (Salzgitter Low CO2 Steelmaking) initiative. The German steelmaker emphasises that the process is meant to be fundamentaly applicable at any integrated steel mill.

Further on, the group envisages expanding the existing steelworks, so that iron ore will be reduced to iron with the aid of natural gas and a higher volume of hydrogen in a direct reduction reactor. The reaction takes place at 950°, and sponge iron is produced. Based on this method, a reduction of iron of up to 85% can be achieved. Moreover, the facilities in question involve an integrated process.

Gas is introduced in a circular pattern and, after separation of the water produced by the reduction, cleansed of any remaining CO2 and reused.

The heart of SALCOS ist he GrInHy2.0 (Green Industrial Hydrogen) initiative.

A key element here, the Hydrogen Processing Unit (HPU) is the project has entered ist testing phase at Paul Wurth,

to be ready for shipping and installation at Salzgitter in July. Also ready for testing is the steam electrolysis system made by German company Sunfire, in which Paul Wurth is a stakeholder.

Germany brings hydrogen strategy on the way The German government on in early June announced that it has adopted a „National Hydrogen Strategy“, which had been under discussion for several months. The drafting of the strategy involved the ministries of economy, environment, research and education, and of transport and digital infrastructure.

In a commentary on the accouncement, German steel federation WV Stahl welcomed the government’s projected pilot programme for the hedging tool of „carbon contracts for difference“. This is an „important means for the transformation,“ provided they are able to hedge the complete extra costs of investment into climate-friendly production, it says.

26

June 2020 / MPT International

Source: Salzgitter

„With our hydrogen strategy, we are now providing companies with a clear framework and making investment decisions plannable,“ says transport minister Andreas Scheuer. He adds that his ministry has been working on hydrogen technology for more than a decade and has invested over €700 million, mainly in research and development.

SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall one step closer to production of fossil-free steel SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall are taking the next important step to be the first in the world with a value chain for fossil-free steel. Within the framework of the HYBRIT initiative, preparations are now under way for the construction of a demonstration plant on an industrial scale, and consultations have begun for deciding on placement of the plant in Norrbotten, Sweden.

T

he plan is for construction to start in 2023, with the goal of taking the plant into operation in 2025. The intention is to be able to demonstrate full-scale production with a capacity of just over one million metric tonnes of iron per year, i.e., 20% of LKAB’s total processing capacity at Malmberget and almost half of the production capacity of SSAB’s blast furnace in Luleå. The goal is to be first in the world to produce fossil-free steel as early as 2026.

HYBRIT is now starting an investigation into the selection of a location for the demonstration plant. Parallel consultations are being launched at two sites in Sweden: the Vitåfors industrial estate in Gällivare Municipality, where LKAB has mining operations, and the Svartön industrial estate in Luleå, where facilities including SSAB’s steel mill and LKAB’s ore port are located.

The purpose is to consult and conduct an open dialog about the location and design of the plant ahead of the upcoming selection of the site and permit application. Consultation with government agencies, organizations and the public will begin in June and conclude in September 2020.

The choice of location will have a major impact on future competitiveness and climate benefits. Investment decisions will be made once the authorization procedure and other investigations have been completed.

Source: Åsa Bäcklin

Norbotten, Sweden becomes Home of HYBRIT “We want to build the plant in Norrbotten. There’s good access to fossil-free electricity and competence here, as well as close collaboration with academia and the community. A demonstration plant for fossil-free iron production would also be positive for growth and jobs in the region, as well as contributing to a major climate benefit,” says Martin Pei, Chief Technical Officer at SSAB and Chairman of HYBRIT. “For LKAB, HYBRIT is an important piece of the jigsaw puzzle in a green transition, in which we want to climate-optimize the whole chain from mine to finished steel by the year 2045. We want Norrbotten to be a world-leading arena for innovation and a center of knowledge for the global mining and minerals sector,” says Markus Petäjäniemi, Senior Vice President Market and Technology at LKAB. “It’s very positive that Vattenfall, together with our partners, is continuing to take clear steps forward with HYBRIT.

MPT International / June 2020

Hybrit pilot reduction tower Luleå

Electrification with fossil-free electricity and hydrogen means that fossil-free steel will be making a very important contribution to our fossil-free future,” says Andreas Regnell, Senior Vice President Strategic Development at Vattenfall.

HYBRIT’s pilot phase will run in parallel with the demonstration phase. In Luleå, the pilot plant for fossil-free steel will be fully constructed during the summer, and preparations are also under way to initiate construction of a temporary hydrogen store in order to test the technology for storing hydrogen in caverns.

Hybrit Development is a joint venture between the steel manufacturer SSAB, the mining company LKAB and the energy company Vattenfall. The objective of the joint-venture is to develop the world’s first fossil-free, ore-based steelmaking process. The byproduct of using fossil-free electricity and hydrogen in steelmaking, instead of coke and coal, will be water instead of carbon dioxide. The initiative has the potential to reduce Sweden’s total carbon dioxide emissions by 10 % The HYBRIT initiative has been granted financial support from the Swedish Energy Agency.

27

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

SPECIAL: HYDROGEN

Ovako first in the world to heat steel using hydrogen Together with Linde Gas AB, Ovako has conducted a full-scale trial using hydrogen to heat steel before rolling. The trial was performed with good results in one of the company’s pit furnaces at the Hofors rolling mill in Sweden. This historic development for the steel industry proves that carbon dioxide emissions from rolling can be eliminated provided the right financial support and infrastructure are in place.

A

Saving 20,000t of CO2 per year Ovako has been conducting sustainability work for many years and claims that it already has an 80% lower carbon footprint compared to the global average.“We have been working on furnace modernization for a long time, to make our furnaces as productive and energy efficient as possible.

It is very exciting that we now have proof that it is possible to use hydrogen in heating without affecting the quality of the steel. If we can make this investment, it would have a great positive impact on the environment. Our estimate is

28

Rolling bar from the test

that an initial investment would save 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, and that is just the beginning. We performed this trial in such a way that it can be reproduced at full scale in Hofors and at our other rolling mills,” says Anders Lugnet, Group Technical Specialist, Energy & Furnace Technology at Ovako.

In an earlier collaboration, Ovako applied Linde’s proprietary Rebox HLL technology, designed for customers looking for a simple, cost-effective way of optimising reheating furnaces that can be deployed on demand without any changes to the existing furnace infrastructure.

With Rebox HLL, oxygen lances are mounted in the furnace walls next to conventional burners. These are then used to inject oxygen at high velocity into the furnace and replace most of the air used for combustion. Up to about 75% of the combustion air is thus replaced with oxygen in zones targeted by HLL. The elimination of nitrogen increases thermal efficiency, also decreasing exhaust gas volumes and reducing NOx emissions.

Ovako was looking to upgrade the reheating system at ist site in Smedjebacken to improve safety and enable a great degree of automation. It also wanted to lower fuel consumption, improve heating efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. By reducing the flue gas volume and its temperature, the company would additionally be able to reduce the load on the recuperators. In 2013, Linde managed the entire retrofit project. In addition to upgrading the existing flowtrain and installing a new flowtrain for oxygen, Linde also installed the piping and a completely new control system.

June 2020 / MPT International

Source: Ovako

s part of its sustainability efforts, Ovako has worked for a long time to modernize and improve the efficiency of its furnaces. Thanks to this prioritization and the investments made in recent years, including upgraded control and automation systems, Ovako is now ready to take the next step. The use of hydrogen in combustion would have a great positive effect on the environment since the only emission generated is water vapor.

In collaboration with its partner Linde Gas AB, Ovako conducted a trial in which steel was heated using hydrogen instead of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) before rolling at the mill in Hofors. The trial was successful and testing of the steel produced showed that heating with hydrogen does not affect the quality. Given the right conditions, Ovako could therefore introduce hydrogen heating for furnaces at all its rolling mills and thereby drastically reduce its already world-leading low carbon footprint from cradle to gate.

“This is a major development for the steel industry.

It is the first time that hydrogen has been used to heat steel in an existing producPit furnace in Hofors tion environment. Thanks to the trial, we know that hydrogen can be used simply and flexibly, with no impact on steel quality, which would mean a very large reduction in the carbon footprint. We have worked closely with Linde for many years and are proud to be doing this together,” says Göran Nyström, EVP Group Marketing & Technology.

WHO isWHO in steel supply

MPT Intern ationa

No. 1 | March 202

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No. 1, March 2020

PIONEERS AT HEART

In focus: Blast furnace closures 2019/2 0

– taking neces sary measures in a slowing ma rket | 24

Artificial Intelligence in steelmaking

Prediction of the steelin-tundish tem perature | 44

Predictive Maintenance

A look into SM S group’s service worksho p | 28

Inside & outsid

The tubes marke

t in 2020 & Shap

ing plate for jac

e tubes –

ket structures an

d monopiles | 30

30.09.2019 07:48: 09

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Umati on the way to become the world language of production Two major German industry associations, VDMA and VDW, will jointly promote the use and distribution of OPC UA standards for the entire mechanical engineering industry under the umati brand.

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ross-industry and cross-technology marketing brings our customers a giant step forward,” said Dr Wilfried Schäfer, Managing Director of the VDW (German Machine Tool Builders’ Association), explaining the strategy at the joint press conference of the two associations in Frankfurt am Main.

“Manufacturing companies not only have machine tools but an individual mix of different machines and equipment, robots and systems. If all these technologies are in a common ecosystem that creates plug-and-play solutions, it saves end-users a lot of time and money,” Schäfer continues. Hartmut Rauen, Deputy General Manager of the VDMA (German Mechanical Engineering Federation), adds: “Seventeen trade associations work in more than 30 groups on their technology-specific interfaces, the so-called Companion Specifications. This high level of participation forms the basis for real, open interoperability between machines and software systems, from the shop floor to the cloud. Only the VDMA has the power to bring together the necessary integration power of the most diverse domains of the production worlds.”

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OPC UA Companion Specification for Machinery to be released in 2020

Early on, the machine and plant construction industry has adopted OPC UA as the standard for data exchange. OPC UA offers a uniform framework for interoperability between machines and systems. Using a bottom-up approach, it was established that basic elements for a large part of the diverse product range in mechanical and plant engineering must be defined uniformly. The simplest example is machine identification, i.e. features such as manufacturer, serial number, year of manufacture and machine type.

MPT International / June 2020

For this reason, various departments within the VDMA, including Electrical Power Transmission, Plastics and Rubber Machinery, Machine Vision, Metallurgy, Robotics and Machine Tools, are working on the Basics Companion Specification OPC UA for Machinery. “The first version will be released in the current year,” announces Hartmut Rauen, “This foundation brings speed and compatibility.”

umati addresses the end customer The machine tool industry was also at the forefront of this process. As early as 2017, an initiative to develop a standardised, open interface was presented. Here too, OPC UA was quickly chosen as the underlying technology. Only two years later, a showcase of 70 partners from 10 countries at the EMO Hanover proved that the connection of 110 machines to 28 software services—which were decentrally distributed across the exhibition grounds—is practically “plug and play”.

The VDW also launched the umati - universal machine tool interface label as early as 2018, the brand with which customers can be addressed worldwide.

In the meantime, the VDMA and its partner organisations have developed numerous other OPC UA Companion Specifications. To give them more visibility and increase their applicability, umati is now being extended to the entire machine and plant construction industry as a community for the use and marketing of OPC UA Companion Specifications.

The new name is umati - universal machine technology interface and stands for the performance promise of interoperable production. umati denotes a brand and a label for a community that has joined forces to spread the OPC UA standards in mechanical and plant engineering. It provides a framework for joint marketing, public relations, demonstration of use cases and addressing end customers, based on the actual

OPC UA interface standardisation in various branches of mechanical and plant engineering. “For the machine tool industry, we will be talking about the current version of the OPC UA Companion Specification for Machine Tools in future ,” explains Wilfried Schäfer from VDW. The next steps include the further optimisation of the respective Companion Specifications as well as the dissemination of the respective standards and the creation of showcases at trade fairs.

The umati showcase will demonstrate the cross-industry use of various OPC UA standards in a practical way to highlight the suitability of OPC UA standards for everyday use in production for the diverse customer world.

“We expect to see the first concrete products providing connectivity to customers based on the OPC UA Specification for Machine Tools in the second half of this year,” said Schäfer. “This makes it all the more important for our partners that the development of the umati community follows this roadmap and provides strong visibility and perception,” he adds.

VDW and VDMA will take care of this together in the future. “Today’s production managers need to be able to trust that machines from different manufacturers speak the same language and that they can implement umati’s claim: Connecting the World of Machinery,” Rauen concludes.

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INDUSTRY 4.0

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Smart Steel Technologies wants to use the data available in steel plants and optimise them using artificial intelligence.

AI-start-up ventures big step towards CO2 neutrality The manufacturing process in the steel industry is characterised by complex electrical and automation systems. Equally complex and comprehensive is the multitude of data that accumulates in the production process. A Berlin-based start-up sees enormous potential for optimisation in this and a favourable prerequisite for both lowering energy costs and significantly reducing CO2 emissions.

AUTHOR: Niklas Reiprich

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Falk-Florian Henrich

rian Henrich, founder and CEO of SST. The approach is based on observations from various projects that the mathematician and computer scientist has carried out since 2016 until the company was founded last year. According to Henrich, these have clearly shown that there is considerable potential for optimisation in steel plants, without the need to invest in new plant technology.

Expertise at all levels of electrics and automation

In steel plants, masses of unused data are already available and thus accessible to an artificial intelligence application.

Henrich currently employs a team of AI specialists and experts in steel manufacturing processes, each with experience in processing level 1, 2 and 3 data. These refer to varying levels of electronics and automation in steel plants, which are considered in the development of SST’s software. Level 1 covers basic automation with its operating stations, process, and drive control as well as the processing of measured data. Level 2 uses a steelworks computer system to calculate the input materials or alloying agents, among other things. The determination of the process sequence is also part of this level.

June 2020 / MPT International

Sources: ktsdesign/Shutterstock; Smart Steel Technologies

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teelmakers worldwide are exposed to enormous competitive pressure. While overcapacity has an impact on prices— and thereby earnings—the quality requirements for steel products are continually increasing. The automotive industry, in particular, is considered a driving force in terms of its sophisticated digital technologies and innovations. At the same time, the processes in the steel industry are very energy intensive. Above all, as the European Commission has now officially decided, there is an urgent need to reduce CO2 emissions.

Smart Steel Technologies (SST) from Berlin is well aware of the challenges facing the steel industry. They have made it their priority to optimise the industry’s process chain using artificial intelligence. The start-up wants to introduce ready-to-use software to improve product quality, lower energy costs and significantly reduce CO2 emissions. “The plants in the steel industry are highly automated and have highly developed instrumentation and measurement technology. There is already a mass of unused data available that can be processed by an AI application,” explains Falk-Flo-

Finally, production is planned and controlled at level 3.

With the company’s current technical status, this means that by running AI software 24/7, “the temperature control from the BOF or EAF to the casting machine can be optimised,” Henrich says. He further explains that the optimisation of the continuous casting process can also permanently reduce the rate of shell defects. Rolling mills, for example, could potentially be equipped with live prediction modules and various systems to more precisely and reliably adjust surface inspection on hot strip mills, pickling lines or galvanising lines.

Digital process control In contrast to conventional software and temperature control models, SST “processes all signals and status descriptions of the entire steel mill at any time,” Henrich emphasises. Specifically, the company starts with temperature and sampling at the end of the main decarburisation phase for the BOF and the end of the flat bath phase for the EAF. Considering the planned further course of the process, the developers make forecasts of the actual temperatures for the melt at this point for the respective tapping, ladle furnace inlet and the final tundish temperature. SST also forecasts the target tapping temperature. The difference between the two values is used to display adjustment suggestions for the operator in the existing Human-Machine Interface (HMI) to aid in the adjustment of the corresponding setpoint in the level 2 system. The same proce-

Digitalising steelworks with artificial intelligence Software developments from Smart Steel Technologies (SST) P SST Temperature Optimisation AI emits warnings as soon as the molten steel cools down too much for effective casting.

P SST Casting Optimization AI displays precise assignments to downstream processes and allows production results to be checked visually.

P SST Surface Inspection AI centralises existing surface inspection data and thus offers a cross-process perspective on the manifestation of defects.

dure applies to the values on the ladle furnace. The casting machine operator is provided with continuously updated forecasts of the actual final tundish temperature for the current melt and the upcoming ladle in the HMI. The operator can also access the forecast of the actual discharge temperature of the ladle currently being treated. “This way, the operator of the casting system is informed much earlier, more accurately and more reliably about the temperatures of the coming ladles,” says Henrich. ArcelorMittal, for example, recently commissioned the start-up to equip its plant in Bremen, Germany, with solutions to optimise its continuous casting process and surface inspection.

Steep growth planned At the end of the last year, SST concluded a financing round with technology investors from Lea Partners, a venture capital and private equity firm from Germany. The result: 2.1 million euros are to flow into the growth of SST in the future, marking the first time that the company has received support from an investor. The capital is to flow primarily into the further development of software products and the development of further steelworks customers in Europe.

Furthermore, a development site is to be opened at one of the leading clusters for artificial intelligence in Germany, Karlsruhe, and expansion in the USA is to be driven forward.

SST Temperature Optimisation AI: Live prediction of expected cooling behaviour during casting

MPT International / June 2020

43

BUSINESS

METALLURGY

Voestalpine Texas LLC in Corpus Christi, a MIDREX technology plant

DRI for the future? – Part I In the last edition of MPT, we heard several top German executives on how to move towards cleaner steel. They suggested that direct-reduced iron (DRI) technology might be the landmark technology to get us there in the future. The outgoing CEO of Thyssenkrupp Steel, Premal Desai, was particularly outspoken regarding Germany and others potentially needing to convert to DRI.

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are not a good ground for technical changes in principle. He believes that such structures have prevented Voestalpine from building its DRI plant in Europe, rather than in Texas. “And Thyssenkrupp probably banked on the Hisarna technology of Tata Steel in Ijmuiden,” he speculates. Now that the merger of the two companies was called

off, Thyssenkrupp Steel has lost that card, but the recent words of its intermediate CEO signalled that the group has opened up to a technical conversion.

ArcelorMittal takes a multi-solution approach The only mill in western Europe to produce steel via the DRI route is the Ham-

Sources: Danieli

T

he statements were remarkable, given that they come from some of the major oxygen-route mill operators in Germany. Such openness was not always understood. “The history of direct reduction in Germany is one of missed opportunities and the arrogance of power,” says a mill engineer who preferred to remain anonymous.

He blames lobbying and the influence of interest groups that in previous years prevented the classic blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace route from being questioned. And not without reason: all ancillary facilities that make up an integrated oxygen-route plant provide stable jobs—for the steelworkers as well as for the technicians designing them.

“In my professional experience, Asia is generally more open to and curious about new technology. In contrast, wealthy regions tend to preserve the status quo,” the commentator says. The established structures of steelmakers, manufacturing industries and unions

June 2020 / MPT International

burg works now owned by ArcelorMittal, a pioneer in the technology in the early 1970s. The group recently announced new investment to make Hamburg fit for operation with hydrogen. However, in a commentary sent to MPT, the group refrains from being too specific with its DRI activities, instead emphasising that it has a multi-technology approach, as outlined in its climate Paolo Argenta action report. “The global challenge posed by the transition to low-emissions steelmaking is large and complex, and will require multiple solutions,” it says.

“Our innovation approach is focused on providing flexibility to adapt to different possible clean energy futures in different regions and countries, whether it is clean power, circular carbon, or fossil fuels with CCS, or a combination of all three.

The strength of our €250 million research and demonstration programme is its breadth and flexibility. While each of our technologies can work stand-alone and be scaled up individually, we can also integrate them to deliver significant advantages for the various low-emissions steelmaking pathways.

Future editions of MPT will present various routes and discuss various aspects of direct-reduced iron steelmaking.

This edition will be dedicated to Energiron by Tenova and Danieli, with a comprehensive introduction to the process on the following pages.

But first, let’s hear a general view on the topic by Paolo Argenta, Tenova Vice President Upstream: According to data from the World Steel Association, the steel industry generates between 7% and 9% of fossil fuel GHG direct emissions. The integrated steelmaking method, which uses carbon to reduce and melt virgin iron ore units, is by far the largest contributor to the steel industry’s CO2 emissions. Blast furnaces (BF) and associated equipment— coke ovens, in particular—are responsible for polluting emissions that can negatively affect the geographical region surrounding the plant.

The Direct Reduction (DR) production process is cleaner compared to the integrated steelmaking method when producing steel starting from iron ore, and that implies a reduced environmental impact. The emissions from the Energiron DR process—the HYL Direct Reduction Technology jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli—can be onethird of the BF emissions, due to the use of natural gas and the selective capture of CO2. The DR process can also replace natural gas with hydrogen to further reduce CO2 emissions to nearly 0%.

In Europe, this type of DR application is becoming a trend, and we have provided all of the major integrated steelmakers that are engaging in conversations with us a better understanding of the tangible impact of this development in their plans.

GUNNING ROBOTS

FOR IMPROVED

HOT REPAIR of EAF, Ladle, RH

A choice for BOF operators Tenova has also developed a new method to produce pig iron by replacing the traditional BF and using direct reduction to obtain high carbon DRI. The high carbon DRI is melted in a newly designed Electric Furnace (EF) that taps liquid pig iron.

The technology would allow the integrated steelmakers to use lower grade pellets and use their existing downstream equipment (Basic Oxygen Furnaces – BOFs) without the need to change their current metallurgical practices.

VELCO GmbH Haberstraße 40 42551 Velbert (Germany) info@velco.de • www.velco.de Tel +49 (20 51) 20 87-0

MILL TECHNOLOGY

DRI

Aereal View of Emirates Steel

Energiron Direct Reduction Technology by Danieli and Tenova

Sources: Danieli

In the last two decades, the BF/BOF route has been reconsidered all over the world because of its strong environmental impact, and for its inability to guarantee complete recycling of the scrap necessary to grant a circular economy. For this reason, the share of the BF/BOF is shifting to the route Direct Reduction Plant (DRP) and Electric Arc Furnace (EAF). By replacing the coal typically used in BF with natural gas, the Energiron process (the HYL Direct Reduction Technology jointly developed by Tenova and Danieli) can reduce CO2 emissions by 50%. Further reductions of CO2 emissions of up to 70% can be achieved if we consider the removal of the CO2 thanks to the embedded CO2 removal system in the Energiron process, and up to 100% if we consider the possibility to use 100% Hydrogen.

AUTOR: Ashton Hertrich G., Sales Engineer, Danieli Centro Metallics CONTACT: Tel: +39 0432 195 5089; a.hertrichgiraldo@danieli.com

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June 2020 / MPT International

A distinct advantage of this process scheme without an integrated reformer is the wider flexibility for DRI carburisation. DRI carbon levels up to 5% can be obtained due to the prevailing conditions of high methane (CH4) concentration in the process gas and the high temperature of the bed (>860°C), which favours the diffusion of carbon into the iron matrix and the precipitation of iron carbide (Fe3C).

BF-BOF transition to DR-EAF

Fig. 1: Energiron ZR basic process scheme

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he Energiron process technology is designed for the direct reduction of iron ores by using reducing gases. Oxygen is removed from the iron ores by chemical reactions with hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO), for the production of highly metallised Direct Reduced Iron (DRI). The overall reduction reactions are reported here below.

Fe2 O3 + 3H2 –> 2Fe + 3H2O Fe2 O3 + 3CO –> 2Fe + 3CO2 The Energiron Zero Reformer (ZR) process scheme (Fig. 1) is a major step in reducing the size and improving the efficiency of direct reduction plants. Reducing gases are generated by in-situ reforming within the reduction reactor. The ZR process scheme is the only direct reduction process that allows the direct use of natural gas, without the need of an expensive reformer. However, Energiron plants also can use conventional steam-natural gas reforming equipment as an external source of reducing gases, which has long characterised the process. Other reducing agents such as hydrogen, syngas from coal gasification, pet coke and similar fossil fuels, and coke-oven gas, among others, also are potential sources of reducing gas, depending on the particular situation and

MPT International / June 2020

availability. In any case, the same basic process scheme is used regardless of the reducing gas source.

The Fe° formed in the process acts as the necessary, renewable, and continuous catalyst for the reduction process.

During start-up, the process gas is first heated up by the process gas heater and then some H2 and CO are generated by partial combustion (with oxygen injection), thus starting the reduction of the iron ore.

Most of the CO2 emitted today in steelmaking plants is due to extensive use of fossil fuels, which leads to a significant environmental impact also in the form of global warming and greenhouse gases (GHG). For the integrated steelmaking process, the primary source for the reduction of iron oxides is coal. At the same time, for the DR-EAF route, the source of reducing gases can be not only natural gas (NG) but also coke-oven gas (COG), syngas from coal, and hydrogen (H2). In general, based on the use of coal in the BF-BOF route, as compared to NG in the case of the DR-EAF route, by simple material balance the DR-EAF route emits 40% - 60% less CO2 (depending on plant location and source of power generation) as compared to the BF-BOF route. That is why Energiron technology

Fig. 2: Schematic transition from BF/BOF to DRP/EAF

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BUSINESS

METALLURGY / DRI

stands as the perfect technology to satisfy the need for a progressive transition from BF / BOF to DRP/EAF. Several feasibility studies have been conducted to investigate the best configuration to comply with a progressive and efficient transition from BF/BOF to the more flexible and environmentally friendly Energiron Direct Reduction (DR) – Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) route, but the reality is that each integrated plant has its characteristics and peculiarities. The optimal configuration has to be studied case by case.

An example of a progressive transition is illustrated in figure 2, where, in the first step, the use of the COG or NG as a reducing gas can be used in the DRP. The resulting product, DRI, can thus be used in the BF to increase productivity

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or reduce CO2 emissions, making it possible to maintain all the downstream configuration of the already existing BF/ BOF plant in the first phase. In the second step, an electric arc furnace is installed and feed with hot DRI achieving savings up to 156 kWh/tDRI, thus improving efficiency and improving emissions reductions.

Finally, in the third step, the complete transition can be accomplished by dismantling the BF/BOF and doubling the capacity of the DRP/EAF. This is only one example of possible scenarios of transition where the Energiron technology can be used.

When analysing the transitions, some important parameters must be considered. The primary gaseous fuel in a BF/BOG integrated plant can be recov-

ered and reused: blast furnace gases (BFG), coke oven gases (COG) and basic oxygen furnace gases (BOFG). Energy balances for integrated steelworks show that a significant portion of the gaseous energy is used for power generation, or even flared. Since only a minor part of the electrical power that could be generated from these gases can be used in the steelworks, most of the electrical power has to be exported.

Electricity generation has an impact on CO2 emissions depending on the location of the steel plant. Electric power generation is a composite of sourcing from natural gas, coal, hydraulic, eolic, nuclear, biomass, etc. There are countries like Venezuela where the power generation is based on ~0.3 kg CO2/kWh and others like India, where it is ~0.9 kg

June 2020 / MPT International

Sources: Danieli

Fig. 3: Selective CO2 removal in Energiron ZR process

CO2/kWh. That is why when analysing the overall CO2 impact is mandatory to consider the country where the plant is installed.

CO2 emissions considerations The difference between BF-BOF vs DREAF in terms of CO2 emissions is clear when analysing the conversion of: 3CH4 + 4Fe2O3 –> 8Fe° + 3CO2 + 6H2O Reduction of ores through DR drastically reduces CO2 emissions as compared to coal, for which all reductants come from C, in a 2:1 ratio: 3C + 2Fe2O3 –> 4Fe° + 3CO2 Moreover, further advantages can be obtained when using the Energiron technology, more than half of the gaseous CO2 is selectively removed, thus significantly reducing the GHG emissions (Figure 3). The possibility to selective removed the CO2 provides a strong potential for alternative disposal of this CO2. It can create an additional income for companies that can sell the CO2 to oil industries for Enhanced Oil Recovery or to food and beverage industries.

The overall analysis for the BF-BOF route, as compared to DR-EAF configurations for the Energiron ZR scheme (with and without selective CO2 commercialisation and/or sequestration) is shown in Fig. 4. The analysis refers to a location producing 0.38 kg CO2/kWh

MPT International / June 2020

Fig. 4: CO2 emissions for the various steelmaking routes-w and w/o selective CO2 off-taking

(average value prevalent in some European countries).

Conclusions On a global scale, fuelled by the concern of the rapid growth of greenhouse gases and global warming, environmental regulations are becoming increasingly stringent, pushing industries to adopt preventive measures to reduce the environmental impact. It is, therefore, easy to understand that significant intervention is needed to comply with the targets imposed by environmental regulations in the industrial sector. Today,

steel production mainly relies on BF/BOF technology. Still, it has been widely demonstrated that this route has a significant CO2 impact compared to the DRP/EAF route going against the worldwide green vison. For this reason, the Energiron direct reduction technology stands as the most sustainable technology to be implemented, capable of significantly reducing CO2 emissions. Furthermore, it is ready for the target of a carbon-neutral future thanks to its capability and flexibility to maintain the same process scheme even when using pure hydrogen.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

ADVERTORIAL

Your partner in metallurgy worldwide AUMUND Group technologies provide solutions for numerous conveying applications in ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy as well as in foundries.

CONTACT:

AUMUND Fördertechnik GmbH / Germany metallurgy@aumund.de www.aumund.com SCHADE Lagertechnik GmbH / Germany sales@schade-lagertechnik.com www.schade-lagertechnik.com SAMSON Materials Handling Ltd / UK sales@samson-mh.com www.samson-mh.com

AUMUND equipment for metallurgy For the different process stages in Iron and Steel plants AUMUND provides solutions and products for • Conveying and storing of coal, iron ore or limestone • Conveying of DRI, HBI, HCI, FePellets, Fe-Sinter and coke up to 1100 °C • Conveying in inert atmosphere or seal gas • Conveying and smooth cooling of HBI • Additional cooling of Fe-Pellets or Fe-Sinter • Conveying of various kinds of hot and cold scrap or residuals • Conversions or retrofits of existing material handling equipment

Direct reduction process AUMUND has developed innovative conveyors to take hot DRI (direct reduced iron or sponge iron) either from the

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Photos: AUMUND

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pecific expertise and an excellent position in the market are in evidence in specialized conveying equipment adapted to materials at temperatures of up to 1100 °C, optionally incorporating the use of inert gas, as well as in technology for cooling iron briquettes and similar materials without damaging them.

Energy efficient conveying of DRI

MIDREX shaft furnace or in other processes from the rotary hearth, rotary furnace or fluidized bed. This means sfor example that the material can be directly charged into an electric-arc furnace (EAF) while it is still hot. Several special applications have been developed for this technological environment. AUMUND’s hot material and cooling conveyors are unmatched internationally.

• The precise, overlapping design of the conveyor pans minimizes spillage • Low maintenance Modern sinter shaft coolers utilize energy from the hot sinter and are connected by insulated AUMUND sinter conveyors in order to optimize energy recovery.

Sintering plants Sinter is conveyed at temperatures of up to 1100 °C from the sintering plant to the cooler, or after the cooler if the material is still too hot for standard belt conveyors.

Main advantages and characteristics of the AUMUND sinter conveyor: • Lower energy requirement and lower noise emissions, therefore better working conditions in comparison to vibrating conveyors • As relative motion between the sinter and the conveyor is eliminated, wear and sinter break-up are reduced

Sinter Plant: Pan Conveyor type KZB-S

June 2020 / MPT International

Pellet cooling In cases where the main cooler does not cool the pellets sufficiently, an AUMUND conveyor acts as extended cooling line.

It is designed with special air flow features and dedusting at the inlet. Thus additional air cooling of hot pellets is provided.

Main advantages and characteristics of the AUMUND HBI cooling conveyor: • Cooling with the aid of a defined water mist but with low water consumption • Avoidance of sludge formation • Clean environment due to closed system • Improvement of the HBI quality by slow cooling

SCHADE High Performance Stockyard Solutions SCHADE Lagertechnik GmbH (AUMUND Group) is a global market leader in designing and supplying stockyard technology such as longitudinal and circular stockyards, blending beds, tripper cars, bridge- and portal-type stackers and reclaimers as well as wagon unloading systems. The products are used in the cement, mining, fertilizer and chemical industries, in power plants, the iron and steel industry, and at port and terminal facilities.

Conveying and cooling of pellets with AUMUND Pan Conveyor type KZB-K

HBI cooling Controlled, slow cooling down (“smooth cooling” rather than in a quenching tank) of the HBI on the patented AUMUND cooling conveyor with a mixture of mist and air for high quality briquettes.

SCHADE Circular Stacker Cantilever Scraper Reclaimer

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Its particular strength are technically sophisticated and extremely reliable solutions for handling bulk materials with all kinds of characteristics, even hot, abrasive or sticky. More than 18,000 machinery installations in over 120 countries bear witness to the excellent reputation and market position of the Group.

T he ma nu fac t u r i ng compa n ies AUMUND Fördertechnik GmbH (Rheinberg, Germany), SCHADE Lagertechnik GmbH (Gelsenkirchen, Germany), SAMSON Materials Handling Ltd. (Ely, England), as well as AUMUND Group Field Service GmbH and AUMUND Logistic GmbH (Rheinberg, Germany) are consolidated under the umbrella of the AUMUND Group. The global conveying and storage technology business is spearheaded through a total of 19 locations in Asia, Europe, North and South America, a global network of around 80 agents, and five warehouses in Germany, USA, Brazil, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia.

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SAMSON Materials Handling Ltd. (AUMUND Group) is expert in mobile bulk materials handling equipment for surface installation: from truck unloaders, to shiploaders, rail and barge loaders, ecological import hoppers and mobile stockpiling equipment. Hardworking equipment designed for rapid set-up and continuous high performance. The products are used in the cement, mining, fertilizer and chemical industries, in power plants, the iron and steel industry, and at port and terminal facilities.

Conveying and cooling of HBI with AUMUND Flat Plate Conveyor type FPB-K

MPT International / June 2020

The AUMUND Group is a specialist in the field of conveying and storage equipment for a wide range of bulk materials.

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INNOVATION

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

Giant 3D Printer to produce Gear Parts weighing tonnes of steel In the future, components for marine gearboxes might come from the 3D printer instead of the foundry. German research institutes and companies are jointly developing a 3D printer that can produce steel components weighing several tonnes.

Compared to casting, 3D printing saves resources: The researchers assume that significantly less material is needed.

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he marine gear cases of large ships are unique. For casting the housing parts, specially made moulds are therefore required. If the components are manufactured additively, i.e. printed instead of cast, there is no need to produce individual moulds. The weight of the individual parts can also be reduced, as different designs are possible with printing than with casting. For example, cavities or honeycomb structures can be incorporated. A steel gear housing from the 3D printer should therefore weigh a maximum of 10 tonnes - if it is cast, it reaches a weight of 13 tonnes.

A huge printing room is required to produce the heavy gearbox housing parts. Six metres long, three metres wide and one and a half metres high is the interior of the 3D printer,

CRANEFRIGOR™ – AC-unit for severe duty conditions works.

AZ_S+T_CRANEFRIGOR_85x128_ EN_RZ.indd 1

FrigorTec GmbH • info@frigortec.de • www.frigortec.com

developed by research institutes and companies from the state of Lower Saxony. This makes the printer almost as large as a freight container. When printing the steel housing parts, the researchers at the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) rely on laser-assisted arc welding. In this additive manufacturing process, steel wire is melted and welded together layer by layer.

The research goal is to apply up to five kilograms of steel per hour in this way.

To ensure the quality of the components, engineers at the Institut für Integrierte Produktion Hannover (IPH) are developing an inline measuring technique. This makes it possible to detect and correct errors during printing. To this end, the printing process is permanently monitored; if necessary, printing parameters are automatically adjusted during the process. If, for example, too much material was applied in one step, less material can be applied in the next step or vice versa. Since some of the material is still hot when printing and some has already cooled down, shrinkage of the material during cooling can cause distortion. “This is a hurdle that we need to overcome”, says Ake Kriwall, who is responsible for the development of the measurement technology at the IPH together with project engineer Dominik Melcher.

In addition to the IPH, four other companies and institutes are involved in the research project. The project is being managed by the REINTJES GmbH, a manufacturer of marine transmissions, which intends to use 3D printing in the manufacture of large products in future. The EILHAUER Maschinenbau GmbH is taking over the plant construction of the XXL 3D printer, the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) works on laser-assisted arc welding and the TEWISS - Technik und Wissen GmbH is responsible for the construction and control of the print head.

The project for additive manufacuring in ship gear parts is funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi). The project runs until the end of 2021.

02.04.19 11:22

Source: REINTJES GmbH

Since more than 50 years!

Marine gear units: In the future, they will be produced with a huge 3D printer.

INNOVATION

CO2 REDUCTION

Steelanol and Torero projects

by ArcelorMittal get boost from European Commission The European Investment Bank (EIB), with the support of the European Commission, has granted a €75 million loan to ArcelorMittal for the construction of what it says are two ground-breaking projects at its plant in Gent, Belgium. The facilities will considerably reduce carbon emissions by converting waste and by-products into valuable new products.

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he two projects are worth €215 million in total, and set to reduce up to 350,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year in the first phase. This is a CO2-reduction equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions of a quarter of a million passenger vehicles being driven for one year, ArcelorMittal notes.

Under the name Steelanol, the company will build a €165 million industrial-scale demonstration plant that will capture waste gases from the blast furnace and biologically convert them into recycled-carbonethanol, the first commercial product of ArcelorMittal’s Carbalyst family of recycled carbon chemicals. The ethanol produced can be blended for use as a liquid fuel. The technology was developed by LanzaTech, with whom ArcelorMittal has entered a long-term partnership, together with Primetals and E4tech.

Once complete, the plant is expected to produce up to 80 million litres of recycled-carbon ethanol a year. The new installation will create up to 500 construction jobs over the next two years and 20 to 30 new permanent direct jobs. The project is expected to be completed in 2022.

Sources: ArcelorMittal

Torero turns waste-wood into bio-coal The other project is Torero, a €50 million large-scale demonstration plant to convert waste wood into bio-coal, partially replacing the coal currently injected into the blast furnace. In the early stage, the Torero plant will be able to convert up to 60,000 tonnes of waste wood into around 40,000 tonnes of bio-coal every year. This volume will be doubled in a second stage of the project, after the start of the first Torero reactor. The new

MPT International / June 2020

3D image of completed plant

installation will create around 70 external jobs and will create around ten new permanent direct jobs for the operation of this installation. The plant, which is being developed in partnership with Torr-Coal, Renewi, Joanneum Research Centre, Graz University and Chalmers Technical University, is expected to be operational by the end of 2022.

“Even in the current difficult times, Europe keeps its ambitious climate targets and the EIB, the EU climate bank, is committed to continuing to be a key partner,“ says EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle. „In particular in the steel industry, it means finding new ways to power machines and processes that are essential for reducing carbon emissions.

Along similar lines, Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, says: “This EU backed loan will enable us to demonstrate that European steelmaking plants can be competitive while reducing carbon emissions and help us attain our climate goals.“ According to Geert Van Poelvoorde, CEO ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products, the division to date has committed more than €250 million to developing and testing technology that will help

make steelmaking carbon neutral, leveraging its R&D facilities around the world.

ArcelorMittal Europe has committed to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030, with a further ambition to be carbon neutral by 2050, in line with the EU’s Green Deal and the Paris Agreement. anazaTech, in ist own words, is „turning our global carbon crisis into a feedstock opportunity“ by means of recyling „Carbon recycling gives us a choice as to where the carbon in our products comes from: fresh fossil or reused carbon emissions,“ says CEO Jennifer Holmgren.

The EIB investment supported by InnovFin Energy Demonstration Projects (InnovFin EDP) is a venture financing instrument designed to support the demonstration of innovative clean energy projects in the fields of renewable energy, energy storage, smart energy systems and carbon capture, use and storage. The aim is to bridge the gap from demonstration to commercialisation and thus contribute to the deployment of the next generation of innovative low-carbon energy technologies. Given the high risk involved, these EIB loans are guaranteed by the European Commission in the event of default. InnovFin EDP is financed

by Horizon 2020 and NER 300 funds.

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MILL TECHNOLOGY

FLATNESS MEASUREMENT

Figure 1: Ungerer’s stretchbend-levelling lines (SBLs) are in use all over the world.

UMS PRO: A new unflatness measurement system for SBL lines

AUTHOR: Klaus Lenz, CEO, Ungerer Technology GmbH, Pforzheim, Germany CONTACT: Phone: +49 (0)7231 942-

118, lenz@ungerer.de

L

ow-tension or high-tension? Up till now, this has been the question that strip metal manufacturers have had to ask themselves when planning the purchase of a stretch-bend-levelling (SBL) line (Figure 1). These machines produce a uniform flatness across the width of the coil. They equalize material and surface tensions and align the metal fibers with the levellers in such a way that key parameters such as yield strength and elongation can be optimally adjusted. The flat strips which are then wound into coils must meet these quality requirements before they can be used in highly demanding applications.

Prerequisite: Precise measurement, fast control The prerequisite for best levelling results is firstly the measurement of the real strip’s unflatness after levelling. In

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the machines from Ungerer the unflatness measurements are firstly made immediately at the leveller’s output with a rubberized roll made of high stiffness material with integrated piezo pressure sensors (high-tension method, see Figure 2), The second flatness measurement of the strip is made at very low tension by a pull-down measurement roller as it comes out of the machine (low-tension measurement; Figure 3). In order to achieve a real time closed loop control, the sensors send their measurement results wirelessly via a PCM transmitter both to the PLC and to the UMS Pro controller specially developed for this application, which calculate and immediately send back the setpoint values to the leveller.

However, the measuring point here is 20 to 25 meters (on the strip path) behind the levelling zone, so a long dead zone must be considered. If we include the distance required for adjustment, there are always about 50 meters which lack the desired or required flatness, because the first feedback and the flatness measurement only take place after approx.

25 meters and the feedback from the second controller only reaches the pulldown roller after a further 25 meters. It can therefore be assumed that the strip of each coil is flat over a length of approx. 50 meters is not within the tolerance range of 99% accuracy. This value is only reliably achieved when the leveller has accurately adjusted to the unflatness of the incoming material.

Low Tension: Good measurement results, long dead zone

High-Tension: Fast action, inaccurate results

The low-tension measurement takes place at the end of the process, after the coil has been unwound. Because the strip is then no longer under high tension, this measurement - called the pull-down measurement - delivers very precise results with a control accuracy of approx. 99%.

On the other hand, high tension measurement takes place almost immediately at the leveller’s output. Adjustment takes place quickly accordingly, and so, the loss of strip is really minimal. Since the strip is under high-tension, the results of the measurement and conse-

June 2020 / MPT International

Source: Ungerer

With UMS PRO, Ungerer introduces a system for unflatness measurement of strip steel that combines the commonly used high tension and low-tension measurement methods. In conjunction with a high-speed controller, users obtain considerably improved coil flatness (by a factor of ten) after the stretch-bend-levelling unit (SBL). The measuring system can be easily retrofitted on almost all existing stretch-bend-levelling lines, even those from other manufacturers.

Figure 2: With UMS PRO, the unflatness of strip steel is measured twice and corrected within a very short time. The picture shows the first high-tension measuring station integrated in a roll made of solid

Figure 3: The second (low-tension) measuring station is located in the

material shortly after the leveller.

low-tension output area.

quently of the levelling are not as accurate as with the low-tension measurement. It nevertheless achieves a control accuracy of approx. 95% immediately after the leveller unit.

Thus, both measuring positions and methods offers advantages and disadvantages. The target of the Ungerer’s developers has been then to enhance and keep the advantages of both methods: the minimal strip loss from the high-tension measurement, and the maximum accuracy from the low-tension measurement.

This goal was achieved by the combination of both methods and has been recently launchen on the market under the name UMS PRO. The measurement systems of both rolls (which are configured as master and slave) send their data to the central controller, which enables the parameters sending to the leveller in closed loop mode at high computing speed and which ensure that the strip is accurately stretched accordingly.

This brand new joint data evaluation allows the user to get the best of both methods without having to accept their respective disadvantages. In addition, if one of the two rollers is under maintenance, it is still possible to operate the machine.

This means that any lost production time for maintenance of the flatness measurement and control system is virtually eliminated. Ungerer’s UMS PRO controller is the only one in the world

that controls both systems, creating a flatness measurement system which is at the same time highly efficient and highly available.

Result: Flatness improvement by a factor of ten and measurement that is twice as fast

The improvement that this double measurement brings can be expressed in numbers. By measuring after the leveller, a flatness of 95 to 96% is already achieved, after the pull-down, it is 99%.

The result is coils that are exactly flat and can be machined precisely. For example, it meets the requirements of manufacturers of premium smartphones who manufacture from the coils mobile phone housings and their components, such as slots for SIM cards.

Cooperation between two experts The innovation of UMS PRO lies, on the one hand, in the idea of combining both measuring methods and, on the other hand, in jointly evaluating the data from both sensor systems. In this demanding task, Ungerer (a specialist in pull-down systems) worked together with BFI, the research institute of the German Steel Institute VDEh and expert for pull-up measurements. Among other things, BFI has developed the controller that evaluates the results of both measurements, correlates them and determines the corresponding control parameters on this basis.

Figure 4: The combination of high- and low-tension measurement in combination with sophisticated control technology improves flatness by a factor of ten and minimizes strip loss.

MPT International / June 2020

Also new is that measurement results are displayed in Windows 10 with Labview. The measurement report is available among other options as a “waterfall diagram” which shows exactly the flatness over the width and length of the coil and displays the results of both measurements to the operator at the same time. The picture shows the measurement report at one of the world’s leading manufacturers of stainless-steel thin strip. After the SBL process with UMS PRO, the 1550 mm wide strip achieves far greater flatness than in a rolling mill, which for physical reasons cannot be obtained with pure cold rolling (Figure 3).

Simple retrofitting of existing equipment The UMS PRO system can of course be used in all new SBL systems from Ungerer and other suppliers. However, it’s noticeable that it is also highly suitable for retrofitting on existing systems.

From the mechanical side, replacing only one roller in the stretching block with a sensing roller is enough to achieve the requested result.

ROI dependent on material value The new double measurement technology of coils flatness has already been integrated by Ungerer in several SBL lines, both in existing, and in new lines in China, Korea, and Italy, among others.

It has been proven in practice that it has resulted in the production of higher quality coils with lower material loss.

The higher the price per kilogram of the material, the quicker the measuring process pays for itself.

Ungerer has developed a calculator that allows to quickly and easily estimate the “Return on Investment” for UMS PRO. As a rule of thumb, you can say: with thin stainless steel, the investment in the measuring system pays for itself after around three years. For copper coils it is as low as one year, and for titanium the payback period is even shorter.

55

INNOVATION

BLAST FURNACE TECHNOLOGY

Thyssenkrupp: SIP oxygen technology for the blast furnace process Thyssenkrupp in Duisburg is testing the “sequence impulse process with induced shockwaves (SIP), a new blast furnace technology designed to enhance process efficiency. One of the aims is to help reduce CO2 emissions – both at the company’s own plant and around the world by marketing the technology globally. Following extensive research and development, the world’s first SIP system has now been installed in blast furnace Schwelgern 1 and will serve as a reference plant for marketing.

T

Global marketing Jörg Glebe, managing director of Thyssenkrupp AT.PRO tec GmbH, is optimistic about the results of the research and tests carried out in cooperation with RWTH Aachen University: “Improving

56

Thyssenkrupp Steel’s Schwelgern plant in Duisburg

the efficiency of the blast furnace process optimizes the consumption of coke and pulverized coal as reducing agents.

This lowers CO2 emissions and reduces costs. Replacing five kilograms of coke with pulverized coal per tonne of pig iron in blast furnace Schwelgern 1 would already result in potential annual cost savings in the millions.”

The technology is already meeting with wide interest. Talks are currently being held with major plant engineering companies. The aim is to launch the process worldwide and support installation in blast furnaces. “We believe our development has great commercial potential and are confident that it will quickly become established on the global market,” says Wolfgang

Schnittker, CEO of Thyssenkrupp Materials Trading.

Thyssenkrupp is aiming to achieve climate neutrality in its steelmaking operations by 2050. As an initial target the company plans to reduce emissions from its own production and processes and from purchased energy by 30% versus the base year 2018 by 2030. Carbon direct avoidance (CDA) is one of two routes the company is pursuing with its strategy. In a next step, the blast furnaces are to be converted in part to hydrogen injection.

To exhaust all possibilities for optimizing blast furnace technology, Thyssenkrupp is testing the new “sequence impulse process with induced shockwaves” oxygen injection system on the Schwelgern 1 blast furnace.

June 2020 / MPT International

Source: Thyssenkrupp

he research, carried out by Thyssenkrupp AT.PRO tec GmbH, a company of Thyssenkrupp Materials Trading GmbH, and Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, has resulted in an innovative oxygen injection process tailored specifically to the blast furnace process.

“Process development work was focused on the “deep action” of the oxygen. The aim is to improve gas and liquid flows in the blast furnace and thus improve efficiency. We based this on our knowledge and the targeted use of various gas-dynamic phenomena in the oxygen injection process,” explains Dr. Rainer Klock, manager Furnace Metallurgy at Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe’s Schwelgern blast furnace plant.

Technically this is realized by fitting each of the 40 tuyeres on blast furnace 1 with an additional lance for oxygen injection. The 40 lances each have their own injection unit or “SIP box”.

“I am delighted that with Schwelgern 1 we have been able to install our SIP technology in one of Europe’s biggest blast furnaces,” says Gerd König, managing partner of Thyssenkrupp AT.PRO tec GmbH. “We will soon be able to deliver reference values to demonstrate the profitability of the technology and show how it optimizes blast furnace processes.”

OPINION

A THOUGHT FOR THE ROAD

Partnership counts – in critical times more than ever

A return to the home range in times of crisis?

Roland Mauss is an executive at Oryx, one of Europe’s largest merchants of stainless scrap, based in Germany and the Netherlands.

In his monthly column, Oryx Commodity News, he shares his thoughts on the stainless-steel industry, scrap supply and nickel prices. Many of the issues also apply to the steelmaking industry as a whole. One of his recent blogs was titled “Ever heard of a trilemma?”

I

Source: Marko Ruh

n the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the steel industry is being attacked from two sides. On one side, the demand in certain areas is weakening, while on the other, there are concerns about commodity procurement, as supply chains for the industry could be disrupted. Fortunately, there is an extensive application portfolio for stainless steel, so the risk of a collapse in demand is low, even in the present difficult circumstances. Investments can be postponed, even if this means replacing existing machinery or appliances, but not cancelled entirely. The investment can be made at a later stage during the year.

A Black Swan The onset of the coronavirus pretty much fits the idea of a “black swan”, according to the definition made by

MPT International / June 2020

mathematician Nassim Taleb. The phenomenon describes events in a networked world which are practically unpredictable, beyond nearly all planning capability and which have not been previously experienced.

On the whole, reduced demand because of the COVID-19 restrictions—and reduced availability of imports due to tariff duties—has created a gap. Perhaps this experience of disruptions in the fragile supply chain will cause end-users to rethink and remember that price should not be the only concern, but that other qualitative factors should play a part in procurement decisions.

This also applies to commodity procurement in steelworks. Decisions on which commodity mixes to purchase, scrap or primary commodities were main-

ly based on economic optimisations. However, this may now be seen differently.

Even if overall consumption is lower, not all commodities will always be consistently available in the future, given restrictions in availability and logistical supply.

A triangle of recession, import restrictions and C-19 crisis Steel scrap is an international commodity, but also one that can be sourced regionally, often more readily available for countries with little domestic commodity mining. COVID-19 could make China turn more rapidly to scrap-based steel production in electric arc furnaces (EAF). The electrically driven EAFs would be much more flexible and cheaper than blast furnaces, which account for most of the steel production in China today.

57

IN THE NEXT ISSUE

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This preview may be subject to change. Photo: Schade

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June 2020 / MPT International

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