Steel Times International July August 2022

STEEL SUCCESS STRATEGIES

INNOVATIONS

STEEL PROCESSING

OXYGEN STEELMAKING

Manik Mehta reports from Miami on this important US steel conference.

The latest global contracts and new products news for the steel industry.

Myra Pinkham takes a look at the US steel processing industry.

Articles from Danieli and Primetals Technologies.

Since 1866

www.steeltimesint.com July/August 2022 - Vol.46 No5

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL – July/August 2022 – Vol.46 No5

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CONTENTS – JULY/AUGUST

STEEL SUCCESS STRATEGIES

INNOVATIONS

STEEL PROCESSING

OXYGEN STEELMAKING

Manik Mehta reports from Miami on this important US steel conference.

The latest global contracts and new products news for the steel industry.

Myra Pinkham takes a look at the US steel processing industry.

Articles from Danieli and Primetals Technologies.

Since 1866

www.steeltimesint.com July/August 2022 - Vol.46 No5

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL – July/August 2022 – Vol.46 No5

AISTECH 2022 – NINE PAGES OF COVERAGE FROM PITTSBURGH

Cover courtesy of Digi&Met Danieli Automation “Overview of the single control pulpit of ABS QWR 4.0 controlling of the most innovative quality wire rod mill in the world, a new mindset for continuous evolution and increased company knowledge”

EDITORIAL Editor Matthew Moggridge Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855151 matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com Editorial assistant Catherine Hill Tel:+44 (0) 1737855021 Consultant Editor Dr. Tim Smith PhD, CEng, MIM Production Editor Annie Baker Advertisement Production Martin Lawrence SALES International Sales Manager Paul Rossage paulrossage@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855116 Sales Director Ken Clark kenclark@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855117

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2 Leader

By Matthew Moggridge.

41 Steel processing Cautiously optimistic

4 News round-up The latest global steel news.

44 Steel Success Strategies 2022 Optimism amid uncertainty

14 Innovations New products and contracts.

49 Oxygen steelmaking EAFs maintain BOF liquid quality

23 Latin America update Votorantim’s steel strategy

53 Perspectives Q&A: Hy Stor Energy Hydrogen critical for green steel

25 India update Margins remain under pressure

54 Oxygen steelmaking The era of hybrid steelmaking

27 Ukraine conflict The impact on steel

59 History All you need to know about refining Part 2: Puddling Hearths

AISTech 2022 30 In the city of steel change is in the air 36 “This ain’t your great grandpappy’s steel industry”

Managing Director Tony Crinion tonycrinion@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855164 Chief Executive Officer Steve Diprose SUBSCRIPTION Jack Homewood Tel +44 (0) 1737 855028 Fax +44 (0) 1737 855034 Email subscriptions@quartzltd.com

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Steel Times International is published eight times a year and is available on subscription. Annual subscription: UK £215.00 Other countries: £284.00 2 years subscription: UK £387.00 Other countries: £510.00 3 years subscription: UK £431.00 Other countries: £595.00 Single copy (inc postage): £47.00 Email: steel@quartzltd.com Published by: Quartz Business Media Ltd, Quartz House, 20 Clarendon Road, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1QX, England.

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

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ISSN0143-7798

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LEADER

Decarbonization is ubiquitous at the moment...

Matthew Moggridge Editor matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com

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Decarbonization is ubiquitous. From hearing snippets of news about it to being bombarded with it on a daily basis has taken only a few weeks, or so it seems.

Today, virtually every news story on our website is sustainability-related and, of course, we have our own Sustainable Steel Strategies Summit coming up towards the end of September (20-21). If you’re reading this and thinking you would like to make a presentation, you can. I need abstracts by 1 August and a pre-recorded presentation, submitted as an MP4 file, by 5 September; so if you have something to say, say it at our last virtual Summit. In 2023 we are going live with the event in the United Arab Emirates and again, I’ll be looking for speakers.

When I write any leader article I rarely know exactly what I’m going to discuss when I start. This month, I had a number of thoughts in my head and then I remembered the Sustainable Steel Strategies Summit and the fact that there’s only two more Leader articles to go before the event takes place.

We’ve had a busy time of late on Steel Times International; first there was AISTech in Pittsburgh – you can read two excellent

reports in this issue – and then there was our very own Future Steel Forum, which took place in Prague at the Grandior Hotel.

Once again, a great success all round and you can read about it in the August digital edition of the magazine, which publishes after this one. And let’s face it, even at the Forum, decarbonization was top-of-mind as, indeed, it was at AISTech. In Prague, the big question on everybody’s lips was this: Can digitalisation aid decarbonization?

The answer was a resounding ‘yes’.

You might have noticed that there are now 12 issues of Steel Times International – not the usual eight – so you can imagine how rushed off our feet we have become. I am planning on theming our four digital editions. The June issue, for example, focused on decarbonization and the December edition will look at another increasingly important area of the steelmaking process, that of scrap metal and its role in (ahem) decarbonization!

Other big subjects – such as digitalisation and plant safety – will also be covered by our digital editions.

Lastly, with travel back on the agenda, we have an interesting profile interview coming up that you won’t want to miss.

11/27/21 5:59 PM www.steeltimesint.com

20/07/2022 11:55:26

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NEWS ROUND-UP

Team ‘Nano Tribe’ of Hyderabad in India was declared the winner of the third edition of ‘Tata Steel MaterialNEXT’ at the final held in Jamshedpur on 1 June 2022. The team was mentored

by Dr Sushmee Badhulika and presented the solution titled ‘Self-powering sensor to detect pre-diabetes in human breath’. The winning team received a cash prize of Rs 500k. Source: Pragativadi News, 7 June 2022

Firefighters were called to tackle a large blaze at British Steel's site in Scunthorpe, north Lincolnshire.

Humberside Fire and Rescue crews attended the blaze at the Brigg Road plant on 8 June. The fire was believed to have started in an external transformer at the plant, with oil being set alight.

There were no reports of any injuries, the fire service said. At its height, local residents were advised to keep doors and windows closed. A spokesperson for the fire service said crews had assisted an internal team at British Steel to bring the incident to a ‘swift resolution’.

Source: BBC, 8 June 2022.

Greenpeace has launched a petition urging rejection of Baffinland Iron Mines Corp’s proposed expansion of its Mary River iron ore mine. In a news release, the environmental advocacy organization said that it was calling on federal Northern affairs minister Daniel Vandal to reject the proposed expansion. The petition, which on 10 June had 201 signatures, was launched with the Nuluujaat Land Guardians, a group of Inuit hunters who last year blocked the mine’s airstrip and tote road in protest of the expansion plan.

Source: Nunatsiaq News, 10 June 2022.

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has sent a letter of condolence to the family members and close friends of workers who died at the ArcelorMittal Temirtau plant in the Karaganda region.

It was reported that four workers died, and one was hospitalized as a result of an

July/August 2022

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Heart disease and high blood pressure are more prevalent in people living in the vicinity of the Tata steelworks, regional health board GGD has said in a report which for the first time directly links this to fine particle emission from the plant. The GGD based its latest health monitor for the IJmond area in the Netherlands on figures from 2020. People who live near the plant are also likely to use more medication and feel less healthy than four years ago, the report said.

Source: DutchNews, 9 June 2022.

Construction of the first HS2 ‘green tunnel’, which will use reduced amounts of concrete and steel, has begun in Northamptonshire, UK. The tunnel, which is located in Chipping Warden and will span 1.5 miles, is being built on phase one of the project and uses technology aimed at minimising disruption for communities. Unlike conventional tunnels, the green tunnels are being constructed at ground level using segments that will be joined and eventually covered in earth, trees and shrubs to blend in with the surrounding countryside.

Source: Construction News, 10 June 2022

accident at one of the plants of ArcelorMittal Temirtau, in which the furnace roof collapsed during repair works.

Source: Kazinform, 10 June 2022.

JSW Group said it has deployed ‘highly-skilled armed commandos’ from the central industrial security force (CISF) to guard its JSW Dolvi Works near Mumbai. JSW Dolvi Works will be the 13th industrial facility in corporate India to be brought under the security mandate of CISF, the group said. It houses one of the largest manufacturing facilities of JSW Group’s steel and cement businesses.

Source: The Hindu, 10 June 2022. www.steeltimesint.com

20/07/2022 08:51:19

NEWS ROUND-UP

Welspun Corp Ltd (WCL), the flagship organization of Welspun Group, a leading welded line pipe producer, has collaborated with Tata Steel to develop the ‘structure for and subsequently producing’ pipes for transportation of pure hydrogen and natural gas mixed hydrogen. The green energy strategic partnership with Tata Steel is to assess the suitability of a variety of pipes manufactured by WCL for the transportation of the fuel of the future, which will aid in mitigating climate change-led issues and build a secure future for posterity, the company said.

Source: Bollyinside, 10 June 2022.

A 51-year-old worker was killed in a workplace accident at National Steel Car’s plant in Hamilton, Ontario, on 6 June, sparking an outpouring of anger from his co-workers which has forced the company to cancel production. This is the third worker to die at the facility in less than two years, and according to reports, the piecework and bonus payment systems in place at National Steel Car contribute to its poor health and safety record, as they are designed to force workers to speed up production to dangerous levels.

Source: World Socialist Website, 10 June 2022.

Tata Steel has teamed up with Dutch company Van Dam Shipping to develop a hydrogen-powered vessel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the shipping of steel coils. The vessel to be developed and go on a long-term contract with the steel giant will be a short-sea vessel with a loading capacity of around 5kt, and will reportedly be the first of its type.

Hydrogen-powered shipping currently consists primarily of inland vessels and small ferries, both hybrid, partially powered by hydrogen, and entirely powered by hydrogen.

Source: Splash 247.com, 14 June 2022.

German union IG Metall has called for steel workers to hold further warning strikes after employers failed to meet its wage increase demands in a third round of talks. IG Metall, which is demanding an 8.2% pay raise for workers, rejected an offer on 10 June by employers for a 4.7% increase for 21 months.

Source: Reuters, 11 June 2022.

Wuhan Iron and Steel Co., a steelmaker in Wuhan, has announced its plans to further utilise 5G technologies to improve its production processes by introducing 10,000 robots to replace humans in tiring jobs. This year, the company presented a complete set of equipment with advanced production processes including coking, ironing, steelmaking and steel rolling, among others. Wu Xiaodi, executive director of Wuhan Iron and Steel, said the company has successfully shifted to intelligent manufacturing operations over the past four years.

Source: CGTN, 14 June 2022.

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ArcelorMittal has been fined nearly $14.5 million – the largest fine ever levied in Quebec, Canada for environmental crimes – for acts committed nearly a decade ago at the Mont Wright mining complex, in Cote-North. The case is not over since the steel giant turned to the Quebec Court of Appeals. Among other things, ArcelorMittal was found guilty of being responsible for discharging a ‘harmful substance’ into Webb Lake, south of the complex, ‘in waters where fish live.’ The concentration of mine effluent – tailings that may contain toxic substances – exceeded the regulatory limit.

Source: Vaughan Today, 12 June 2022.

ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih mining and metallurgical combine (Dnipropetrovsk region) has appointed Andrii Miahkov as director of logistics. According to the report, Miahkov has been working in the field of logistics, sales and procurement for more than 20 years, and has held senior positions in the companies VETEK, Raben Ukraine, GEFCO Ukraine, UVK Ukraine, and Logistic Plus.

Source: Ukrainian News, 14 June 2022. www.steeltimesint.com

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July/August 2022

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NEWS ROUND-UP

There has been another development in the longrunning battle for the restructuring of steelmaker Celsa Group, as the Spanish prime minister called Deutsche Bank AG’s chief executive officer to negotiate the company’s debts. Pedro Sanchez telephoned Christian Sewing on 13 June to discuss the situation of the Barcelonabased company and urged the lender to make concessions to the company’s owners, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Source: Bloomberg, 14 June 2022.

Energy corporation Gazprom has said that it is further cutting gas flows to Europe citing more technical issues with its Nord Stream pipeline.

Russia's state-run supplier's latest reduction edges Nord Stream's pipeline capacity down by 40%. The move comes as European countries try to bulk up gas storage in anticipation of winter. The company said issues with a gas compressor led to the initial reduction.

Source: Business Insider India, 16 June 2022.

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Tata Steel organised a voluntary blood donation camp in association with Dhenkanal Blood Bank, Sambad Odisha and an occupational health centre team at a plant site in Narendrapur, India, on World Blood Donor Day. 237 units of blood were collected, with employees, family members and well-wishers of the company donating blood.

Source: The Hans India, 15 June 2022

The Swiss Steel Group has signed the SBTI Commitment, which aims at limiting global warming to 1.5°C. To this end, the group is implementing decarbonization measures until net zero is reached.

The Swiss Steel Group now has two years to have its decarbonization targets validated by SBTI and then implement them. “We are determined to continue to improve our leadership in green steel produced with fewer emissions until we reach net zero,” confirmed Frank Koch, CEO of the Swiss Steel Group.

Source: ETMM, 17 June 2022.

Mexico's national union of mining and metallurgical workers launched a strike on 15 June at an ArcelorMittal plant, after labour representatives failed to reach an agreement with the steelmaker over profit-sharing, the two sides said. The union said the Luxembourg-based firm was refusing to share 10% of profits from the 2021 fiscal year among over 3,500 direct employees of the plant in the western state of Michoacan.

Source: Reuters, 15 June 2022

The European Commission has unveiled plans to kick off and to facilitate a ramp-up of electrolyser manufacturing in the EU to meet its green hydrogen ambition. The European Electrolyser Partnership initiative aims to address the challenges in ‘establishing and maturing a strong industrial manufacturing base’ in Europe. It will also identify potential mitigating policies and actions where necessary.

Source: ReNews, 16 June 2022

Renewable energy company Drax has signed an agreement with British Steel to explore opportunities for its steel to be used to build the world’s largest multi-billion-pound carbon capture project at its power station in the UK. Drax is ready to invest around £2 billion in the UK, with work underway as soon as 2024. The company plans to source up to 80% of the materials and services it needs for the project from British businesses, with around 13 Kt of steel needed.

Source: The Northern Echo, 17 June, 2022

Sustainability solutions provider Helios has announced that its ambition to create an emission-free future for the steel industry will be fuelled by $6M in capital, thanks to a seed round led by At One Ventures, the ‘net positive to nature’ investment firm, and Doral Energy-Tech Ventures.

Deep tech investor Metaplanet and a global mining company are also participating in the round.

Source: Newswires, 17 June 2022

www.steeltimesint.com

20/07/2022 08:52:07

NEWS ROUND-UP

According to the union that represents employees at the Evraz steel mill in Canada, about 250 employees are being laid off. Union president Mike Day said that workers in the large diameter tubular division – where they make steel for large projects like oil pipelines – are the ones out of a job, due to there not being enough work. The workers being laid off will join about 150 workers in the same division who were laid off earlier and weren’t brought back for the project in January. Source: 980 CJME, 17 June 2022.

Novostal-M, a Russian supplier of billet and structural steel, has announced plans to build a new steel mill in the Leningrad region. The agreement between the company’s head and the region’s governor was signed on 16 June. According to Novostal-M, the construction works will begin at the end of 2024 or in early 2025. Steel production will be around 1.5 Mt per year, and will include billet production and two divisions for rebar, wire rod, and other products.

Source: Steel Orbis, 20 June 2022.

www.steeltimesint.com

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Large buildings at the former Redcar steelworks site in the UK have been demolished in a controlled explosion, resulting in more than 5kt of scrap metal. The bunker bay and screenhouse at the former sinter plant were brought down by 100kg of explosives.

The plant used to produce 70kt of sinter, a mixture of iron ore and steelmaking by-products, per week as part of the Redcar blast furnace's works. It was the latest in a demolition programme to clear the Teesworks’ site. The explosion at 19:00 BST could be heard across Redcar and the surrounding areas from up to five miles away.

Source: BBC, 18 June 2022.

Digital University Kerala, the Centre for Materials for Electronics Technologies (C-MET) and Tata Steel have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate in research and innovation.

As part of the partnership, the companies will undertake research and development, product innovation, and capacity building activities in the areas of graphene and 2D materials. As per the latest research, graphene could replace indium and thereby bring down the cost of OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screens in smartphones. The centre will function as an anchor point to promote startups and commercial research.

Source: News 18, 19 June 2022.

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A number of Australia's heavy industries have joined forces to devise a $100 billion plan to go green amid global pressure to respond more rapidly to climate change. An 88% cut to carbon emissions is possible across refineries, pipelines and steelworks, according to research released in June. Aiming to attract global capital and government support, the company-backed report focuses on urgently transforming the regions' five critical sectors that together account for one-eighth of Australia's total carbon emissions.

Source: Star News, 20 June 2022.

ArcelorMittal is idling a 1.2 Mt/yr blast furnace at its Dunkirk site in France because of weak demand, according to sources. The producer has already idled a blast furnace at its Eisenhuttenstadt site in Germany, though the company has downplayed this as routine maintenance. The furnace was scheduled to come back online early next month, but this may be delayed given the market unrest. Dunkirk has three furnaces with production capacity of about 7Mt/yr.

Source: Argus, 20 June 2022.

Emirates Steel Arkan, the UAE’s largest listed steel and building materials company, has announced its participation in the ‘Make it in the Emirates’ forum, where it will highlight its contribution to the country’s industrial output and showcase new products, including the recently introduced ES600 rebar.

The forum, which is the first of its kind in the UAE, will bring together more than 1,300 local and international investors as well as UAE industry leaders amid an expansion of opportunities at the supply and procurement chain level.

Source: Zawya, 20 June 2022 July/August 2022

20/07/2022 08:52:30

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NEWS ROUND-UP

Japanese steel producers Nippon Steel, JFE Steel and Kobe Steel and The Japan Research and Development Centre for Metals (JRCM), as well as Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) have formed a consortium to advance hydrogen utilisation in steelmaking. The so-called Green Innovation (GI) fund project will focus on the development of hydrogen reduction technology using blast furnaces.

Source: Kallanish, 20 June 2022.

Proposals for South Korean steel manufacturer Seah Wind’s £300 million offshore wind turbine base factory at Teesside, UK, have received planning approval. According to sources, the facility will be the largest of its kind in the world, at over 40m tall and 800m in length. Seah Wind is a UK subsidiary of South Korean pipe manufacturer Seah Steel Holdings. The facility will become the company's first such resource outside of South Korea.

Source: Ground Engineering, 21 June 2022.

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Stark Resources, provider of solutions in the mining industry, has entered into a three-way partnership that provides African mine owners and operators with an integrated approach to achieving chemical free fine mineral separation. The company has aligned with distributor Quiver, which is the exclusive supplier of Australia-headquartered Mineral Technologies' spiral separator equipment in Africa. Stark Resources believes that the partnership will accelerate the achievement of chemical free fine mineral separation on the continent. Source: Mining Magazine, 20 June 2022

Councillors have launched a campaign for Sheffield, UK, known as ‘steel city’, to host next year’s Eurovision song contest on behalf of Ukraine.

Eurovision fanatic, councillor Ben Miskell, deputy chair of the economic development and skills committee at Sheffield Council, said the city, given its nickname due to its vast industrial steelmaking background, was a 'natural choice'. He said: “In solidarity with our twinned city of Donetsk, we stand ready to host Eurovision. With a 13,000-plus capacity arena, international airport and the friendliest people on earth, Sheffield and South Yorkshire are a natural choice for BBC Eurovision.” Source: Yorkshire Live, 20 June 2022.

The multi-million-pound expansion of a family-run scrap metal business has resulted in the launch of a 14acre plant next to a landmark.

Delyn Metals, originally located in Gwespyr, Wales, is now celebrating the launch of its 14-acre scrapyard in Talacre, North Wales, which is set to recycle both ferrous and non-ferrous metals. The grand opening of the new processing facility comes after a decade of planning applications and revisions.

Source: Rhyl, Prestatyn, & Abergele Journal, 21 June 2022.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme estimates that 18% (£3.2 million) of compensation awarded to British Steel Pension Scheme members has been paid in fees to third party firms. In a letter to the chair of the public accounts committee, Financial Conduct Authority leader Nikhil Rathi said many BSPS members have used third parties, such as claims management companies and litigation firms, to seek redress on their behalf.

Source: FT Advisor, 21 June 2022

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

Hawsons Iron, which owns the Hawsons magnetite iron ore project in New South Wales, Australia, has released plans to produce a high-grade iron ore product that is well suited to steel industry decarbonization initiatives and green steel production. The company’s executive team has endorsed a 20 Mt/yr project and will progress a bankable feasibility study, targeting completion by the year’s end.

Source: Proactive, 21 June 2022 www.steeltimesint.com

20/07/2022 08:52:59

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NEWS ROUND-UP

A UK-based steelworker and steelworks engineer both quit their respective jobs to run a burger van and now, following the success of the van, have opened two shops. Despite having never worked in kitchens, the duo had a passion for food. They commented: “We were both saying we wanted to open something to do with food because we both love food.

We have never worked in kitchens in our lives so it is a bit of a mad one.” The next day they brought a burger van and Burger Boyz was born.

Source: Wales Online, 21 June 2022.

A UK ferrous scrap exporter was heard to have sold a bulk cargo of ferrous scrap to China, which is the first deep-sea bulk purchase from outside Asia made by a Chinese buyer since the country restarted imports of ferrous scrap in January 2021. According to sources, the cargo was sold at a highly competitive price relative to the Chinese domestic scrap price, prior to a sharp fall in Chinese steel prices.

Source: Argus Media, 21 June 2022.

Russia-focused gold producer Nordgold, which was established as a subsidiary of Severstal, a Russian steel company, has said that its chief executive Nikolai Zelenski stepped down from the company on 17 June to pursue personal investment opportunities. "There has been no decision on a new CEO appointment. The company will inform the market on the appointment in due course," Nordgold added.

Source: Nasdaq, 21 June 2022.

RWE, producer of offshore wind farms and electrolysers, has joined forces with ArcelorMittal to build offshore wind and hydrogen facilities that will service the steelmaker’s German operations. A memorandum of understanding was signed to develop, build and operate the infrastructure that will supply the green hydrogen required to advance low-emission steelmaking at ArcelorMittal’s sites in Bremen, Hamburg, Eisenhüttenstadt and Duisburg.

Source: ReNews, 22 June 2022.

Sweden’s steel major SSAB has entered into an agreement with US-based Shape Corp, a tier-one automotive supplier of lightweight body structures, to deliver fossil-free steel crash management and body structure systems to the market. Shape will be testing SSAB’s fossil-free steel, the first steel product made of hydrogen-reduced sponge iron utilising HYBRIT technology, for use in automotive applications.

Source: Trade Arabia, 22 June 2022

The Canadian federal government is providing mining company Tacora Resources, in Wabush, Canada, with a $3.3 million loan to help with mining operations in the area. The company is adding two new

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manganese reduction circuit process lines to improve processing and increase efficiency. The technology will remove manganese and silica, resulting in a higher grade of iron ore. Tacora Resources is contributing $6.2 million of its own funds toward the initiative.

Source: VOCM, 22 June 2022.

Tata Steel is working on a plan for transition to low carbon technologies for steelmaking in the UK and the Netherlands. In October 2021, Tata Steel completed the process of separating Tata Steel UK and Tata Steel Netherlands as two independent companies from Tata Steel Europe.

Both Tata Steel UK and Tata Steel Netherlands have been

developing detailed plans for transitioning to low CO2 technologies in line with the company's goal to produce CO2-neutral steel by 2050 in Europe, the company said.

Source: Outlook, 23 June 2022.

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NEWS ROUND-UP

China's second-largest steelmaker Anshan Iron & Steel Group, or Angang, is planning to acquire Lingyuan Iron & Steel Group, which will further consolidate the steel industry in north-eastern China's Liaoning province. The move, just 10 months after Angang absorbed Benxi Iron & Steel, will take Angang's annual crude steel output from 55.65Mt in 2021 to over 61Mt, accounting for over 6% of China's total steel output.

Source: S&P Global Commodity Insights, 24 June 2022.

Gerdau and Embratel have announced an agreement to implement a dedicated 5G and LTE 4G private network at the Ouro Branco industrial plant, creating a transport network for the evolution of

Tata Steel Medica Hospital, located in the Jajpur district of Odisha, India, executed a complex surgery of a total elbow replacement on a 70-year-old patient. In a three-hour long operation, the patients’ elbow was replaced and in just two days of recovery time post the surgery, the patient was able to use his hand.

According to the hospital, elbow replacement cases are extremely rare, with usually only 5-10 cases occurring each year in Odisha.

Source: Orissa Diary, 24 June 2022. digitalization of the largest Brazilian steel producer.

This is the first project to use the fifth generation of mobile internet in the steel sector in Latin America. With the objective of creating an enabling digital infrastructure for the development of the steel industry of the future, the initiative will be carried out in the largest Gerdau plant in the world.

Source: Bnamericas, 2 July 2022.

Nextracker, a global manufacturer of utility-scale solar trackers, and BCI Steel, a Pittsburgh-based steel fabricator, are reopening the historic Bethlehem steel manufacturing factory in nearby Leetsdale to produce solar tracker equipment for large-scale solar power plants.

The steel processing plant will incorporate BCI Steel’s new and reshored equipment shipped back to the US from factories in Malaysia and Brazil. Solar tracker products produced at the factory will serve growing solar markets in Pennsylvania, Indiana, New York and Ohio.

Source: Solar Power World, 28 June 2022.

Tata Steel launched a plantation drive to observe Van Mahotsav Week, the annual one-week tree-planting festival in India, which began on 1 July. Chanakya Chaudhary, vice president, corporate services Tata Steel and Tarun Daga, managing director, Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services Ltd, planted saplings in the Sidhgora plantation area in a

US Steel plans to invest $150 million in a new iron range facility that would make taconite pellets tailored for electric steelmakers. The Pittsburgh-based company has announced that it plans to break ground this autumn on the facility, which will be located at one of its two taconite plants, either Minntac in Mountain Iron or Keetac in Keewatin.

Source: The Epoch Times, 30 June 2022.

function to mark the occasion, which was also attended by other senior officials of Tata Steel and members of Tata Workers’ Union. Tata Steel will plant 90,000 saplings of different varieties in the next four months or so ensuring more greenery in the city.

Source: The Avenue Mail, 2 July 2022.

STEELASIA will start operating the country's first industrial scale melt shop in 2024 using the latest green technology from Tenova. The 600kt plant, located in the Philippines, will use local scrap metal to product high-grade billets which will be used for ports construction and shipbuilding, among other projects. Benjamin Yao, president of SteelAsia, said the melt shop will formalize and organize the collection, creating a business sub-sector with opportunities for individuals and small businesses.

Source: The Manila Times, 4 July 2022. www.steeltimesint.com

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NEWS ROUND-UP

13

REIDsteel ‘super-hangar’ shortlisted for award

Hangar with dual cantilever structure under construction

A ‘super-hanger’ built by Dorset firm John Reid & Sons (Strucsteel) Ltd – known as Reid Steel – has been shortlisted for the 2022 Structural Steel Design Awards (SSDA).

The building will be occupied by aerospace giant Bombardier,

Turkey announced antidumping levies on flat steel imports, saying that shipments from European and South Korean companies were hurting domestic producers. www.steeltimesint.com

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and has been rated alongside such ‘blue-chip’ projects as the Lord’s Cricket Ground development, the Tower of Light in Manchester and the 22 Bishopsgate skyscraper in the City of London.

Reid Steel provided the

Levies on imports will range from 7% to 12.8% of the purchase price, according to a Trade Ministry decree published in the nation’s official gazette. The decree cited steelmakers including ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel, Liberty, Thyssenkrupp, Posco, and Hyundai Steel.

Source: Bloomberg UK, 7 July 2022

design, drawing, fabrication and installation of the complete steel frame, electrically operated hangar doors and underslung cranes as well as the floor decking, cladding and glazing elements.

Simon Boyd, managing

Tenaris has announced that it will acquire US seamless steel pipe producer Benteler Steel & Tube Manufacturing Corp for $460 million as the Luxembourg-based

director at REIDsteel, said: “It is tremendous to see the Biggin Hill hangar on the prestigious SSDA shortlist," said Simon Boyd, managing director at Reid Steel.

company seeks to expand its manufacturing capabilities in the country. Tenaris, a global manufacturer of steel pipes, will acquire 100% of Benteler Steel on a cash-free, debt-free basis, which includes $52 million of working capital, it said in a statement. Benteler Steel & Tube Manufacturing Corp has an annual pipe rolling capacity of up to 400 kt at its production facility in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Source: Reuters, 8 July 2022 July//August 2022

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14

INNOVATIONS

Ward wins Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade Ward, the largest independent metal recycling and waste management specialist in the Midlands region of the UK, has been honoured with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade.

The company is one of 225 organisations nationally to be recognised with the award for its excellence in International Trade. Ward collects and processes around 1Mt of materials annually; recycling products such as metals, plastics, glass, cardboard, wood, textiles, and soil to ensure its customers fulfil environmental regulations and commitments. It aims to divert 100% of the waste it processes from landfill and uses metal sorting equipment to extract every last scrap of metal from end-of-life vehicles, as well as other waste electronic and electrical items.

Thomas Ward, commercial director at Ward said: “Winning the Queen’s Award for Enterprise

for International Trade is a huge honour for the Ward team. Our core business, which represents around 80% of turnover, is the buying, selling, processing and recycling of ferrous and non-ferrous metals from a variety of sources, including end-of-life vehicles and arising demolition

projects. Over three years, thanks to significant investment in deep sea dock facilities and the ongoing hard work of our dedicated teams, our overseas sales grew by 84%; a growth rate of 36% per annum. We were able to expand our export capabilities to service larger customers in Turkey, Egypt, India and Pakistan.”

The company wins the Queen’s Award for International Trade for ‘outstanding short-term growth in overseas sales over the last three years.’

Ward continued: “We are planning sustainable growth with significant future investment into our people, processes, equipment and infrastructure. We are excited about the potential opportunities that winning the Queen’s Award could bring to help us achieve our long-term ambitions.”

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

Kasto contracted for horizontal bandsaw Gloucester-based Avent Extrusion Steels (AES) stocks and cuts predominantly hot and cold work tool steel grades used by its customers in a wide variety of industries to manufacture dies for extruding aluminium or copper. It is also a contract machinist of free-issue metals supplied by other customers. To upgrade and increase sawing capacity, the company has invested in a new KASTOtec AC4 KPC programmable, horizontal bandsaw, which replaced an ageing machine from a different supplier.

The machine was installed following successful cutting trials in the Milton Keynes showroom of KASTO Ltd, the UK and Ireland subsidiary of the German saw manufacturer.It is the first of this make of bandsaw that AES has purchased, there being seven such machines from diverse sources currently in operation on the shop floor in Gloucester.

James Avent, one of half a dozen family members that own and run the business, described the significant improvements the latest sawing machine has made. He said, “The bandsaw is designed and manufactured specifically for cutting with a tungsten carbide tipped (TCT) blade. We opted for a KPC (KASTO Performance Cutting) variant of the machine, with spring-loaded tensioner guides in the top of the frame. It prevents band vibration on the side opposite the point of engagement between the blade and the stock, enabling faster, quieter, more accurate cutting, and reducing machine wear. Coupled with the robust steel and mineral July/August 2022

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cast construction of the base frame, the saw is four times more productive than other machines in our factory due to the ability to use faster blade speeds and downfeeds.”

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

www.steeltimesint.com

15/07/2022 12:14:31

INNOVATIONS

15

Leybold expands screw pump range Leybold UK, a vacuum technology specialist, has opened its newly extended service facility in Chessington, Surrey, UK, offering an in-house service for the SCREWLINE dry screw pump range, along with the capability for the larger portfolio of dry pumps. According to Leybold, the expansion means that customers will no longer need to ship pumps overseas for service and maintenance, thus reducing transport costs, lowering environmental impact, and improving lead-times, meaning a better-quality service for customers throughout the UK. In an aim to ensure consistency in standards, UK engineers have completed hands-on training at the Leybold Service Technology Centre in Dresden, Germany, working alongside engineers who have serviced the SCREWLINE range for many years. In addition, the new service line in Chessington has been designed with a goal to maximise productivity and efficiency, with only

parts and tools from the manufacturer used and backed with a full 12-month warranty.

SCREWLINE is a backing pump which can be installed across a range of environments, including the areas of vacuum furnace, aerospace, composites, and the production of lithium-ion batteries for electric mobility.

Compared to oil-sealed pumps, the dry-compression SCREWLINE is more powerful, delivering a consistent and reliable performance, says Leybold.

“It’s an exciting time for the Leybold UK Service team, as well as customers,” explained Erik Vosselman, business line manager. “As a manufacturer of vacuum pump equipment, we are now able to offer local service support across the range of Leybold dry pump ranges, including DRYVAC, LEYVAC and VARODRY, as well as SCREWLINE, making us the partner of choice when it comes to vacuum repair and mainte-

nance in the UK.” “With this new fast and efficient service, major servicing can now be carried out within 10 days at our own on-site facility in Chessington, using genuine OEM parts,” added Paul Carroll,UK service manager, “Quick response and minimal down time is also ensured by our exchange pool of pumps.”

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

AUMUND India supplies conveyors for steel plant AUMUND India is supplying two deep-drawn pan conveyors type KZB-Q (with baffles) for the iron pellets handling at Jindal Steel Odisha Limited (JSOL) steel plant at Angul, Odisha, India. JSOL is the recently incorporated subsidiary of Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL), the flagship company of the JSPL Group.

The iron ore pelletizing plant, which is setting up at Angul, has a capacity of 2 x 6 Mt/ yr. The AUMUND deep-drawn pan conveyors with a capacity of 1,350 t/h start by handling iron pellets discharged from the annular cooler through the vibrating feeders. The hot iron pellets, with a material temperature of

www.steeltimesint.com

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200°C, are then fed to the pan conveyors, then discharged to the grizzly feeder. The vertical lift of the pan conveyors is 25.5m, and the centre-to-centre distance is almost 65m.

According to AUMUND, the scope of supply includes a complete drive unit, special design feed chutes, special design discharge chutes, safety instruments and flexible connections at inlet and outlet.

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

July/August 2022

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16

INNOVATIONS

Fives awarded contract for galvanizing lines Nucor Corporation, the largest steel producer in the United States, has awarded French plant builder Fives a contract for both a vertical and horizontal galvanizing line, each capable of 500kt per year. The first line will produce steel coils for automotive applications, while the second will produce steel for the construction market. With an investment of about $2.7 billion, Nucor is building a greenfield sheet mill on the Ohio River in West Virginia with operations to begin in the second half of 2024.

“Fives was selected thanks to our unparalleled technical expertise for high quality coated steel products for automotive applications,” commented Guillaume Mehlman, president of the steel and glass division at Fives. “Our success in winning this landmark contract was based on the clients’ confidence in our ability to deliver, and the successful implementation of a new galvanizing line in Mississippi, USA, ahead of schedule.

We demonstrated that we are committed to the mission,” he added.

“We chose Fives to supply our galvanizing lines due to their specialized technical knowledge, dedicated customer focus, and commitment to the mission of highly operational equipment,” said John Farris, vice president and general manager of Nucor Steel West Virginia.

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

More srl installs waste injection technology Italian steelmaking supplier MORE srl has recently installed a dedicated wastes injection technology complete with a dispenser and material handling system, into an 100-ton EAF for TENARIS SILCOTUB in Calarasi (Romania) as part of RETROFEED, the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

To reduce the CO2 footprint, the system injects recycled polymers and plastic into the EAF as an alternative to fossil carbon sources (coal, coke, pet coke) for slag foaming.

According to MORE srl, thanks to the versatility of the injection system, other granular and powdery wastes such as sludges, scales, and EAF dust will also be injected with the aim of creating a more sustainable circular economy.

The package installed consists of a MOCA dispenser for the pneumatic transportation of the material (polymers, plastics, sludges) in the EAF and the equipment for the automatic mix of different materials from two separate day-bins before the dispenser. The injection is made through a multi-functional L-ONE injector installed in a CNC copper block located in the EAF upper shell.

MORE PIT (Plastic Injection Technology) is now available in several meltshops world-wide, and the technology is claimed to contribute towards July/August 2022

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New electric sideloader

meeting current climate targets and implementing More srl’s strategy for ‘green steelmaking’.

For further information, log on to www.more-oxy.com www.steeltimesint.com

15/07/2022 12:14:50

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INNOVATIONS

Danieli to supply hybrid minimill Danieli, global plant supplier, has been awarded a contract by leading rebar fabricator Pacific Steel Group (PSG) to supply a MIDA Hybrid minimill in Mojave, California. The new plant will produce 380kt/yr of straight and spooled rebar.

Fed by a continuous charge system, the scrap will be processed through DigiMelter and LF digital melting and refining units, powered by the Q-One® digital power feeder which Danieli claims ensures the best power conditions at different frequencies.

Liquid steel will be transformed into finished products in 10 minutes by using QLP-DUE® technology featuring a single-strand Octocaster feeding a rolling mill in endless casting-rolling mode.

In addition to power and process control systems and robotics, Danieli Automation will also provide the Q3-Met manufacturing execution system for production scheduling and tracking, for maximum plant efficiency.

Q-Sym and Q3-Dyms – automatic scrap and yard management systems – have also been chosen by PSG, together with a ladle tracking system for full tracking of products and steel. Thanks to such features, the relevant overhead cranes are automated in the three key technological areas of scrap feeding, ladle handling and storage of the

from Combilift

rolled product.

Robotic solutions will be applied to the DigiMelter and LF sampling, furnace EBT and final product marking, aiming to increase operator safety and execution repetitiveness. Finally, advanced automation featuring digital smart casting and rolling, automatic gap control, smart pinch rolls and tail brakers are also included in the design.

Developed by Danieli Automation, Q-Jenius will allow the electrical feeding of DigiMelter, ladle furnace, Q-Heat induction heaters, rolling mill stand motors and fume-treatment plant fans, directly from the solar field.

Irish forklift manufacturer Combilift has added another addition to its electric range with the launch of the Combi-FSE – a four-wheeled, two directional sideloader in both 5,000kg or 6,000kg lift capacity.

As part of Combilift’s drive to help customers achieve their aims of more sustainable operations, over 60% of the company’s output is now electric. Recent models such as the Combi-XLE and now the Combi-FSE focus on heavier duty application for industry sectors such as timber, steel, tubes and pipes, and builders’ merchants.

Thanks to Combilift’s engineering and design experience, the company claims that the Combi-FSE delivers on all aspects of reliability, durability, powerful performance and ease of maintenance, combined with quiet and emission-free electric operation that more and more customers are demanding.

The patented traction system in this new product plays a major part in ensuring the performance of the Combi-FSE in all weather conditions. Sensors in the front steering axle linked to the innovative Electronic Traction Control system enable the two independent 15kW drive motors on the rear axle to be controlled individually, with the speed of each wheel governed by the steer angle of the front wheels, aiming to provide

improved steering control for the operator, better truck turning radius and reduced tyre wear. This new technology, when combined with regenerative braking (which recaptures the truck’s kinetic energy during deceleration and can be used to recharge the batteries to extend battery life), makes for Combilift’s most advanced steering system on its four wheeled trucks to date, claims the company.

The glazing of the cab allows the operator to have a wide field of vision of the load, the machine and the surroundings. Maintenance time has been kept to a minimum due to key service features such as its quick interchangeable battery for shift work, centralised grease points on the front and rear of the load platform and removable panels for easy access to the motor.

Combilift CEO Martin McVicar commented: “We introduced our first four-wheel sideloader around 10 years ago after initial requests from companies in the timber sector, and it has since become pretty much a standard solution for those who run intensive schedules which clock up many operational hours. The technological advancements in battery technology since then means that it was a natural progression to develop this electric model, which will help customers to drastically reduce their carbon footprint.”

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

For further information, log on to https://combilift.com/combi-fse-electric-sideloader

www.steeltimesint.com

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18

INNOVATIONS

Plant supplied by Primetals Technologies sets two world records A vacuum oxygen decarburization (VOD) plant supplied by Primetals Technologies achieved a heat size of 298.2 tons – a world record in stainless steelmaking. In addition, the same plant reached a carbon content of five parts per million after decarbonization, which marks another world record for VOD plants. Turkish steel producer Çolakoglu operates the plant, located in Dilovası, about 60 km to the southeast of Istanbul. “A pioneer in the Turkish steel industry, Çolakoglu has the courage to try new things. Our achievement at the VOD plant is the latest proof of this determination. While giving credit to my colleagues who have carried the flag and achieved extraordinary results, I send special thanks to Primetals Technologies for good collaboration and support. Together we create value by recycling stainless scrap, thus creating stainless steel for the Turkish industry – and we will contribute to reducing Turkey’s trade deficit by replacing imports,” said Ugur Dalbeler, CEO July/August 2022

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of Çolakoglu. According to Primetals, to reach record-breaking results like the ones at the VOD plant, there are many obstacles in the steelmaking process that need to be overcome. For example, the process parameters for the furnace must be very accurate and well-thought-out to allow tapping at high temperatures. As a result, any clogging issues during tapping, water-cooled panel leakage, and furnace refractory problems are avoided. Also, the VOD-system needs to be designed for a very large heat size – usually, these plants operate with heat sizes between 60 to 150 tons of stainless steel.

The VOD-system is a tank degassing unit which, compared to a VD-plant, is additionally equipped with an oxygen blowing lance, vacuum pump regulation for oxygen blowing conditions, and other necessary components such as gas cooling, dust filtering, and CO-burning systems.

Furthermore, advanced process models are required to reach accurate end process parame-

ters such as end chemical analysis and liquid steel temperature. The additional oxygen supply can be used for producing extra-low carbon stainless steel grades (forced decarbonization) or for chemical heating of the melt in conjunction with aluminium/silicon additions (the VD-OB process).

One of the world’s largest plants, Çolakoglu operates an electric steel plant in Dilovası, located in the western part of Turkey. The main products at this plant are slabs, which are further processed in a hot-rolling mill, and billets used for producing rebar and steel rock bolt. The Çolakoglu electric steelmaking plant, was supplied by Primetals, and in late 2020, was modernized and upgraded to become a VOD plant, marking another step in the business partnership between Çolakoglu and Primetals.

For further information, log on to www.primetals.com www.steeltimesint.com

15/07/2022 12:15:05

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20

INNOVATIONS

Martin Engineering introduces the N2 remote monitoring system for conveyor belt cleaners Martin Engineering, leader in bulk handling equipment solutions, has launched its N2® remote monitoring system for conveyor belt cleaners in countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (EMEAI).

Designed for any belt cleaner using a polyurethane blade, the N2 position indicator (PI) system tracks belt cleaner performance and tells users when servicing is required via a cloud-based mobile app or desktop dashboard.

According to Martin Engineering, the N2 PI allows maintenance managers to keep on top of belt cleaner performance, eliminating needless inspection visits, reducing human exposure to moving conveyors, and helping to increase production uptime. The N2 PI recently met all the requirements to achieve CE marking in Europe.

Robert Whetstone, vice president for Martin Engineering’s EMEAI region, said: “Martin has a long track record for outstanding innovations that keep industrial processing plants running safely and efficiently. Our new N2 system is a game-changer that combines tried and tested technologies into one easy-to-use package so July/August 2022

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users can monitor their conveyor belt cleaners remotely.

“With this smart yet simple upgrade, the technology does the legwork, providing real-time data on each belt cleaner blade to give an early indication of when servicing is needed. In the meantime, plant managers can be confident that material carryback, spillage and build-up is being controlled by the belt cleaner so they can keep the plant running to maximize productivity.”

By tracking the individual performance and status of each belt cleaner, N2 PI delivers continuous, real-time feedback and eliminates guesswork. The detailed historic data also provides a maintenance log so service dates can be tracked and wear rates calculated. The result, claims Martin Engineering, is an improved return on belt cleaner investments plus the ability to budget and forecast for essential replacement parts.

Replacements can also be scheduled for just-intime delivery helping users to better manage their inventory.

Stuart Howden, engineering manager at Singleton Birch, who has overseen the UK trials

from the start, commented: “Martin Engineering’s N2 position indicator is a clever system that eliminates the need for repeated visits to each conveyor belt – we will never need to go back to doing regular physical inspections of all our belt cleaners. With more than 90 conveyors across our production site, the ability to monitor our belt cleaner blades remotely is a massive advantage.

“Initial trials on six conveyors showed us that the N2 PI not only cuts inspection time, but it also helps reduce exposure to moving conveyors and associated hazards. The Martin app shows us when belt cleaner servicing is needed, and we can arrange inspections at the end of shifts or during planned stoppages, which decreases unscheduled downtime. The app also allows us to monitor blade performance over time and budget accordingly. We now have PI’s installed on 43 conveyors across our operation.”

For further information, log on to www.martin-eng.co.uk www.steeltimesint.com

15/07/2022 12:15:18

SUSTAINABLE

STEEL

STRATEGIES SUMMIT 20-21 SEPTEMBER 2022 IN ASSOCIATION WITH

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL

The Sustainable Steel Strategies Summit 2022, brought to you by

SPONSORED BY

the makers of the Future Steel Forum and Steel Times International, is shaping up to be an exciting two-day virtual event aimed exclusively at the global steelmaking industry.

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

Alongside the two-day conference and virtual exhibition, participants will have the opportunity to network with new contacts, arrange video meetings and exchange resources and information.

If you would like to present a paper at the Sustainable Steel

ORGANISED BY

Strategies Summit then please contact programme director: Matthew Moggridge | matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN - SIGN UP TODAY www.steeltimesint.com/sustainable-steel-strategies-summit

LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

23

Votorantim’s steel strategy In this article, Germano Mendes de Paula* examines the evolution of competitive strategy adopted by Votorantim in Brazil.

AS of the end of 2016, the Brazilian industrial conglomerate Votorantim may be considered as a medium-sized Latin American long steel player, with interests in Brazil (Votorantim Siderurgia), Colombia (Acerías Paz del Río/APR) and Argentina (Aceros Bragado/Acerbrag). However, in February 2017, it announced the merger of Votorantim Siderurgia with ArcelorMittal’s Brazilian long steel division. Under this agreement, Votorantim Siderurgia would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of ArcelorMittal Brasil Longos, and Votorantim would hold a 15% stake in the rival’s capital. The transaction was approved by the Brazilian antitrust authority (CADE) in February 2018.

In January 2022, Votorantim sold its majority stake in APR, a leading Colombian steelmaker, to Trinity Capital and to Structure Banca de Inversión. Its ownership, therefore, was changed from a manufacturing player to two financial entities. Moreover, Votorantim’s interest in the steel business became restricted to Acerbrag and the minority stake in ArcelorMittal Brasil Longos.

Barra Mansa steel mill Votorantim’s net revenues totalled R$49bn (roughly $10bn) in 2021, an amount 39% higher in comparison with the previous year. Simultaneously, its consolidated EBITDA reached R$11.5bn, implying a 70% jump year-on-year, which is understood to the best financial outcome obtained by Votorantim throughout its 124-year history.

It had a net profit of R$7.1bn in 2021 versus a net loss of R$3.1bn in 2020.

Votorantim group belongs to the Ermírio de Moraes family. It started its activities as a textile producer in the late 1910s. Two decades later, it engaged in a strategy of productive diversification, by entering the cement, chemical and steel industries.

Barra Mansa, a charcoal integrated mill,

was then established in 1937. Its initial configuration consisted of only one blast furnace, with a 300t/yr pig iron capacity.

The first stage of expansion culminated in the implementation of two Siemens-Martin furnaces (in 1944), two blast furnaces and a sintering plant.

Barra Mansa steel mill, located in the homonymous city in the State of Rio de Janeiro, was amplified and modernized.

For instance, a BOF was installed in 1971, while a melt shop was started-up in 1986, allowing the business to shut down the Siemens-Martin furnaces. At that time, the mill’s nominal capacity reached around 400kt/yr.

In 1995-1996, the Barra Mansa plant experienced an industrial reconversion. Two blast furnaces, a sintering plant and an BOF were deactivated and the company was no longer a partially charcoal integrated mill but instead had been transformed into a typical EAF mini-mill. Afterwards, its crude steel capacity was enlarged to 750kt/ yr and a new 400kt/yr bars and sections rolling mill was added. Votorantim was the only shareholder of Barra Mansa (and its successor, Votorantim Siderurgia) until its merger with ArcelorMittal Brasil Longos.

In 2005, steel was responsible for roughly 6% of its parent company’s turnover, which was quite a small proportion, taking into consideration that Votorantim had been working in the steel business since the 1930s. Nevertheless, 2005-2007 can be interpreted as an inflection point regarding Votorantim Group’s steel business for four main reasons: a) the enlargement of its stake in Usiminas; b) the acquisition of APR in Colombia; c) the purchase of a participation in Acerbrag in Argentina; d) the announcement of plans to construct a greenfield mill in Resende in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Besides its owned long steel mill, Votorantim also gained exposure to the

Brazilian flat steel market by acquiring a minority (but relevant) stake in Usiminas. In fact, when Usiminas was privatized in 1991, the main investors were banks, pension funds, iron ore miner Vale, and some steel distributors. Since then, it has had some ownership changes. Votorantim acquired 7.3% of the voting shares of Usiminas in 1997.

Increased voting share In 2006, a new Controlling Shareholders Agreement was signed, stating that Votorantim’s voting shares participation had increased to 11.6%. Furthermore, in 2009, Votorantim exercised its pre-emptive rights in the acquisition of Vale’s ownership interest, enlarging its participation to 13% of voting shares. It is important to highlight that Usiminas was managed at that time by a Shareholders Agreement, comprisedof: a) “Nippon Group”: (headed by Nippon Steel, with 27.8% of voting shares); b) “V/C Group” – Votorantim and Camargo Corrêa (26.0%); c) “CAIXA Group”, represented

by Usiminas’ pension fund (10.1%). The percentage of the company’s voting shares held by the control group was 63.9%. Therefore, Votorantim (jointly with Camargo Correa, a large heavy construction company) acted as the second largest shareholder.

CSN started to acquire Usiminas shares at the end of 2010. There were successive purchases of shares in the stock market, with the goal of being well positioned to achieve a significant stake in Usiminas.

This movement would have its apex at the moment of sale of the shares of Usiminas that were in the possession of Votorantim and Camargo Corrêa, which would happen in 2012. In November 2011, Votorantim and Camargo Corrêa sold their 26% voting capital to Ternium/Techint, for a consideration of $2.2bn, which was equivalent to a premium of almost 83%

* Professor in Economics, Federal University of Uberlândia, Brazil. E-mail: germano@ufu.br www.steeltimesint.com

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24

LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

over the closing price of mentioned shares.

Therefore, during the period 1997-2011, Votorantim acted as key shareholder of Usiminas and it has appropriated considerable profits for selling its stake, by taking advantage of the dispute between CSN and Ternium for a relevant interest in Usiminas.

Resende Steel Mill and Sitrel In 2005, Votorantim announced the construction of a new mini-mill in Resende.

It was inaugurated in 2009, with a 1.05Mt/ yr melt shop and a 520kt/yr rolling mill. In addition, in 2012, it commissioned Sitrel, a 400kt/yr reroller, in Sete Lagoas, in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, which is a 50:50 joint venture with entrepreneur Alexandre Grendene, who has large interests in the Brazilian shoe manufacturing industry.

In 2016, Votorantim resumed its pig iron production, by renting a blast furnace in Curvelo, in the State of Minas Gerais.

These three assets stayed under the control of Votorantim until the aforementioned merger with ArcelorMittal Brasil Longos.

Fig 1 shows the evolution of Votorantim

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Fig 1. Votorantim Siderurgia’s production, 1972-2017 (Mt)

Siderurgia’s productive performance in Brazil along the period 1972-2017. Its pig iron output amplified from 121kt in 1972 to 220kt in 1989, but ended with 82kt in 1995. It restarted with 93kt in 2016 and 105kt in 2017. Crude steel production expanded from 145kt in 1972 to 355kt in 1988 and to 1.2Mt in 2013, but reverted partially to 1Mt in 2017.

Meanwhile, the respective figures for long steel rolled products were 131kt, 208kt, 1.1Mt and 885kt, when it achieved a 10.8% production share regarding Brazilian common long steel products.

The second part of this article will publish next month and will analyse Votorantim’s operations in Colombia (which were recently sold) and in Argentina. �

www.steeltimesint.com

20/07/2022 11:33:30

INDIA UPDATE

25

Margins remain under pressure As steel prices in India decline following the introduction of a 15% export duty on finished steel, it looks as if there’s still plenty of pressure on margins, reports Dilip Kumar Jha* STEEL mills in India are fearing a severe decline in their operating profit margins during the current financial year. Steel prices in India declined by a staggering 18% since the government levied a 15% export duty on finished steel and a phenomenal 45% on billets. The benchmark hot-rolled coil prices (HRC) which had peaked at INR 75k/tonne in April have slumped now to INR 61.5k/tonne and prices of all other steel products have declined in similar proportion. The duty-driven price correction is expected to improve the availability of steel in the domestic market as finished steel exports dwindle. Hence, another round of downward price revision by major primary steel producers cannot be ruled out.

Challenging operating environment The steel industry in India is facing multiple headwinds that emanate from trade barriers from export duty on finished steel, unprecedented coal/energy cost pressures, and muted domestic demand growth.

With this, the operating environment has reversed in a short span of three months after the government of India levied an export duty on both finished steel and billets. Steel production has become less

lower steel prices and elevated costs of production. In the past two years, Indian steel mills reported strong profit margins on account of an upsurge in sales and low raw material prices.

The steady rise in coking coal costs had started to nibble at the margins of steelmakers even before the export duty was announced. Therefore, the

attractive now and it won’t be getting any better over the coming months with the inflationary pressures and repeated hikes in interest rates from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The high-interest rates make borrowing working capital costlier and will eventually increase the cost of production.

Consequently, the Indian steel industry’s margins are set to get squeezed between

TREND INDICATORS Steel demand and supply scenario in India (million tonnes) Financial year (April-March)Production

Consumption

Export

Import

2019-20

102.6

100.2

8.4

6.8

2020-21

96.2

94.9

10.8

4.8

2021-22

113.6

105.8

13.5

4.7

April-May’21

8.8

8.4

1.9

0.3

April-May’22

9.6

9.2

0.7

0.4

Source: Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE)

* India correspondent www.steeltimesint.com

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July/August 2022

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26

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INDIA UPDATE

consolidated operating profits per metric tonne for the leading Indian steelmakers came off by around US$110/tonne in the January to March 2022 quarter when compared to the highwatermark of US$ 326/tonne recorded in the April to June 2021 quarter. With coking coal consumption costs poised to spike by around 30-35% in the April to June quarter, notwithstanding the correction in Indian iron ore prices, the steel industry’s operating profits are expected to sequentially decline by US$ 80-90 a tonne in the April to June 2022 quarter. According to Jayanta Roy, senior vice president and group head at Icra Ltd, the margin pressure is likely to persist in the seasonally weak second quarter when steel prices remain under pressure.

Data compiled by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed that steel demand in India hit a record of 105.8Mt in the financial year 2021 to 22 (April to March), a 12 % increase from 94.9 Mt reported the previous year. In the January to March 2022 quarter, however, India’s steel demand recorded the highest monthly average at 9.7Mt but sequentially slowed down to 9.3Mt per month during the April to May 2022 period, thanks to high inflation. The weak demand trend, however, is likely to continue at least until September 2022 due to a slowdown in construction and infrastructure activities during the ongoing monsoon season.

Export duty levy pulls down shipment The Indian government’s recent announcement of a 15% export duty on various finished steel products covers over 95% of India’s finished steel exports and, therefore, makes exports a much less attractive proposition as mills evaluate the economics of a higher duty. Consequently, India’s finished steel exports are expected to slump by 25% in the financial year 2022 to 2023 (April to March), with the decline likely to be more pronounced in highly competitive markets like South-East Asia and the Middle East compared to Europe, where export offers typically are higher. However, with semis being kept out of the ambit of duties, their export is likely to witness a significant increase of around 40% in the current financial year, as other finished steel categories assess the impact of large export duty. Steelmakers are also exploring the possibility of switching to the export of value-added/ alloy steel categories which are out of the ambit of duties.

Conclusion Following the steel upcycle, steel mills have announced largescale expansion plans which would lead to India’s steel capacity increasing by around 40Mt/yr over the next five years (2022 to 2026), which is almost double the quantum of capacity added during the previous five-year period spanning from 2017 to 2021.

However, notwithstanding these sizeable expansion plans and moderation in industry earnings going forward, the steel industry is resilient enough to withstand project-related risks. � www.steeltimesint.com

18/07/2022 06:30:41

UKRAINE CONFLICT

27

Ukraine conflict: the impact on steel The global steel industry has been badly hit by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While sanctions have been imposed on Russia by world governments, steel prices in Europe have gone through the roof and there has been a significant increase in the price of coal and iron ore, the raw materials of steel production.

By Hemant Bansal*

IN November 2021, the initial threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine became apparent.

This came in the form of Russia deploying troops along the 2,000-kilometre-long border it shares with its neighbour, reigniting the threat of a potential conflict taking place. In the ensuing months, Russia slowly deployed an increasing number of troops along the border. The situation came to a head on 21 February, when Russia declared two regions in eastern Ukraine, the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, to be independent, ordering troops into both. Following this, on 24 February, Russia launched a full-scale military operation in Ukraine.

more, the prices of commodities such as natural gas, coal, corn and nickel, of which Ukraine and Russia are major producers and exporters, have also shot up.

One of the areas where the impact of sanctions and rising commodity prices is most apparent is the steel industry.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, governments around the world have imposed a range of sanctions on Russia, while companies are also either slowing down or temporarily halting their operations in the affected region. What’s

The impact on global steelmaking The steel industry has been significantly impacted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

First, it is important to note that steel prices have surged since the conflict began.

During the first week of March, shortly after the invasion took place, the price of steel in Europe increased dramatically, with

*Commodity Solution Lead at The Smart Cube. www.steeltimesint.com

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July/August 2022

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28

UKRAINE CONFLICT

“ Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this ongoing conflict.

Our thoughts are with the Ukrainian people.”* *The Smart Cube Team

benchmark prices rising by 22%. Adding to this, hot rolled coil steel prices in Europe have increased by nearly 40% since Russia invaded Ukraine, while prices in North America and China have also gone up, but only by between 7-8%.

The increase in the price of steel has largely been caused by two things. The first is that the conflict has led to a significant increase in the price of coal and iron ore, key commodities in the production of steel.

This is because Russia and Ukraine are key suppliers of the two aforementioned raw materials. For example, iron ore prices rose immediately following the beginning of the conflict, while coal prices are expected to be 80% higher in 2022 compared to what the commodity cost in 2021. The increase in the prices of these raw materials, which are required to produce steel, have helped to drive up the price of the metal.

Second, governments have imposed sanctions on the Russian steel industry, while companies have decided to no longer import steel and the raw materials used in its production from Russia. Some Russian steel plants are unable to supply products to the EU, UK and USA due to personal sanctions against their owners, as well as sanctions against steel imports themselves.

For example, the European Union (EU) and UK have banned the import of Russian steel products, which has the potential to cost Russia up to €3.3bn per year. However, this has resulted in the EU struggling to find alternatives for Russian steel, which has had an adverse effect on its own steel industry.

In terms of businesses, they have voluntarily refused to import commodities from Russia due to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns and settlement issues. An example of this can July/August 2022

Ukraine.indd – read MM OK....indd 2

be seen with Tata Steel, the India-based steel manufacturer. The company is seeking alternative markets for coal imports, deciding to look beyond Russia and instead focusing on purchasing coal from North America. What’s more, Japan-based steel manufacturer Nippon Steel has stated that if the situation continues, the organisation is preparing to obtain the raw materials it purchases from Russia and Ukraine from alternative locations. The combination of these factors has exacerbated the shortage in the steel market, thus causing the price of the commodity to increase.

Sectors impacted by disruption of steel exports One of the industries which has been severely impacted by the shortage of steel caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict is the industrials sector. An example of this can be seen when looking at metal fabrication, the cost of which has risen sharply in the last two months, driven by a shortage in raw materials such as steel, as well as increasing energy costs. As Russia is a key exporter of steel, which serves as one of the key raw materials for metal fabrications, the economic sanctions placed on Russian steel are having an adverse effect on fabricated metal products.

Furthermore, the cost of construction increased by between 10 to 12% year-onyear in March 2022, on account of higher input costs led by supply-side constraints of commodities like steel. Disruption of steel exports from Russia, which is the fourth-largest steel producer in the world in addition to a key steel provider to around 150 countries, has impacted the global supply of the commodity, leading to a price increase in the construction sector, which

accounts for an estimated 50% of global steel demand. Steel prices are likely to increase further as the initial increase seen does not cover the price hikes of the raw materials needed to produce steel, such as coking coal and iron ore. What’s more, a 20% decrease in finished steel imports to the EU, due to the disruption of exports from Russia and Ukraine, is set to further add to the increasing cost of construction, as well as an increase in steel prices.

As well as this, the life sciences sector has also been impacted by the disruption to steel supplies. Prices of stainless steel, which is used in bioreactors and the manufacturing of medical devices, are expected to increase by an estimated 18 to 22% from May 2022. This price increase is highly likely to result in the cost of the resultant final products fluctuating significantly.

The German medical devices industry is a case in point as it accounts for more than 10% of global production and is at a significant risk of being impacted as around one-half of its coal – a vital raw material in the production of steel – is imported from Russia.

The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine can be seen to have had a major impact across a wide range of industries and sectors to date – including the steel industry. For the industry to ensure continuity, it must monitor the situation 24/7 as it continues to evolve and develop, as well as actively assess alternative steel providers and diversify their supplier base.

By doing this, the steel industry will be able to limit the potential damage caused by the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as potential future geopolitical conflicts. � www.steeltimesint.com

15/07/2022 12:49:29

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05/07/2022 11:23

30

AISTECH 2022

Views of Pittsburgh’s iconic bridges

In the city of steel, change is in the air After a long standstill in live events, Steel Times International lived up to its name and crossed the Atlantic, travelling over 3,700 miles to AISTech 2022, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. With thousands of companies exhibiting new products, showcasing exciting developments, and discussing the latest industry news, it carried the energy of a much-anticipated reunion; celebrating challenges the industry had overcome, and heralding the future it was working towards. By Catherine Hill* ‘YOU couldn’t see blue, before,’ a taxi driver told me, gesturing toward the sky which at that moment was both cloudless – and defiantly blue. When he was young, he said, buildings ‘coughed up sulphur and smoke’, nowadays they just wore an imprint of their past in their dusty brown façade. ‘It was a different city’. He seemed wistful of Pittsburgh’s grimy past, but also reconciled to its blue-sky present. The smoke symbolized a booming industry, but it was hard to see round the corner. These days, the views go on for miles, and the air

is breathed deep.

Nicknamed ‘Steel city’ for having over300 steel-related businesses, it’s hard to imagine a better location for AISTech’s annual conference than Pittsburgh. Its football team is named ‘The Steelers’. The local theme park has a ride called the ‘Steel Curtain’. Many of its restaurants intertwine their names with ‘coal’, ‘mill’, and ‘foundry’. Pittsburgh’s heart is steel, and it is worn on its sleeve. With 446 bridges spanning 151 km2, it’s a quasi-Venetian metropolis that has had to endlessly

adapt to deindustrialization, population migration, and company redistribution. The industry is not the same as it once was, and neither is Pittsburgh.

With this in mind, AISTech 2022 opened with a recent addition to the event roster, the Women in Steel roundtable. With the steel industry often being touted as a so-named ‘male dominated industry’, AIST is looking to change this typecasting from the inside out. The roundtable looked at the growing female presence in AIST’s membership, in leadership roles, and

*Editorial assistant, Steel Times International July/August 2022

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www.steeltimesint.com

15/07/2022 11:49:58

AISTECH 2022

David L. Lawrence Convention Centre, venue of AISTech 2022

in a variety of positions at steel-related industries. Women in a multitude of differing roles discussed what they felt optimistic about, and what demanded change. The atmosphere was similar to a high school reunion, only more pragmatic, and with less drinking. Tables often carried over a cumulative century of industry experience, and it appeared like a kind of catharsis, to discuss the niches and eccentricities of workplaces in which, only decades ago, most of the room had been barred from entering. One of the attendees told a story where she went on a plant visit and had to wear an XL size hazmat suit as there weren’t any other sizes available.

‘The sleeves were down here!’ she said, pointing to an extra arm’s length from her fingertips. It was a funny story; the room fell into comfortable laughter. There was a feeling left afterward, however, of a striking metaphor the XL size suit carried – of trying to fit into an industry that was not yet quite adjusted to a new seam. Still, sleeves can be rolled up. At least, it seemed, they had made a note to restock.

The next day, the exhibition hall opened, with over 2,500 booths dedicated to a wealth of industry-related companies.

P.Chris Pistorius, professor of materials science and engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, discussed modern steelmaking at the Brimacombe Memorial Lecture, with his lecture titled Modern Tools for Steelmaking www.steeltimesint.com

AISTech Catherine_converted.indd – Matt read OK.indd 2

Research and Optimization, elucidating many examples of how steelmaking can use a range of techniques to provide clear answers on the quantitative effect of process variables such as slag carryover, reoxidation and stirring on refining.

In the exhibition hall, companies were eager to showcase their latest products and innovations, after a COVID-triggered stand-still in live events. Ametek Land, manufacturer for industrial non-contact temperature measurement, released a major update of its thermal imaging processing software for the monitoring, analysis, and capture of imager data and control of thermal processes, which the company claimed saved energy by reducing the CPU load, even in extensive thermal imaging installations. RHI Magnesita showcased its virtual reality software in which furnaces customised to customer specification can be viewed, literally, from the inside. Sarclad debuted its new roll-texturing technology – the Rolltex EDT-MSA, and Infosight exhibited its laser printers for metal tags. Linde celebrated its 25th anniversary of COJET® technology, which the company attests has improved plant productivity significantly, and Pesmel featured its Material Flow How® concept, with a video showcase. Opposite Steel Times International’s booth was the aptly named Big Ass Fans, which presented high powered fans for use in factories

31

and plants. Nearby, ViewTech boroscopes displayed their wide range of boroscopes for remote visual inspection; with their usage ranging from within metals plants, to breweries.

The next day, the President’s Award Breakfast began at 8am, as servers passed round plates of scrambled eggs, potatoes, and bacon slippery with condensation.

Any vegetarian came at their own risk, as meat was slid off the side and onto another portion. The ‘breakfast’ was not the focal point of the event, however, and Ron Ashburn, executive director of AIST, started his speech stating that the steel industry has ‘helped build the modern world.’ Without ‘strategic risk’, Ashburn said, ‘there can be no reward’; emphasising that the nature of the industry made innovation not only important, but vital for its survival. Steve Henderson, vice president Western region, Commercial Metals Company – Arizona, and AIST president, stated he believed that ‘the global steel industry has much to look forward to, and be excited about.’ Had he given that speech 20 years ago, he said, he may have been ‘laughed off the stage’.

Barbara Smith, the keynote speaker, then began her speech; The Modern Steelmaker – A World of Opportunity. A daughter in a family of nine children, Smith must be used to crowds. But yet, among the wash of male company representatives on stage, the walk to the podium felt markedly long.

Smith is the first female keynote speaker in 18 years of Presidents’ Award Breakfasts.

It’s a lot of scrambled eggs, eaten by a lot of powerful men.

‘One of the most pressing issues we face in our industry’, Smith said, ‘is to attract a workforce that can build a better world.

My fear is that we are falling dangerously behind in the war for talent’. In Smith’s ‘war’, all industries were competing for a talent pool that had little incentive to join steel-related companies, and if hiring teams in the steel industry didn’t quickly figure out a new narrative, the industry would not just ‘fall behind, but would never be able to catch up’. Historically spearheaded by individuals with a background in manual labour; the industry was fast adapting to a technology-driven future, according to Smith. However, if the hiring process didn’t reflect these changes – any innovations would fall into hands without training or incentive to drive them further. Matters are made worse, by what Smith referred to as a ‘lingering negative image’ of the July/August 2022

15/07/2022 11:49:59

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AISTECH 2022

Exhibitor booths

steel industry; with smoke-stacks spewing fumes, and dangerous working conditions.

From this point onwards, Smith stated, it was an ‘existential fight for our future’, with companies needing to adapt to the evolving demands and priorities of a new workforce. The younger generations, according to studies, purposefully seek out roles with a positive ESG agenda; in workplaces that magnify values such as diversity, sustainability, and company culture. If the projected image of the steel industry is one of male-dominated manual labour working in factories which pollute and increase carbon emissions, it’s unlikely they will even apply to roles – let alone be interested in accepting job offers.

However, Smith said, with frustration, the US steel industry was not exactly a ‘hardto-abate’ sector anymore, as it barely contributed to emissions and relied heavily upon recycled materials. In Smith’s eyes, it was not so much the steel industry at fault for not committing to a greener future, but individual companies based outside the US, which are still building BOFs – claimed to produce between 4 and 7% of all the man-made CO2 in the world. This makes matters of an image overhaul more complex, as although some companies within the industry are dedicated to change, others are investing in systems that are part of the problem. Still, with language like ‘war’, and ‘existential fight’, it seems that Smith isn’t quite ready to quit yet. More and more measures are being put in place to challenge companies with high emissions, and the legislation is increasingly unforgiving as costs to July/August 2022

AISTech Catherine_converted.indd – Matt read OK.indd 3

New thermal imaging processing software, showcased by AMETEK Land

decarbonise become more accessible. The battle is on to both pressure the industry to become totally clean, and then market it as such to a, hopefully, captive audience. Only time will tell if Smith’s vision of a ‘modern steelmaker’ can be realised – but it is a fight she is not yet willing to surrender.

In the same room as the President’s Award Breakfast, a day later, the Town Hall Forum took place; with five panellists including John Brett, CEO of ArcelorMittal North America, David B. Burritt, president and CEO of US Steel, Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president, and CEO of ClevelandCliffs, Mark Millet, co-founder, chair, and CEO of Steel Dynamics Inc, and Chuck Schmitt, president of SSAB. Leon Topalian, president and CEO of Nucor, was scheduled to appear, but due to a flight disruption – had to cancel, serving as a reminder that no matter how important you are, you are never safe from travel delays. ‘Never before’, said the AISTech programme, ‘has the iron and steel industry all at once been presented with so many challenges. The

virus. The supply chain. The climate. And now, the war. Yet, the industry has never been better prepared for the moment.

From its rapidly expanding portfolio of green investments to its ongoing digital transformation and to its readiness to find solutions alongside its partners, the iron and steel industry is ready to maximize opportunities as they come.’ It was a forceful discussion that then took place, as a result, led by Jon Delano, money and politics editor for KDKA-TV. Delano asked the panellists to begin the forum by describing the steel industry in a single statement. For Brett, steel today is ’building a transformative role in how we work, and how we create’. For Burritt, his word of the day was ‘bullish’; saying that ‘steel is bullish…. it’s not your great grand-pappy’s industry’. Millett referenced the significant impact of COVID, stating that the industry was still ‘living with the vestiges’ of the virus, which had transformed the way in which steel was made, and marketed.

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AISTECH 2022

‘fundamental’; ‘we work in the steel industry to make society better’, he said.

‘There is no steel for steel’s sake.’ Schmitt wanted to emphasise the progression that the industry had made, commenting that ‘there is a legacy of steel being dirty, but we’ve advanced far beyond that.’ For all panellists, the essence of steelmaking lay in its innovation, essentiality, and passion. However, these values had been challenged by a difficult climate; with the panellists citing the significant impact Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had had on their output, and process. For Brett, given that ArcelorMittal had a factory in Kryvyi Rih (which is president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown) the boundary between business and politics had never been thinner – with the company initially closing the plant, and then restarting it in April as a means to support the country via its economy. ‘If we’d told them to go home,’ Brett said, ‘they would have still come to work’. For him, it wasn’t a question of a financial strategy; but a palpable opportunity to use ArcelorMittal’s economic influence to strengthen a country in crisis. Recent American legislation, such as the ‘Build America, Buy America’ act (which aimed to ensure that all federally funded infrastructure and public works projects use iron, steel, and other products that are made in America) were also discussed, with panellists showing optimism at the intent, but also reservation; Goncalves stating; ‘it is just paper’; in other words, what plans to bite, as of yet, only barks. The topic of discussion then moved to the panellists’ individual decarbonisation achievements, within their respective companies. Much to the delight of the room, friction started to develop between Burritt and Goncalves as they discussed technologies from their respective backgrounds of finance (Burritt) and metallurgy (Goncalves), with both attempting to speak over the other – and Delano having to intervene to move the topic elsewhere.

The tension was not resolved for a while, with Goncalves making several pointed remarks at Burritt’s lack of metallurgical knowledge, and Burritt then calling upon Millett to support his argument, who strategically avoided siding with either, instead, discussing his own views on a related issue. Once the atmosphere had cooled, the forum came to a close by discussing the diversity of steelmaking.

July/August 2022

AISTech Catherine_converted.indd – Matt read OK.indd 4

Entrance to the exhibitor hall

‘Women, people of colour, come to US Steel’, Burritt called out, citing a desire to further diversify the company. Other panel members acknowledged that the hiring process was the best opportunity to tackle diversity, but that education also needed to confront the vast outnumbering of women in STEM, as well as internships and mentoring programmes. ‘One day, there will be all women up here’, Goncalves said, gesturing to the chairs in which the five men were sat. ‘It just takes time’.

After the Town Hall Forum ended, there was a significant decline in traffic in the exhibition hall, aside from the crowd circulating the vehicle giveaway stand in which a 2022 Chevrolet Silverado truck was

being given away to a random entrant. A few last attendees discussed the upcoming location for AISTech 2023, saying that ‘nothing could beat Pittsburgh’, a place with such deep steel roots, even the land had a metallic glow. Conversation moved onto a private Pittsburgh institution named the Duquesne club, founded in 1873, with guests including US presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Herbert Hoover, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton as well as Colin Powell, Polish leader Edward Gierek, Charles, Prince of Wales and former Pakistan prime minister, Benazir Bhutto. The club, according to an attendee, was a regular spot for their father who owned a large steel supplier.

The atmosphere was exclusive, and the walls were covered in valuable paintings, many of which their father claimed came from the collection of famed art collector and investor, David Rockefeller. Women weren’t admitted to the club until 1980, and membership is passed down by invitation only. Much like the Duquesne club, the steel industry historically, tended to be accessed by those with a past in steel, with a predominantly male makeup, and an image of traditionality, and class division.

Yet, the steel industry as seen at AISTech 2022 was hard at work, with its ‘war’ on talent, to display a trade that was no longer ‘invitation only’, and not only could relate to the issues defining the upcoming workforce but saw recruitment as a chance to tackle them head on. With all the levity of the Chevrolet truck showcase; and the piles of bacon and eggs, it was easy to miss but hard to mistake an undercurrent of change, as the industry adapted to a new era, with new pressures, and a new audience to convince to take arms. �

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AISTECH 2022

“This ain’t your great grandpappy’s steel industry”

Pittsburgh from Mount Washington

AISTech 2022 was priceless!

It was as if the pandemic had never happened. You can’t keep a good event down and it was great to see so many maskless visitors and life back to normal after the chaos of COVID. Matthew Moggridge* reports from Pittsburgh’s David Lawrence Convention Centre in the USA. IT’S been two years since I last experienced air travel and three since I travelled to Pittsburgh. While I have always enjoyed AISTech, I won’t deny that I was dreading the journey. The very thought of wearing a mask on a seven-hour flight from London to Philadelphia made me squirm. It was a trip I had to make mainly because I like the American steel industry and enjoy the Association for Iron & Steel Technology’s Town Hall Forum, which always packs a punch at the tail-end of the annual AISTech conference and exhibition and offers invaluable insight into the minds of those leading the stateside steel industry.

As it happened, nobody wore a mask on flight BA 0067 except for the passenger sitting next to me and he was preoccupied reading Cold Granite by Stuart Macbride

Airline food, it’s not ideal

Not much to see up here

and wasn’t worried about me sitting there maskless spreading my germs in his direction.

I wasn’t relaxed enough to read, fearful throughout of the possibility of heavy turbulence – which never materialized – but I did manage to write about the flight, which I figured was the most therapeutic way to pass the time after the in-flight meal. Later, the possibility of a bumpy flight from Philly to Pittsburgh preoccupied me until it was clear that there was a lot of cloud but little else. Once safely on the ground, I had time to laugh at the grilling my colleague and I had endured at the hands of Santiago, a rookie cop at Philadelphia airport, who inquired about our display cases. “They could be rocket launchers,” I quipped, and then realized my

A Pittsburgh alley

mistake, quickly backtracking and revealing that they were display units for a steel convention.

The wrong hotel Later, our dreadlocked Pittsburgh taxi driver – who mistook me for James Bond and found it impossible not to laugh at my English accent – dropped us off at the Hilton Garden on Forbes Avenue where it took the man on the front desk – one Koda Rugg – around two minutes to realize we had been dropped at the wrong hotel.

There were two Hilton Gardens in the same street – and we were in the wrong one. The night had arrived, and we were advised not to walk to our downtown destination for safety reasons. Instead, we waited at least an hour for a cab.

* Editor, Steel Times International July/August 2022

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www.steeltimesint.com

15/07/2022 11:59:43

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AISTECH 2022

“The weather in Pittsburgh? Pretty much the same as it is here.”

In the city

Most of the time the food was just too much… but not always, thanks to Pizzaioli Prima on Market Square. Interesting statues in downtown Pittsburgh

Jet lag hit hard the following morning, but I found a Starbucks on nearby Market Square. After a few chocolate bars and a huge paper cup of English Breakfast tea I felt revived enough to take whatever the day ahead had to throw at me.

At the President’s Breakfast I was impressed by Barbara Smith’s William T Hogan, SJ Memorial Lecture entitled, The Modern Steelmaker – A World of Opportunity, themes from which Mark Millet, CEO of Steel Dynamics Inc, discussed after he was announced as AIST’s Steelmaker of the Year 2022 and then later at the annual after-breakfast press conference. While we hear a lot about decarbonization and digital manufacturing, one of the big issues facing steelmakers globally is reputation management. The argument goes that if the industry is to recruit the right kind of employees to move www.steeltimesint.com

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into the future, it needs to clean up its act and move away from its ‘smokestack’ image.

Sentries at the gate Millet suggested that the media should be bigging up the steel industry and talking about its successes rather than focus solely on pollution, CO2 emissions and such like.

Well, how about giving the media the opportunity to publicize the successes?

Many steelmakers – not all of them – hide behind their ‘sentries at the gate’, the comms managers, who are only too willing to turn away the offer of a face-to-face interview. I often wonder if the CEOs in question know about the interview requests or whether the comms people simply brush them under the carpet, anything for a quiet life. Back in October 2017 I was lucky to interview Big River Steel’s Dave Stickler.

A large complimentary and informative article on the great man and his high-tech Flex mill was published in the November/ December 2017 edition of Steel Times International. However, now that Big River Steel is part of US Steel – and a key focus of the American steel giant’s Best of Both policy – I must go through US Steel’s investor relations department to secure an interview, and this means I’ll probably never interview Dave again. The last time I spoke to him was in Mexico in October 2019 at the World Steel Association’s General Assembly, which, incidentally, will be closed to the media this year; another example, perhaps, of how the steel industry is becoming insular – a secret society even.

It’s all very well Mark Millet saying we should be promoting the success stories of the industry, but how can we when the doors are being shut in our faces? The July/August 2022

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World Steel Association’s General Assembly 2022 is closing its doors to the media, and in my opinion, that is a retrograde step. I remember sitting poolside at the Real Inn in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2019, writing up coverage of that year’s General Assembly. I think I wrote around 5,000 words on what the various speakers had been discussing and eventually I split the text into three different features and published the lot in the November/December 2019 issue of Steel Times International; it’s called ‘getting the message across’ and if I say so myself, I think I did a good job. I hope there were readers who read about what the various speakers were saying even if they couldn’t

Leon Topalian – flight hassles.

“We are called dirty, we’re not, we’re clean.”

Lourenco Goncalves make it to Mexico themselves. Well, not this year, folks. I’m not even sure where the event is taking place and would make a wild guess at Shanghai.

One of the highlights of AISTech is the Town Hall Forum. In my opinion, one of the most value-for-money participants is Cleveland Cliffs’ chairman, president and CEO, Lourenco Goncalves. He is somebody I would like to interview. He is outspoken and funny and always manages to raise a laugh from the audience and his fellow panelists. Goncalves was on the 2022 Town Hall panel alongside other US steel industry luminaries such as: John Brett, CEO, North America, of ArcelorMittal; Mark Millet, president and CEO of Steel Dynamics; Chuck Schmitt, president of SSAB; and self-confessed ‘bean counter’ David Burritt, president and CEO of US Steel. Just to explain that ‘bean counter’

Charles Schmitt, SSAB America.

remark: Burritt told Goncalves that he was a bean counter (an accountant) and not an engineer or a metallurgist when things got a little heated between them. All I recall is Goncalves shouting ‘No, no, no, no!’ much to the amusement of the audience and the bemusement of Burritt.

Sadly, technical faults on a plane prevented Nucor CEO Leon Topalian from attending, but with Goncalves on the panel I don’t think anybody was overly concerned.

As always, KDKA-TV’s money and politics editor Jon Delano presided over the allCEO panel, and he kicked off – as always – by asking the panelists for one word to describe the state of the industry at present.

‘Transformative,” said Brett; ‘Bullish,” proffered Burritt; ‘turbulent transformation,’ offered Millet; ‘fundamental,’ suggested Goncalves; and ‘reinventive’, proposed Schmitt.

Smarter steels “The world is increasingly concerned with sustainable steel,” said Brett, arguing that

steel will play an increasingly fundamental role and support society as it transforms itself. “Steel is as relevant today as it’s always been,” he added, stating that it was stronger than ever and had maintained its versatility. “Smarter steels for people and planet,” he almost chanted.

Burritt, sounding stereotypically American – which is understandable because he is American – told the Forum’s huge audience, ‘this ain’t your great grandpappy’s steel industry’. “We have the opportunity to lead with ESG.” [that’s Environment, Social and Governance]. And, he said, ‘we’re attracting the best and the brightest’.

Millet said the industry was facing a complex and challenging environment, he spoke of living with the vestiges of COVID and how decarbonization was transforming the industry. He mentioned ‘the great resignation’ – referring to the hordes of people leaving their jobs after lockdown and, of course, he spoke of Ukraine, which he described as a human tragedy that would also cause supply chain issues.

Newfound wealth, he said, was a disruptor and the big challenge ahead is what to do with the cash we are generating?

Goncalves said that we work to make society better: ‘no steel for steel’s sake,’ he added, stating that the big new challenge was to decarbonize the industry.

Acknowledging the aforementioned ‘reputation management’ he added: “We are called dirty, we’re not, we’re clean.”

The largest flat-roller in America Having acquired AK Steel Corporation and all the operating assets of ArcelorMittal USA in 2020, Cleveland Cliffs is now the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America and the leading producer of domestic iron ore. The company is committed to reducing GHG emissions by 25% by 2030 (from 2017 levels).

Schmitt said that technology had reinvented and saved the steel industry and that US steelmakers all have a

“We’ve advanced a lot in this country and lead the world in reducing emissions.”

Charles Schmitt

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“Carbon-free steel can happen here, but it’s the cost of it. We need to be masters of the universe – and that’s possible.”

John Brett decarbonization strategy that will drive the next level of technology around ironmaking.

The legacy of a dirty and polluting industry has been surpassed, he said. “We’ve advanced a lot in this country and lead the world in reducing emissions.”

Charles Schmitt SSAB Americas uses electric arc furnaces to make steel using 99% recycled scrap metal.

In 2016 the company launched EcoSmart, a customer awareness programme designed to showcase the company’s commitment to sustainability.

facilities will be known as Big River Steel Works and the new facility will create 900 local jobs. “The best of both becomes the best of all,” said Burritt with all the panache of a Hollywood film trailer.

ArcelorMittal North America’s John Brett said there was a great deal to be excited about: lots of investments to expand the company’s decarbonization plans to ensure long term sustainability.

President Joe Biden’s trillion-dollar Investment & Jobs Act and the Build America, Buy America Act are good news for US steelmakers. Lourenco Goncalves

“Every day you hear there are Russian troops close-by. Without question we are concerned.”

John Brett When it came to praise, Mark Millet said that his team excited him because it turned chaos into opportunity. He mentioned Steel Dynamics’ $1.9 billion, 3Mt/yr state-of-theart Sinton facility in Texas which, he said, would revolutionize the steel industry by ‘producing products we have to import today’.

US Steel’s ‘Best of Both’ strategy David Burritt is excited about his team too, claiming that US Steel is one of the world’s most ethical companies with its ‘best of both’ strategy and its profitable solutions.

“You have to bring it together,” he said, explaining how the company will be investing in another $3 billion world class facility. He was referring to what is being described as US Steel’s next-generation, highly sustainable and technologically advanced steel mill adjacent to Big River Steel’s mill in Osceola, Arkansas. The two

said they were positive news for the entire industry, both upstream and downstream, and were particularly good for Cleveland Cliffs as the company is the USA’s sole supplier of grain electrical steels. It will cost an estimated $65 billion to upgrade the grid, he said.

For US Steel’s David Burritt, the phrase ‘melted and poured in the USA’ is very important. He said that self-sufficiency was an important imperative and if it’s not enforceable then it won’t work.

But ArcelorMittal North America’s John Brett said the panel was losing sight of something. “Our infrastructure is in a state of disrepair,” he said. “Better infrastructure means we’ll all be able to move our goods more efficiently. Let’s get moving, we’ve been talking about this for years.”

“It’s a scary world out there, folks,” added David Burritt. “But let’s get on with it, let’s get some things shovel-ready.”

‘We want the US to do better’ Goncalves agreed but argued that globalization had ‘killed our own industry’ and stated that ‘we only learn lessons when things change. We want the US to do better.”

Burritt said he remained bullish about fairer trade practices and SSAB’s Chuck Schmitt said the Infrastructure Bill will extend the already bullish market described

by Burritt.

Nothing to decarbonize It was all getting a little gung-ho.

Goncalves decried the efforts of Europe, claiming it won’t be leading anything on decarbonization as there is no natural gas.

“We have natural gas in the USA, natural gas is key as it reduces the coke rate of blast furnaces. We have a lot of natural gas.” While he agreed that hydrogen was a good reductant, he argued that the US steel industry had nothing to decarbonize, leaving your humble narrator wondering whether American steelmakers were going to sit around twiddling their thumbs waiting for the rest of the world to catch up Goncalves said that green hydrogen is not happening ‘any time soon’. He puts his faith in ‘smart carbon’ in conjunction with CCU/CCS, but admitted that the cost was staggering.

Burritt bigged up US Steel’s Best of Both policy, stating that ‘you must have profitable solutions’. “Take what integrated mills can do, then EAFs, you’ve got to bring these things together,” he said, adding that partnerships were essential.

But while Goncalves was saying that green hydrogen wasn’t happening ‘anytime soon’, Burritt said it was here today and a viable, proven technology that was further along in terms of development than autonomous vehicles. The problem, he said, was cost. “It is the future, no doubt.”

“It’s a scary world out there, folks. But let’s get on with it, let’s get some things shovel-ready.”

David Burritt www.steeltimesint.com

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The best way to reach Mount Washington.

Inset: “Our flying time will be seven long hours”

Pittsburgh – a city of rivers

The general opinion was that the rest of the world needed to catch up with the US steel industry in terms of decarbonization.

Mark Millet said that when the world did start to catch up, the US steel industry would have already achieved carbon neutrality. “People need to know that we don’t have a problem with carbon. The way ahead here is to buy goods made with steel made in the USA. Consumers will pay more to live in a carbon-free society,” he said.

John Brett agreed. “Carbon-free steel can happen here, but it’s the cost of it.

We need to be masters of the universe – and that’s possible. Those capable of doing it are in this room, but we have to work together and must attack this with everything we’ve got”.

additional 15Mt of EAF capacity in the USA between 2023 and 2026 and there lies the challenge. “Innovation is the answer,” he said, adding that challenges are there to be fixed. His team at Butler reduced prime scrap consumption by 30%. And while Millet was adamant that prime scrap with low residuals was critical, Goncalves said that lower quality scrap can be used with the aid of DRI. SSAB’s Charles Schmitt said his company could produce sophisticated steels in EAFs thanks to metallurgists.

‘Europe will be so challenged’ was the rather gleeful conclusion of the panel, but I couldn’t help thinking of all the wellpublicised European initiatives now under way: SSAB’s Hybrit, Tata Steel Europe’s Hlsarna, the arrival of H2GreenSteel in Sweden and various initiatives underway by other leading European steelmakers, all pledging to be carbon neutral by 2050.

German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp is reviewing whether it can become climateneutral at an earlier date. That’s not to say there won’t be problems for European players. A report by McKinsey suggests that it won’t be plain sailing, arguing that European steel manufacturers will need to reconsider their decarb strategies in the light of rising natural gas and electricity prices, not to mention supply chain limitations.

26,000 people, most of whom have joined the military, according to Brett. Some have been lost in combat, he said. While operations there were suspended in March, Brett said that the Ukranian government encouraged the company to restart one of its three blast furnaces on-site to produce pig iron, albeit at a reduced production rate of 20%. “But logistics are a nightmare,” he said. “Every day you hear there are Russian troops close-by. Without question we are concerned,” he said. Brett praised the strength and resilience of the Ukranian people in the face of Russian aggression.

A leading metals recycler Steel Dynamics is one of the USA’s largest metals recyclers. The company’s Omnisource operations are near its steel mills and other end-user scrap consumers throughout the USA, Central and Northern Mexico. According to the company’s website, ‘metals recycling operations primarily involve the purchase, processing, and resale of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metals into reusable forms and grades’.

Transportation, brokerage, and scrap management services are also offered by the company.

The growth of EAFs has meant a parallel tightening of scrap supplies and has led Steel Dynamics to acquire Mexican scrap recycler Roca, which operates a ferrous and non-ferrous scrap business from its headquarters in Monterrey.

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War in Ukraine Unsurprisingly Ukraine was on the agenda.

Burritt said the situation defied logic and that US Steel’s integrated facility in Kosice, Slovakia receives iron ore from Ukraine and, he claimed, was currently managing the supply chain very well.

ArcelorMittal’s Kryvyi Rih plant in Ukraine (Volodymir Zelensky’s home town) employs

Heading home With the Town Hall Forum finished, AISTech rolled into its final hours. All that remained was for somebody to win the annual prize draw for the Silverado pickup truck. As the afternoon wore on stands were broken down, suitcases appeared awaiting their owners to take them to the airport or throw them in the back of a car for the journey home. The event had proved to be a great success, just as good as the pre-pandemic shows, and now it was all systems go for next year’s event in Detroit, the so-called Motor City.

Later, I found myself in Terminal 8 of JFK awaiting an early Saturday morning flight to the UK. The airport shops would open at 0500hrs and when they did, I would need to transfer to Terminal 7 to fly home with British Airways at 0755hrs. I psyched myself up for another cramped seven-hour ordeal knowing full well that the food would be below par and the overall experience underwhelming. When I arrived in the UK my luggage was missing. Of course it was! I faffed around filling in forms and then took a cab home. My bags arrived a day later. � www.steeltimesint.com

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STEEL PROCESSING

Cautiously optimistic Even in these somewhat uncertain times, US companies that offer steel processing – both service centres and independent toll processors – have generally been weathering the volatility in the steel market fairly well, albeit to varying degrees depending upon the dynamics of the end-use markets they serve and the value-added services they provide. According to Myra Pinkham*, while they are concerned about a short-term slowing of the US economy, they are cautiously optimistic about their longer term future.

“GIVEN that steel processing tends to follow the broader steel market, in 2021 and heading into 2022 business has been choppy due to the after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and all the supply chain issues that many companies have had to deal with,” Thad Solomon, chief executive officer of Steel Technologies Inc., pointed out.

Despite that, currently both the business levels and profitability in the steel processing space is fairly strong – at least for the time being, Tim Bilkey, director of outside sales for independent toll processor Voss Industries, said, with those companies that have survived the pandemic doing fairly well.

Jeff Klingler, president of Worthington

Industries’ steel processing business unit, agreed. “While we are currently seeing what we believe to be a normal temporary summertime slowdown in demand, I am expecting to see fairly robust volumes by late summer or early Fall,” despite the rising interest rates. He said that even with certain developing headwinds, including the possibility of a recession early next year, he feels good about the processing business.

Solomon agreed, stating, “While such factors as inflationary pressure, rising interest rates, political issues and the general uncertainty about the US economy could cause some short-term bumpiness, there are some strong longer term market fundamentals.”

That seems to be the case for all types of companies that engage in steel processing – not just independent toll processors, but also metal service centres and even some steel mills which have been moving further downstream and doing more processing services.

“While there is a lot of competition for processing business, we welcome that,” Solomon said. “We push each other to be better by creating greater value for our customers.”

In many parts of the world, including Europe and Japan, steelmakers are traditionally more integrated – not just making steel but performing value-added processing services as well, Bilkey said,

* US Correspondent www.steeltimesint.com

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STEEL PROCESSING

noting that because of that there really isn’t much of a processing community in those countries.

“But the US model has been, and continues to be, different,” he pointed out, with a separate community of companies providing those processing services and mills concentrating on what they are good at – producing steel. Even with some mills, particularly Nucor Corp., recently making some downstream acquisitions – both of customers and of downstream processors – with an eye to insulating them from the cyclicality of the steel business, US mills are still overwhelmingly reliant on others to do their processing.

A bigger push downstream is coming from metal service centres, which is something that they have been, at least cautiously, doing for some time, albeit being careful that there isn’t too much of a competitive overlap with their customers’ business, when they are encroaching upon their customers, Philip Gibbs, a senior equity analyst with KeyBanc Capital Markets, pointed out.

Further complicating things is the mixed messages that some service centres are getting from their customers. One service centre executive said that even those OEM customers who feel threatened when distributors add more processing equipment sometimes order processed steel and/or fabricated parts from those service centres when the OEMs become backlogged with orders and demand for their products remains strong. However, several factors – including supply chain and labour issues – prevent them from producing at the level that they want or need to.

Karla Lewis, president of Reliance Steel & Aluminium Co. said that one reason July/August 2022

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why her business has been significantly increasing its value-added processing capabilities is to enable the service centre chain to be able to better support customers who, like many companies recently, are having labour issues.

She pointed out, however, that this trend isn’t that new and that, over the past seven to eight years, more customers wanted to concentrate upon assembly rather than processing and had started to ask Reliance and other service centres to do more for them.

The timing has been very favourable, Lewis observed, as it came at the same time as a lot of the processing equipment had really advanced technologically, offering higher efficiencies, greater speeds, tighter tolerances, and greater safety.

“While this included the types of processing that we had already been doing, it also provided us with the opportunity to go a little further downstream, although we know we have to be smart about which opportunities we pursue,” Lewis added, the aim being not to compete with their

customers.

Several other service centres are making similar decisions, although to differing degrees. For example, Bob Mraz, vice president of sales and marketing at TW Metals LLC, noted that in addition to offering sawing and other types of processing, which it has done for some time, recently the company has offered certain types of first stage fabrication and machining services – but only to the point that its customers are comfortable with them doing so.

Meanwhile, Rich Manson, chief financial officer, Olympic Steel Inc, said that while the company’s base processing services hadn’t changed appreciably, it had been investing in its specialty metals operations given that there tends to be less competition for the processing of stainless steel and base metals than for carbon steel.

He said that Olympic Steel has been adding more automated equipment, including automated packaging lines, automated welding equipment and automated grinders.

Lewis noted that Reliance has been investing a lot in its toll processing operations, which are largely automotive related. She said that while the biggest share of those investments has been focused upon toll processing steel – with the automakers pushing to lightweight their vehicles to meet fuel efficiency and emissions standards – there have also been increased opportunities for Reliance and other companies to toll process aluminium; and given differences in handling surfaceexposed aluminium, that has also been a big area of investment.

Vehicle lightweighting has also had an impact upon steel processing and the need

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STEEL PROCESSING

for investment, Bilkey said, noting that some older slitters and other equipment have difficulty processing some of the new grades of steel coming into the market, especially stronger and stronger, thinner gauge advanced high strength steels.

He observed that Voss has made some significant upgrades to its equipment over the past five to six years as these new steel grades were being developed and came on to the market.

Overall, the type of processing services that both toll processors and service centres offer, the investments they make and the markets they choose to service, vary company by company. “Each company has their own mindsets and strategies,” Steel Technologies’ Solomon noted. “But everyone is trying to do what makes sense to them to drive as much value as they can in the metals supply chain.

When it comes to investments, Solomon said that his company, as well as other processors, take a broad view and are generally bullish about the long-term future of the metals industry. He noted that given the desire to be more efficient and safer, this includes greater automation. “We are also looking at finding ways to reduce our scrap generation and to improve our quality.”

But different companies have different opinions about what investments make sense for them. Klingler said that while Worthington, who processes or refines all the steel it sells, has replaced and/or upgraded some of its equipment, it hasn’t done so because of new requests from mills or end-use customers. “There hasn’t been enough of a shift in technology that would warrant us to do so,” he said, especially given the cost of new equipment and the uncertainty in the marketplace.

At the same time, many OEMs are also looking to control their capital expenditures and rethink plans to buy new equipment that will not likely need to run full time, Lewis said, noting that because of that, it could be more cost effective for them to have another company do that work for them.

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its customers.

Processors are also taking different approaches to the markets they serve.

For example, while much of its business is auto-related, Solomon said that Steel Technologies has been and plans to continue to increase its non-automotive share, especially once project activity funded by the federal infrastructure bill picks up and demand for energy, including energy transmission, continues to grow. “We want to continue to grow our automotive business as well,” he noted. “We are just trying to be more diversified.”

This isn’t surprising given all the uncertainty about the US economy and how it will be influencing the auto industry and other steel end-use sectors. Nevertheless, Klingler said that even if the US economy slips into a recession next year, that might not affect automotive-related demand,

Another market dynamic is the continued push for consolidation by companies doing steel processing, with several different factors being behind that push.

For example, Klingler said that Worthington plans to continue to grow, largely by investing in certain higher value added niche processing businesses, much as it has done over the past year. Most recently it acquired Tempel Steel, which is a provider of electrical steel laminations, which, Klingler believes, will be a very high growth steel processing market for at least the next 10-15 years. Earlier in 2021 Worthington acquired Shiloh’s US BlankLight business, which is very complementary to Worthington’s TWB tailor-welded blanks joint venture.

Solomon said that its recent acquisition of Calstrip Industries Inc., which has processing facilities in California, New

explaining that while US automakers are already only building vehicles at a recessionary level, that is because of all the supply chain issues. But he said that isn’t the case with auto demand. “Automakers can sell as many vehicles as they can make.

A lot of their demand is unsatisfied and there will likely continue to be pent-up demand.”

At the same time, all the new steelmaking capacity coming online over the next several years could offer both independent processors and service centres a strategic opportunity to be located close to steel mills – even right on their campuses – and, therefore, enable them to save on freight costs, Gibbs observed. But on the other hand, Worthington’s Klingler pointed out that more steelmaking capacity coming online doesn’t necessarily mean there is more steel demand.

Mexico, Texas and Arkansas, has allowed Steel Technologies to expand its presence in the Southwest.

Some other major recent moves include Ryerson Holding’s acquisition of tool steel processor Ford Tool Steel and Olympic Steel’s acquisition of Show Stainless & Alloy Inc.’s distribution and fabrication businesses.

“While being choppy at times, overall, this has been a good year for steel processing, and it should remain so,” Klingler said. But while Bilkey is also optimistic that processing demand should remain strong at least for the rest of the year, he said what happens beyond that is somewhat uncertain. “It will comedown to basic supply and demand and how such factors as inflation, rising interest rates and fuel costs affect consumer confidence and the US economy. � July/August 2022

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STEEL SUCCESS STRATEGIES 2022

Optimism amid uncertainty SOME of the participants at the Steel Success Strategies 2022 conference, held in Miami from 5 to 7 June, admitted they were concerned by the uncertainties caused

by Covid-19 and its variants, followed by the devastating Russia/Ukraine war which has impacted the world markets. Then there were other challenges – soaring inflation, energy prices and labour shortages.

Nevertheless, there was also a glimmer of hope and sunshine amid the uncertainties that plague a number of countries which face unprecedented challenges.

The agenda of the SSS-2022 conference was an interesting mix of speeches by prominent personalities from the steel industry, along with panel discussions by experts on some of the topical issues, challenges and the way forward for the steel sector.

Speakers at the conference included Lourenco Goncalves, chairman/president/ CEO of Cleveland Cliffs; Sanjeev Gupta, CEO/chairman of the GFG Alliance; Leon Topalian, president/CEO of Nucor Corporation; Todd Leebow, president/CEO of Majestic Steel; Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Ukraine-based Metinvest; David Stickler, senior managing partner, Global Principal Partners LLC, Theresa Wagler, CFO, Steel Dynamics; and Maximo Vedoya, CEO, Ternium.

Topics that were discussed at length included decarbonization and digitalization, the impact of financial factors, including rising scrap prices, on steel production, and assessing the prospects for setting up new logistics chains after the Russian invasion

of Ukraine. Both Russia and Ukraine export steel and other metallurgical products.

Against the backdrop of the upheavals in Ukraine, caused by Russia’s invasion, attendees at the conference listened attentively to Metinvest CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov as he talked about the current state of his group’s enterprises, their humanitarian activities, besides presenting short-term forecasts and analyzing the prospects for the development of the steel market.

Metinvest has cut down the use of capacities of its enterprises by more than

working in the midst of constant air alerts and being moved to bomb shelters. Due to constant shelling of the Avdiyivka Coke and Chemical Plant, employees had to wear bulletproof vests and helmets all the time.

Metinvest’s operations were hit by the invasion. There have been logistical impediments and restrictions on the delivery of coal to coke and chemical plants, there is also an outflow of personnel and a shortage of miners at Pokrovske Coal due to the proximity of hostilities.

“The decline in production volumes led to significant changes in the structure

Kevin Dempsey described Section 232 tariffs and 218, in place since 2018, as “very, very effective”.

40% due to destruction, logistical problems and other obstacles caused by Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, Ryzhenkov said in his online speech at the conference.

“The use of the capacities of the group’s total potential has been reduced by more than 40% due to the war,” he said, adding that the full-scale Russian military invasion of Ukraine had impacted the companies of the Metinvest Group, because of their location close to the front line and in the war zone, particularly in Mariupol. Indeed, for its employees, it was almost a routine

of the steel product portfolio and the direction of sales – they were reoriented from distant markets to the markets of Central and Eastern Europe. Metinvest is restoring supply chains,” the CEO explained, adding that the group already has experience in managing enterprises in a crisis situation during the military conflict in Donbas in 2014-2017, which allows preparing enterprises for hostilities, carrying out proper conservation and logistics.

Ryzhenkov’s speech moved the participants who gave him a standing ovation.

*US correspondent July/August 2022

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There was plenty to discuss at the recent Steel Success Strategies 2022 conference in Miami. Uncertainty revealed itself as a major theme because of COVID-19, soaring inflation, high energy prices, Labour shortages and, of course, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but there was also optimism, especially when the conversation turned to decarbonization. By Manik Mehta* Kevin Dempsey, president/CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), whose speech under the ‘Industry Focus’ segment at the conference highlighted the situation in the US steel industry, said in an interview with Steel Times International, that he was ‘very optimistic’ about the American steel industry. “We see strong continued growth and demand; obviously, there have been some supply chain issues. Some of the industries such as the automotive and the semi-conductor industries have (felt) the impact on their ability to produce but there has been a lot of focus in the US government on dealing with those semiconductor issues … we still see demand continuing to improve and I think the US industry is very well positioned in terms of having a strong raw-material supply chain, so that we can weather some of the issues coming out of the war in Ukraine … the industry is well-positioned to continue to grow and has a strong future,” he averred.

When asked about the automotive industry’s reaction to rising prices and raw-material shortages, Dempsey said that the auto industry continued to see strong demand for its products. “There is definitely no doubt that the supply chain issue in recent years has had an impact and you see that in terms of demand for cars … and you saw a big increase in the average sales price of cars. But there is still strong demand from consumers for vehicles. The steelconsuming industries will have to weather some of these supply-chain issues and I really don’t think there will be an issue in terms of getting the steel for other products … the government is very focused on www.steeltimesint.com

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addressing inflation manifested in the prices of energy, food, etc.,” the AISI president maintained.

He said that more work needs to be done on that but added that the overall underlying conditions for steel are very strong. “You have to remember that there is still strong consumer demand for automobiles. In addition, we have the infrastructure law that was signed in July last year. It’s really just beginning to take effect as money is passed on to states and

we’ll start to see later this year and into the next year a ramp-up in demand for steel for infrastructure. All the issues about energy are going to continue to further push the greening of our electricity grid for more solar, wind and other projects,” he explained, anticipating that all those projects would require steel and prompt steelmakers in the US to invest in new production capacity and capability to meet this growing need for steel for offshore and onshore wind and increased solar

“What we at the SMA see is that the basic demand fundamentals are still very strong for steel producers,” said the SMA’s Philip Bell.

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Successful steel companies of the future will be those that can transition to green steel technology quickly, said Liberty’s Sandip Biswas.

production. He also believed that as time goes by, there will be a need for increased investment in nuclear help to fully develop the zero-carbon electricity options and that there will be strong demand for steel.

Tariffs: ‘very effective’ Dempsey described Section 232 tariffs and 218, in place since 2018, as “very, very effective”. He said they provided an opportunity for the US industry to make new investments and to get out of the ‘cycle of repeated surges in imports that we have seen in the years before then’.

He explained how there has been ‘a lot of new investment in the steel industry in the US’ and how this has helped to increase US steel production ‘… and I think the 232 tariffs were very helpful, especially in the 2018 and 2019 period, in providing the certainty to the market that allowed new investments’. He added that President Biden had allowed modifications to the 232 programme allowing a lot more steel to be duty free.

“Obviously, it’s going to be important that we maintain still the effective antidumping and countervailing duties in place on a number of products, such as cold-rolled, corrosion, hot-rolled plates, etc., because those imposed as a result of separate trade cases five/six years ago, are critical to maintaining a fair trading environment and ensuring we don’t have a recurrence of dumping that would undermine the industry at a critical point,” Dempsey said.

China, whose trading practices are seen by US steelmakers for their nontransparency, continues to produce a very high surplus of steel even if it does not export a lot more to the US. “They are stockpiling, they are exporting to third countries; the Chinese are also increasing steel production by Chinese companies in Southeast Asia in countries like Indonesia, July/August 2022

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the Philippines, Vietnam, etc.,” Dempsey said, adding that it was important to maintain strong and effective trade remedy laws and to continue to strengthen those laws to ensure that the tools are available to address any new possible surges in imports.

Dempsey said inflation in the US is being dealt with by the administration and through the Federal Reserve Board and other actions to address the issue. “But I don’t think trade policy should be changed to address inflation because tariffs are there in place in the US to address the global recovery problem and specific instances of unfair trade.”

The ‘Buy America’ guideline, using American steel for federally-funded infrastructure projects, was being welcomed by many participants in conversation with this correspondent. Dempsey was equally vocal in supporting it. “The (Buy America) programme is to ensure that tax-payer dollars are being used to buy American steel for infrastructure projects – I think that’s a very strong policy when you use tax-payer dollars,” he said. Besides, he added, “it is important to note that the steel produced in the US is the cleanest steel one can buy around the world in terms of carbon emissions from major steel-producing countries”.

Bell supports Biden policies Philip K. Bell, president of the Washington DC-based Steel Manufacturers’ Association (SMA), who moderated a panel discussion on North American steel – the panel included Alan Kestenbaum of Stelco, Barry Schneider of Steel Dynamics’ Flat Roll Steel Group, and Charles Schmitt of SSAB Americas – expressed support for the policies of the Biden administration which, while easing some aspects of Section 232, had maintained its core elements manifested in the continuation of the 25% steel tariffs.

Bell, formerly a director of external communications and public affairs for Gerdau Long Steel North America based in Tampa, Florida, also serves on the US

Department of Commerce International Trade Advisory Committee on Steel (ITAC 12), advising the Secretary of Commerce and United States Trade Representative on trade policy, trade agreements, and other trade related matters that benefit US businesses, workers, and the economy.

The SMA claims to be the largest steel industry trade association in the US and is the primary trade association representing American electric arc furnace (EAF) steel producers, accounting for over 70% of US steelmaking production. The SMA has, among its members, the nation’s largest steel producers, like Nucor, Steel Dynamics, Gerdau, and so forth, but there are also small steel producers. “We have 24 steel producing members in the SMA and they are all EAF producers or rolling mills,” Bell said in an interview with this correspondent.

Describing SMA members as “resilient, very creative,” Bell said they “have managed to succeed in a variety of economic and political environments”. He also said that they had reacted “in a very positive way” to the ongoing uncertainties resulting from the pandemic, the Russia/Ukraine crisis, soaring inflation and so on.

“What we at the SMA see is that the basic demand fundamentals are still very strong for steel producers. However, I think some of the optimism you may have seen in January has decreased a bit resulting in what I would call cautious optimism …”, Bell said.

The SMA president said domestic steel producers continued to invest in their people, their process and their equipment, elevating the level of modernization, electrification and decarbonization; this would lead to a more efficient steel industry, and one that will lead the way to a lower carbon future.

SMA members are also aware of the importance of Section 232 tariffs for the steel industry.

“Overall, the SMA believes that the 232 tariffs have worked. They led to increasing investment in the domestic steel industry, www.steeltimesint.com

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increased capacity utilization, they also led to preserving and creating jobs. It also did something that a lot of people are not aware of. The tariffs did a phenomenal job of keeping high carbon-intensity steel out of the US. The US produced the lowest carbon-intensity steel in the world and the tariffs did a good job of keeping out dirty steel that crossed oceans and entered our shores,” Bell explained.

Even as the implementation of 232 steel tariffs began in 2018, Bell recalled, countries like Brazil, South Korea, Argentina and Australia were subjected to quotas and not tariffs, allowing them to ship large quantities of steel tariff-free to the US. “Then in 2020, the USMCA (the US, Mexico and Canada free trade agreement), also allowed tariff-free shipments. We move fast forward to 2022 where we have alternative schemes to 232 through the use of tariff quotas for the EU, Japan and the UK … so all their steel came in tariff-free,” he said. “ … and don’t forget to factor in the millions of tons of exclusions that were granted for various steel products … thus there was very little steel that was covered by 232. Our estimates are around 15 to 20%. So there is plenty of steel available

domestically and imported … we think the Biden administration has done a good job by carefully and methodically coming up with a way to manage 232 and implement alternative schemes.”

Rising materials prices Some steel-consuming industries have complained about the rising prices of materials, including steel, used to produce their products. However, Bell said that the question of prices has to be put into context. “First of all, steel prices are down. Prices have modified. Secondly, all commodities have been higher than their historical levels in America, people are more www.steeltimesint.com

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concerned about steel availability. They are willing to pay more but they should have the steel available … prices of other materials such as lumber, copper, and even poultry, etc. have risen. To single out steel is unfair, considering how much steel prices have moderated. I would also add that in America we’re investing in new steelmaking capacity that will create more product options for companies and this will create more competition and lead to greater availability.”

SMA welcomes ‘buy America’ policy Bell said that the administration could follow a sound fiscal policy to address inflation, and take “a moderating and methodical approach to inflation which is at a 40-year high … but, one should also remember, that the 3.6% unemployment is historically low”, adding that the SMA had shared its concern about inflationary pressures with the Commerce Department and the United States Trade Representative.

The ‘Buy America’ slogan has been welcomed by the SMA which believes in ‘strong, domestic procurement preferences’.

“We believe that it is important that steel used in infrastructure projects is produced

in America. If Americans are using their tax-payer dollars for such infrastructure projects, we should use steel that is melted and poured in America. It creates American jobs, it is steel that is cleaner and lower in CO2 intensity and it is used for projects funded with tax-payer dollars. So we fully support Buy America and other domestic preferences. I was also very pleased that President Biden established early this year a Buy America office within the Office of Management and Budget. … it is very important … to have someone who looks after domestic procurement policy.”

Bell said that consumption of domestic steel would get a strong impetus from

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the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill – about half of that money – $ 550 billion – is new money. “The focus of the Infrastructure and Jobs Act is on what we call at the SMA traditional steel intensity infrastructure – roads, bridges, airports, seaports, etc. These are things needed to make our economy competitive. Also, bear in mind that the bill was passed without any personal or corporate tax increase,” he explained.

The question that also interests many is when would the administration give away projects and when would the allocated money actually start flowing for the projects. Bell said that money should start to flow into projects in the next months. ”But remember, infrastructure projects have a lot of built-in factors that can cause delays even if money starts flowing. For building bridges, roads, airports, seaports, etc … you have to deal with regulations, you have to deal with weather, you have to deal with co-ordination between federal government, state agencies and contractors … and we also have a huge labour shortage. The Department of Labour reported that there are over 350,000 construction job openings in the US … so that’s a huge issue. Added to this are supply disruptions.”

Liberty’s GREENSTEEL vision After Sanjeev Gupta, CEO/chairman of the GFG Alliance, delivered his keynote address at the conference, the GFG Alliance’s chief investment officer, Sandip Biswas, who is also interim CEO, primary steel and mining (Europe & Australia) at LIBERTY Steel, highlighted LIBERTY Steel’s approach to the transition to GREENSTEEL, maintaining that successful steel companies of the future will be those that can transition to GREENSTEEL technology quickly. He emphasized the steel industry needed to act quickly to face the challenge to decarbonize before 2050.

He pointed out that the steel industry faced a ‘trilemma’: steel and aluminium manufacturing accounted for over 10% of global CO2 emissions; as economies developed, consumption of steel and aluminium would double in the next 30 years; and many countries were already legislating to be carbon neutral by 2050.

Biswas told Steel Times International that in the context of the Russia/Ukraine war, Russia and Ukraine had accounted for around 20% of EU imports of finished steel products last year which meant ‘steel prices soared there immediately, following July/August 2022

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the invasion. However, they had now fallen back to more normal levels, albeit they are still relatively high’. But, according to Biswas, the ‘biggest challenge for many producers was finding alternative sources of supply of raw materials, particularly for those which would previously have come from Russia. LIBERTY, for its part, had ‘successfully mitigated any supply issues and (we) are just focusing on producing and delivering steel for our customers’.

Biswas admitted that rising energy prices had presented serious challenges to most steel players in Europe and elsewhere “as we are a highly energy-intensive industry.

We have taken action ourselves to help mitigate the impact of our production where we can, and we continue to work with governments to develop measures that can help manage these increases in the short term and create a competitive environment for steel as we move towards making the investments needed for us to become carbon neutral”.

He said that decarbonized primary steel production, especially hydrogen steel production, will over time gravitate to those places that have secure, abundant and

cheap renewable power, access to local high quality raw materials and a skilled workforce. “Our global portfolio is well placed for this, particularly in Australia, parts of Europe and the US,” he claimed.

Green steel He discerned a consensus in the industry at the conference on the move towards decarbonized green steel amid a ‘lot of great initiatives ongoing’. “The challenges are big, but the industry speaks with one voice when it comes to what it needs to make that transition as quickly as possible; 1) a competitive policy environment that encourages investment, 2) the secure supply of affordable high quality raw materials be that scrap, renewable energy or iron ore, 3) a growing market demand for green steel, 4) access to long term finance and 5) a skilled workforce with more younger people joining our industry.”

Renewable energy One factor on which the conference participants agreed was the urgency to push renewable energy which would benefit the steel industry. Huge investments

have been put into the grid infrastructure and technology as the world recognizes the imperative to pursue renewable energy and decarbonization. Indeed, the steel industry is also playing a major role in manufacturing the structures needed for the production of renewable energy, specifically for the purpose of solar and wind-power generation.

A decade ago, several major steel producers launched new products which were characterized by high strength and longevity. These attributes are key to building solar and wind structures which are constantly exposed to extreme weather conditions.

One attendee at the conference told Steel Times International that ArcelorMittal, for instance, supplied an array of steel products suitable for wind turbine construction.

The company’s special bar quality steels, Quarto plate, and higher strength hotrolled coil Armstrong, are all widely used in manufacturing wind tower structures.

MagiZinc by Tata Steel is another example of steel products with high corrosion resistance, which are widely used in solar farms. �

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EAFs maintain BOF liquid quality While the production of high-quality steel – including flat products – has always been the preserve of the integrated mill, the days when electric steelmakers were sneered at for only being capable of making trash cans are long gone. According to one leading global plant builder it is now possible to produce high quality flat products using an electric arc furnace – and here’s why! By, Bojan Vucinic1, Maurizio Suber2 THE production of high-quality steel, including flat products, has always been dominated by the integrated mills.

Nowadays, electric steelmaking operations have entered this sector, with numerous EAF-based plants all over the world successfully supplying those markets. The main reasons for that success are the high operational flexibility of electric melting, the possibility of using different raw materials with different qualities, and the reduction of the CO2 footprint.

Ferrous scrap will be part of future strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but there are still limitations linked to the availability of selected scrap with the right quality required for production of high-quality grades. Research efforts on this topic are necessary because valorization of low-quality scrap streams is one of the key elements for fostering a green transition for steel production.(1) The path to carbon-neutrality and sustainability of many EU industrial sectors is focused on using more electricity as an energy source. Considering the predicted growth of electric steelmaking, energy sources such as electricity will become more critical.

Steel quality obtained by the EAF process Scrap usage for high-quality steel production has some limitations, mainly due to the presence of tramp elements. The tramp elements can be reduced by mixing the scrap with virgin iron materials such as hot metal/ pig iron / DRI / HBI, or by the use of selected scrap.

Apart from limited content of metallic residuals, high-quality grades – including grades for automotive production – are also

Fig 1. Copper equivalent for different steel groups Cu*10 (Sb+Sn)-Ni, % weight

characterized by limited content of nonmetallic residuals.

Fig 1 shows the maximum allowed (typical) copper equivalent for different steel grades and Fig 2 shows historical reduction of non-metallic residuals for the automotive industry.

The transition from integrated to electric arc furnace steelmaking must be evaluated case by case, based on the type of project

(greenfield or brownfield), available raw material and media, steel quality and so on.

Steelmaking transition – brownfield In the case of brownfield projects, the transition of steelmaking from integrated plants to EAF-based melt shops has more than one phase – partial reduction of ironmaking by keeping the same steelmaking capacity. The ratio between

Fig 2. Metallurgical challenges – example: automotive industry/vehicles (2)

* 1 Senior technical manager, Danieli Centro Met, Italy 2 Senior product manager, Danieli Centro Met, Italy www.steeltimesint.com

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Fig 3. Nitrogen content of the steel during the operating practice of the EAF (3)

Fig 4. Foam height trajectory (4)

scrap and available clean material, including hot metal, is driven by the types of steel grades and the refining capacity of existing secondary metallurgy units (i.e. nitrogen and sulfur removal).

Some of the recognized problems with brownfield projects where replacement of BOF with EAF takes place, are: - External logistics (scrap and clean material supply) - Internal logistics (connection between EAF and existing secondary metallurgy) - Capability of existing secondary metallurgy units to refine steel (RH vacuum degassing unit versus nitrogen removal per different contents of sulfur level, versus available charge mix for EAF process).

Due to the ‘limited’ and/or different behaviour of nitrogen removal during the RH process (usually, BOF-based melt shops are equipped with an RH type degassing unit) in order to achieve a partial reduction of the CO2 footprint reduction, as a first step, and to achieve ‘green steel practice’ by 2050 with controlled investment, a possible and recognized solution is to install an intermediate electric arc furnace between the blast furnace, hot-metal treatment station, and the existing (BOF) melt shop.

CO2 footprint reduction is based on reducing the use of hot metal while keeping the same BOF capacity (known as ‘hot-metal stretching’). With hot-metal stretching, the BOF charge mix is mainly based on a mixture of molten metal from the EAF and hot metal, with reduced overall carbon content and higher latent energy before charging into the BOF. The amount of scrap required for the charge mix is based on energy balance. The reduction of July/August 2022

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‘charged’ carbon content is driven mainly by the minimally required carbon-removal rate in order to maintain BOF process performance and nitrogen content before tapping.

Different raw materials can be applied to the EAF process, with special attention on the balance of metallic residuals.

Having this approach, green steel (maximized CO2 footprint reduction) as a second step could be based on an already present EAF as part of a new (greenfield) melt shop.

The steelmaking philosophy must be modified in cases with an electric arc furnace as the primary steelmaking unit.

The ‘best available’ approach shall be developed based on: 1. Product mix and quality requirements; 2. Capacity of an existing secondary metallurgy unit to remove non-metallic compounds with required productivity per hour (sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen and carbon removal), together with time for proper ‘clean steel’ practice; 3. Available raw material: scrap – different types of scrap; hot metal; hot or cold DRI; HBI and different types of pig iron; 4. Proper and tailor-made electric arc furnace design; 5. Proper internal and external logistic evaluation (based on well developed and proven simulation tools).

Steelmaking transition – greenfield During greenfield project evaluation, the available raw materials, type of electric arc furnace and selected secondary metallurgy equipment are driven by: 1. Steel quality requirements; 2. Required productivity;

3. Available layout; 4. Available raw material; 5. Available media (available power, network conditions, fluids etc); 6. Level of required automation (process control); 7. Operative costs (OpEx).

Impact of equipment design Compared with a BOF-based scenario, an EAF-based process has greater flexibility with regard to raw materials and equipment design.

Different equipment designs have direct impacts on steel quality; for instance, with the same amount of applied scrap in the charge mix, but a different furnace configuration, it is possible to have less nitrogen and less phosphorous content before tapping the EAF. A good example of this is a comparison of the bucket process and continuous scrap charging with preheating process (EAF ECS).

The following charts show the nitrogen pattern during the scrap boring, melting and refining period for a bucket-based process, together with a slag-foam height trajectory.

As reported on fig 3, the strong nitrogen pick-up during the bucket process takes place during the boring period. The main reasons for high nitrogen pick-up are an uncovered arc and a low liquid level phase. In the later stage, the slag foaming index is higher (when the liquid phase is created – fig 4), the arc coverage index is higher, and the decarburization process is increased.

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Fig 5. Nitrogen content before tapping: bucket process versus combined: single bucket with continuous scrap charging process (5)

EAF concept. Compared with a standard bucket process, the endless scrap-charging process (EAF ESC) results in less nitrogen content before tapping. The main reasons for less nitrogen content before tapping are the absence of a true boring period, slag generation in the early stage of the process, and a better arc coverage index starting from an early stage of the poweron time. During continuous scrap-feeding operations, the steel bath in the EAF is kept covered by foamy slag and scrap falls into the hot heel. Fig 5.

Due to the excellent boiling action caused when DRI or HBI contains an excess of carbon relative to the oxygen in the FeO, the nitrogen level up to 20÷25 ppm can be obtained with a 100% DRI melt. Fig 6 shows the observed nitrogen content before tapping from an EAF for a charge mix of more than 80% of cold (hot) DRI (carbon content in DRI in the range of 2.3÷2.5%).

The reported nitrogen content on the previous two charts are the same as the nitrogen content before tapping from the BOF process. This is proof that the EAF can be used to produce high-quality grades of steel, including low carbon and low nitrogen products for automotive purposes.

The quality of DRI has an impact on equipment design and on the ability to produce the highest-quality steel. One example could be high gangue content in DRI, which consequently generates higher amounts of slag and less oxygen penetration. Acid gangue (low CaO / SiO2 ratio) in DRI has an impact on higher consumption of slag builders, and consequently higher generated slag volume.

In order to control slag volume, the typical practice is to reduce slag basicity, which consequently has a lower phosphorous partition ratio. Also, higher amounts of generated slag could lead to a higher

Fig 6. Evaluated nitrogen content before tapping from EAF for a charge mix with more than 80% of cold (hot) DRI

amount of tapped carryover slag and phosphorous reversions during secondary metallurgy. However, steel grades with lower quality requirements and higher maximum allowed phosphorous content could be produced with low-quality DRI, with non-metallic compounds content up to approximately 7%.

As described above, carbon content in DRI has a direct impact on nitrogen content before tapping and at the same time on reduced running costs, mainly due to higher chemical energy and reduced specific electrical energy consumption (Fig 8).

HBI as a clean material has less impact on nitrogen control during the EAF process: lower carbon content and different material density. However, for vacuum-treated grades with proper overall steelmaking process evaluation, HBI is beneficial and a useful material for clean steel production.

Nitrogen removal during the vacuum tank degassing process could be up to 5055% based on different inlet nitrogen and sulfur content. Strong nitrogen removal during the RH process is possible with ultra-low sulfur content only. As explained above, for EAF-based steelmaking the main target is the final quality requirement and the capability of existing (brownfield) or new (greenfield) secondary metallurgy facilities. With an evaluated pattern of quality adjustment (i.e. nitrogen pattern) during tapping and overall secondary metallurgy with the chosen type of EAF, the proper charge mix shall be evaluated.

Fig 9 clearly shows an increasing EAF

Fig 7.Nitrogen content before tapping from EAF for different carbon contents in DRI (6)

(5)

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Fig 8. Impact of different carbon content in DRI on equipment design and specific electrical

Fig 9. Impact of different HBI participation in charge mix on EAF transformation cost

energy consumption (reference: 1.50%C)

transformation cost with higher HBI in the charge mix. Some reasons for higher transformation costs (without raw material cost) are higher specific electrical energy and higher consumption of slag builders.

requirements, which has a direct impact on the process and steelmaking business flexibility. A long reference list of Danieli installations running different types of EAFs confirms this statement. �

Summary The electric arc furnace is already recognized as a ‘green steel’ melting unit.

To be able to produce high-quality grades (including flat products), the steelmaking philosophy and steelmaking approach must be changed. Comparing a BOF-based process with an already low nitrogen content before tapping with pre-treated hot metal, the focus must be on final quality requirements, capability of the chosen secondary refining units, and a proper, tailor-made electric arc furnace with selected raw material.

With proper process control with a closed process loop, self-learning application, and a steelmaking process in dynamic mode (Danieli Q-MELT for EAF process and Q-Ref for secondary metallurgy) it is possible to replace a BOF with an EAF for the production of high-quality flat products.

Also, thanks to the high flexibility of the EAF process, it is possible to apply lowerquality raw material as well (i.e., low-quality DRI) for steel grades with lower-quality

4. References 1.

Green steel by EAF route: a sustainable value chain in the EU Circular Economy scenario; « Green Steel by EAF » WORKSHOP REPORT, Bergamo, Nov 2019 2.

The Steel Industry in Germany – Trends in Clean Steel Technology and Refractory Engineering; A. Buhr, R. Bruckhausen, R. Fahndrich 3.

Effect of Hot Metal on Decarburization in the EAF and Dissolved Sulfur, Phosphorous and Nitrogen

content in steel, Baek LEE and II Sohn; ISIJ International, Vol. 55 (2015), No. 3, pp.

491-499 4.

Modeling, Optimization and Estimation in Electric Arc Furnace (EAF)Operation; Yasser Emad Moustafa Ghobara; McMaster University; August 2013.

5.

Electrical Steelmaking in place of Basic Oxygen Process – Danieli Vision from Quality Point of View; B. Vucinic, F. Gandin; MPT International; No 5; November 2020; page 14.

6.

The production of Steel Applying 100% DRI for Nitrogen Removal, The Experience of Arcelor Mittal Lazaro Cardenas Flat Carbon; R. Lule, F. Lopez, J. Espinoza, R. Torres and R.D. Morales; AISTech 2009.

Complete meltshop for 700kt/yr of specialty steels, including stainless steel and Ni-based alloys for automotive, aerospace and construction purposes. 90-ton EAF in-line with a ladle furnace complete with a ladle lifter, to avoid crane activities from tapping to process end. Single-tank VOD – with provision for a twin position – together with a five-stage, 200-kg/h steam ejector and water ring pump.

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PERSPECTIVES Q&A: HY STOR ENERGY

Hydrogen critical for green steel Renewable hydrogen and hydrogen storage company HY STOR ENERGY believes these are exciting times for the steel industry. With steel an integral part of the growing global economy, green energy technologies and infrastructure will be in great demand going forward. By Claire Behar* 1.How are things going at HY STOR ENERGY? Is the steel industry keeping you busy?

It is a very exciting time for Hy Stor Energy and the steel industry. The company’s mission is to develop and advance renewable green hydrogen. By commercializing and operating largescale, long-duration renewable hydrogen hubs, we deliver a one-stop-shop for the production, storage, and delivery at scale of reliable emission-free energy. Hydrogen and long-duration storage will play a critical role in decarbonizing the steel industry and helping companies and nations meet their net zero goals.

partners in Europe, Latin American, and the Caribbean. Our location in Mississippi has critical access to deep-water ports for maritime transport and export markets.

Green hydrogen will develop into a major global market, and we believe the United States will play a dominant role in global green hydrogen supply and will emerge as a key exporting region. Our strategic location with access to non-congested deep-water ports will be a key green hydrogen shipping corridor to regions such as Europe and will aid Europe in energy security and diversity of supply.

Claire Behar

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

Steel production is an integral part of our growing global economy. However, it is also one of the highest emitting industries.

The energy transition will require massive quantities of steel for wind, solar, and other green energy technologies and infrastructure. Green hydrogen enables the steel industry to continue to grow without sacrificing the climate. Renewable hydrogen provides a zero-carbon, zero-methane solution for steel production.

3.In which sector of the steel industry is HY STOR ENERGY most active?

The core of our business is the development of underground salt caverns for largescale, long-duration storage, ensuring availability of green hydrogen supply in a non-intermittent fashion for large industrial customers such as steel manufacturing.

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

Our first project is the Mississippi Clean Hydrogen Hub located in the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Our focus is the United States and Canada, and we are exploring opportunities with other potential project

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

Zero-carbon hydrogen is the promising solution to decarbonize the steel industry and the best part is that the technology already exists today. There are trailblazing companies such as SSAB and H2GreenSteel that are already using green hydrogen in their steel manufacturing to create fossilfree steel.

6.In your dealings with steel

producers, are you finding that they are looking to companies like HY STOR ENERGY to offer them solutions in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability? If so, what can you offer them?

Steel manufacturing requires very large amounts of hydrogen. This supply not only needs to be large in quantity, but also available continuously in a non-intermittent fashion. This is exactly where Hy Stor Energy comes into play. Our large salt cavern for hydrogen storage can store years’ worth of hydrogen that can be dispatched on demand.

Our Mississippi Clean Hydrogen Hub is under active development with over 60,000 acres with multiple salt domes fully permitted for hydrogen storage. Our Phase I green hydrogen production capacity is 337 tons/day (305,000 kg/day) with a hydrogen storage capacity of 69 million kg. No other project is 100% green hydrogen production or is at our scale in the United States.

7.How optimistic are you for the global steel industry going forward and what challenges face global producers in the short-to-medium term?

I believe the steel industry is among the first movers for zero-carbon hydrogen solutions and we at Hy Stor Energy are focused to be a first mover on the green hydrogen supply side to provide steel customers with green hydrogen by late 2025. In the short term, the availability of non-intermittent green hydrogen supply will be a bottleneck and that is why Hy Stor Energy’s hydrogen salt cavern storage will play a critical role in providing dispatchable, on-demand green hydrogen supply available 24/7/365.

8.If you possessed a superpower, how would you use it to improve the global steel industry?

Urgency and speed. �

* chief commericial officer, Hy Stor Energy www.steeltimesint.com

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Fig 1. In co-operation for the development of ‘crafted scrap,’ Primetals Technologies and SICON are working to automate and digitalize the scrap handling process to improve logistics, chemical purity, and pre-sorting.

The era of hybrid steelmaking While pressures to decarbonize the steel industry continue, increasing scrap rates and hybrid steelmaking can transform the traditional integrated steel route, reducing emissions and maintaining quality. By Bernhard Voraberger1, Dr. Gerald Wimmer2, and Benjamin Kradel3 THE global reality of climate change has placed increasingly intense pressure on the steel industry. As a producer of nearly 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and second in worldwide coal consumption, decarbonization has become a primary focus for major steel producers1. Currently, the traditional integrated steel production route – i.e., BF-BOF (blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace) route – makes up 70% of steel production globally.2 With a continued focus on new and innovative ways to decrease CO2 emissions related to steelmaking, including innovative use of scrap and direct reduced iron, the electric arc furnace (EAF) is often the solution of choice for “green steel” production. However, as the industry transitions towards environmentally friendly steel production, increased scrap usage will also impact traditional integrated steel production. As scrap use and decarbonization become more than just

talking points, expanding the scrap rate will impact BOF operations and EAF use, ushering in the era of hybrid steelmaking.

Challenges facing BOF steelmaking The traditional integrated route, which includes blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace steel production, presents ample opportunities to reduce overall CO2 emissions from steelmaking. One area that has received an exceptionally high amount of attention is the production of liquid hot metal due to the high amount of CO2 emissions associated with this step in the process. By reducing iron using natural gas or, in the future, hydrogen, iron and steel producers can see a significant reduction in carbon emissions. Yet decarbonization for the BF-BOF route presents a different set of challenges.

Increased scrap use is the most immediate solution for reducing CO2 emissions in BOF steelmaking. As scrap-

based EAF steelmaking becomes more present worldwide, it will require massive investments. Many challenges accompany the introduction of EAFs into existing integrated plants – e.g., plant logistics and layout changes. Considering the demands of implementing an EAF, it will be essential to reduce the carbon footprint of the existing integrated plant to maintain capacities in the short term and during the transition to electric steelmaking. Higher scrap rates in BOF steelmaking will be one of the first steps to decarbonize existing plants. However, several considerations face steel producers regarding an increased scrap rate in BOF steelmaking.

Firstly, scrap contamination presents an immediate problem for both EAF and BOF steel production. Often containing residual elements such as copper (Cu), tin (Sn), chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo), and other harmful elements such as sulphur (S) and phosphorus (P), the steelmaking

1. Head of technology and innovation for converter steelmaking, Primetals Technologies Austria GmbH 2. Vice-president converter steelmaking, Primetals Technologies Austria GmbH 3. Head of technology and innovation for electric steelmaking, Primetals Technologies Germany GmbH July/August 2022

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Fig 2. Interface of the BOF Optimizer Level 2 process model for simulation and control. The calculated temperature, carbon, and silicon content are shown in the upper diagram. Slag composition, blowing patterns, and schemas for additional material are illustrated in the lower diagrams.

process cannot remove many of these elements – e.g., copper.3 Thus, an increase in scrap rate logically means an increase in contaminants, often limiting the steel grades available for scrap-based production (see Fig. 1). While this issue primarily affects scrap-based EAF operation, an increase in scrap use will also impact BOFs. Thankfully, developments are underway at Primetals Technologies to improve and advance scrap sorting and reduce the number of residuals and creating “crafted scrap.4” However, scrap availability and logistics also present another set of challenges.

Scrap logistics and handling of increased volumes at plant level means expanding the size of the scrap chute or using a second scrap chute. Raising the amount of scrap processed will lead to increased charging time, extended process times, increased crane use, and potentially transforming plant logistics entirely, resulting in additional costs.

Finally, the amount of scrap usable in a BOF is limited due to the energy required to melt the scrap. Unlike electric steelmaking, the BOF does allow for external energy input. Still, it relies on chemical reactions, such as the heat from the hot metal and the combustion of carbon and silicon. So, increasing the scrap rate from 15–20%5, e.g., up to 25%, requires additional energy in a BOF. Despite this, scrap shows immense potential to reduce the combined BF-BOF CO2 emissions by lowering the amount of hot metal in the BOF. www.steeltimesint.com

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Decarbonizing BOF steelmaking Several innovative solutions present themselves to help steel producers increase their scrap rate in the BOF as they transition to reach their decarbonization goals. The first of these goals focuses on heat and process optimization for BOF steelmaking.

Using Level 2 process models and online heat scheduling, the BOF Optimizer from Primetals Technologies allows fast and accurate pre-calculations and simulations (see Fig. 2). Covering off-gas analysis,

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an automatic blow stop, and extreme accuracy for achieving carbon targets and temperature, avoids reblows and improves the use of scrap as a coolant.

Scrap preheating using a preheating lance presents an opportunity to improve scrap rate and raw material flexibility.

While scrap is typically charged to the BOF without heating, scrap preheating uses a burner lance with natural gas. The preheating lance can also preheat the converter after relining or during standby times. A preheating lance can increase the scrap rate by around 8%, thanks to increased energy input. However, this process does increase the tap-to-tap time since preheating takes about 10 to 15 minutes.

Another innovation that enables higher scrap rates is the dual flow postcombustion lance, comparable to an oxygen blowing lance, with a second port for additional controlled oxygen and inert gas blowing. With the dual flow postcombustion lance, the post-combustion degree is nearly doubled, leading to higher energy in the liquid steel bath. The secondary port focuses on the combustion of carbon monoxide from the bath, wherein the primary oxygen jet focuses on the combustion of carbon. The lance design ensures that the heat generated by the post-combustion returns to the liquid bath allowing for an increase in heat transfer

Fig 3. Hybrid EAF-BOF plants and various routes for transforming blast furnace grade iron ore-based integrated steelmaking. The upper diagram illustrates the PREMELT process, the middle diagram depicts the parallel operation of an EAF Fusion and BOF, and finally, the two-step process for blast furnace grade ore, utilizing a smelter to produce liquid hot metal.

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emissions by as much as the scrap rate can be reached, and due to various limitations, the BOF will never be able to operate using scrap entirely. Therefore, a combination of technologies is required to reduce CO2 emissions further.

Fig 4. Specific CO2 emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2) per ton of liquid steel (LS) for different solutions, including possible scrap rate and potential reduction in total BF-BOF CO2 emissions. Variations are likely, based on individual operating conditions.

efficiency, resulting in an increased scrap rate of approximately 4%. The advantage of this solution is that the blowing rate remains the same; thus, total blowing time is unaffected, meaning an increased scrap rate with constant productivity.

For the highest scrap rates, converting a traditional BOF to a combined blowing converter – i.e., KOBM – is required to ensure sufficient mixing. A KOBM provides intensive bath mixing and ensures uniform

scrap melting, faster slag formation, increased yield, and post-combustion.

With a KOBM, scrap rates up to 30% are possible. For even higher scrap rates, Primetals Technologies developed the JET process, combing a bottom blowing converter with coal and lime injection and a hot blast lance6. In one instance, at POSCO, heats with up to 50% scrap ratios proved immensely successful. However, an increase in the BOF scrap rate will only reduce

The era of hybrid steelmaking While a combination of technologies will no doubt lead to improved decarbonization for the steel industry, steel producers often consider transforming their entire process from BOF steel production to an EAF. However, comparing BOF and EAF steel production is challenging due to their distinct characteristics. An EAF is highly flexible regarding its charge mix thanks to external electrodes, which can melt up to 100% scrap, HBI, or DRI. For a BOF, scrap rates of 30% are feasible when applying the previously mentioned solutions, or even 50% in the case of the JET process for a KOBM. However, questions of steel quality may also come into play regarding the charge mix. There are several steel grades, such as external automotive grades, where scrap-based EAF steelmaking falls short of

20 years of experience and over 40 installed plants make Steuler the Refractory Technology Partner July/August 2022 for tomorrows DRI Processes.

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industry standards.7 Yet, as steel producers seek solutions to decarbonize their entire production process, combining steel production routes may be the most viable stepwise transformation.

Primetals Technologies is developing the PREMELT process (see Fig. 3), wherein an electric arc furnace melts scrap and DRI to mix with the hot metal from the blast furnace to then be charged into the BOF converter. A 100% solid charge mix is standard in the premelting phase since the EAF focuses only on melting. Premelting is ideal for BOF heat sizes of 300 tons or more, where the cost of replacing the BOF with an EAF would incur extensive expenditures. The PREMELT process can also be placed outside the steel plant, leaving pre-existing plant logistics intact.

The solutions for the PREMELT process are also flexible. An induction furnace is applicable for smaller heat sizes, and for larger heat sizes, an EAF is preferable.

The EAF Quantum, which includes scrap preheating using off-gas, is an ideal solution for producers looking to use high amounts of scrap to reduce their carbon

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footprint. For plants looking to transition away from blast furnace operation and focus on scrap and high-grade DRI steelmaking, the EAF Fusion offers a comparable heat size to the BOF and would melt and refine the steel. However, in the case of the EAF Fusion, changes in logistics, layout, and steel quality would have to be considered.

Approaching zero By increasing the scrap rate for BOF steelmaking, steel producers can immediately reduce their Scope 1 and Scope 2 C02 emissions (see Fig. 4). Scope 1 includes direct emissions, e.g., combustion processes, and Scope 2 includes emissions, for example, from electricity consumption8.

In an optimized BOF, scrap rates can increase up to 25%, seeing an immediate reduction in Scope 1 emissions. Using a dual flow post-combustion lance, the scrap rate can be increased even further.

However, CO2 emissions from the BOF remain relatively constant, but still see a reduction in BF-BOF carbon emissions.

Heat optimization with scrap preheating

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will increase process time and may increase Scope 1 emissions slightly, but the reduction in overall CO2 emissions is still more significant. Finally, a KOBM featuring the JET process with heat optimization can reduce traditional BF-BOF CO2 emissions by 20%. The JET process also means scrap rates of 30–50% in the BOF. Ultimately an increase in scrap rate benefits the reduction of CO2 emissions in existing BOF operations.

Close to zero emissions?

Yet, as decarbonization continues to occupy steel producers worldwide, adding an EAF to integrated steel plants would allow an increased reduction in CO2 emissions and ease the transition toward electric steelmaking. Close to zero CO2 emissions will only be possible with scrap-based electric steelmaking powered by 100% renewable energy or green hydrogenbased direct reduction (see Fig. 5)9. As steel production transforms and the era of hybrid steelmaking commences; a smart combination of technologies and strategic adoption of solutions will define the path forward for industry leaders.

STEULER-KCH GmbH | 56427 Siershahn | GERMANY Phone: +49 2623 600-216 | E-Mail: info@steuler-kch.de * USA correspondent July/August 2022 www.steuler-linings.com 20/07/2022 12:25:31 12.07.2022 12:02:48

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References 1. Kim, Jinsoo, Benjamin K. Sovacool, Morgan Bazilian, Steve Griffiths, Junghwan Lee, Minyoung Yang, and Jordy Lee. “Decarbonizing the Iron and Steel Industry: A Systematic Review of Sociotechnical Systems, Technological Innovations, and Policy Options.” Energy Research & Social Science 89 (July 2022):

102565. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2022.102565.

2. IEA (2020), Iron and Steel Technology Roadmap, IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/reports/ iron-and-steel-technology-roadmap (accessed on 23 June 2022).

3. World Steel Fact Sheet: Scrap Use in the Steel Industry. May 2021. Available online: https://

Fig 5. From the BF-BOF integrated steel route to a hydrogen-based direct reduction route with an EAF, reduction in

www.worldsteel.org/en/dam/jcr:2a96b408-325e4691-ae50-10c43c3a90fd/scrap_vf.pdf (accessed on 23 June 2022).

4. Rudra, Tanya. “Crafted Scrap Warrants Hot Commodity Status.” Green Steel World, June 2022.

5. IEA (2021), Iron and Steel, IEA, Paris https:// www.iea.org/reports/iron-and-steel (accessed on 23 June 2022) 6. Wimmer, G.; Pastucha, K.; Voraberger, B. Increase of Scrap Rate in Converter Steelmaking.

Steel Tech 2021, 15, 28–35; Choi, H.S. Increased Scrap Rate at the BOF Process by the Application of Hot Air Post-combustion—PS-BOP Project.

In Proceedings of the 6th China-Korea Joint Symposium on Advanced Steel Technology, Zhangjiajie, China, 10–11 January 2014.

7. Apfel, J. “The EAF for integrated plants.” In Proceedings of the AIST Conference, Nashville, TN, USA, 29 June 2021.

8.Technical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 Emissions. 2013. Available online: https:// www.ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/ghgp/ standards/Scope3_Calculation_Guidance_0.pdf (accessed on 23 June 2022).

9. Apfel 2021

CO2 emissions also shows immense potential through the integration of a smelter, arriving below natural gas-based direct reduction in terms of overall emissions.

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All you need to know about refining Part 2: Puddling Hearths A review by Tim Smith* A most excellent paper by Richard Williams published in ‘Historical Metallurgy’, the journal of the Historical Metallurgy Society, covers the fining of blast furnace iron into malleable wrought iron from the various methods employed in charcoal hearths, to the puddling process which began to predominate by 1791. Part 1 of this review ‘Charcoal hearths’, published in Steel Times International’s May/June issue, established the desire to produce a white iron containing iron carbide rather than free graphite, for fining. Part 2 now looks at the advent of coal used in fining.

Typical wet puddling furnace – coal fuel on left, iron charge centre.

The chimney draws the combustion gases to reverberating down off the roof onto the charge

Potting and stamping Williams addresses some of the methods of refining grey iron prior to the advent of puddling such as potting and stamping in which a stream of molten iron, run from a coke-fired furnace, was run directly into water from a height to quench it to white iron which was then granulated between rollers. The granules were mixed with slag rich in iron oxide and lime, placed in crucibles and strongly heated for three to four hours to weld the mixture into a lump of refined iron.

By 1771, variants of the puddling process had been developed by a number of

OPEN ACCESS TO HISTORICAL METALLURGY JOURNAL The bi-annual publication Historical Metallurgy has become ‘Platinum Open Access’. The content is freely accessible to all at https:// hmsjournal.org and the journal remains free for authors to publish within. All new content will appear online as it is published, and all back-copies will eventually be available. Currently the digitisation process extends back to 1988 and the remainder will follow soon.

Each issue contains five or six main articles relating to worldwide sites, plus a number of book reviews.

Unlike most Open Access academic journals, there are no authors’ fees as an income stream. HMS believes it is essential, particularly in the field of industrial archaeology, to continue to encourage the free publication of good quality research undertaken without large-scale external funding. HMS is reliant on membership fees for the financial security of the society and of the journal. Effectively, HMS is asking the historical metallurgy community to crowd-fund this exciting service through becoming and remaining members (for membership options visit: https://historicalmetallurgy.org/join-or-renew/).

The Society’s newsletter, The Crucible, is also freely available via the Society’s website at https://historicalmetallurgy.org/publications/hms-newsletter/. We had difficulty accessing the site, you might have more luck.

*Consulting editor, Steel Times International and a member of the Historical Metallurgy Society www.steeltimesint.com

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workers. Coal was the fuel and was much cheaper than charcoal but necessitated the fire being kept separate from the iron to prevent contamination by sulphur.

At first, a silica-lined hearth was used (dry puddling); but better results were achieved by assisting oxidation using an iron bottom hearth lined with a refractory layer rich in iron oxide, such as the tap slag drawn off during puddling and mixed with old furnace bottoms. This was the eventual basis of Cort’s method and was known as wet puddling. During puddling, oxidation of silicon in the iron preceded that of carbon, the latter resulting in CO agitating the slag assisting the migration of phosphorus from the iron into the FeOrich slag. The evolved CO bubbled to the surface where it burnt off as ‘blue candles’ as it reached the air. This was termed the ‘carbon boil’ and enabled grey irons to be puddled directly without pre-treatment.

Considerable skill required Cort’s puddling process required considerable skill in preparing the hearth and manipulating the iron and first became

successful in 1791.

The removal of phosphorus during puddling was a key factor. Phosphorus causes embrittlement when the iron is worked cold, and is said to be cold short.

Low phosphorus iron was necessary to produce a ductile iron able to resist impact and was in much demand by the navy for anchors and chains. Charcoal hearths could only remove part of the phosphorus by using strongly oxidising conditions – placing the iron pig cast at the furnace directly in front of the tuyere, but could not reach the low levels required for chains, instead producing a hard iron destined for such applications as nails. Neither could potting, stamping, or other pre-treatments, remove sufficient phosphorus to make wrought iron resistant to impact.

Swedish Oregrund bar iron European ores are generally high in phosphorus, except Swedish Dannemora ore. For this reason, expensive low phosphorus Swedish Oregrund bar iron was imported in large quantities to make chains and anchors. But Cort’s puddling

process removed phosphorus so effectively that it could match the Swedish Oregrund iron. It was the relatively low temperature of puddling and the FeO-rich slag that enabled the removal of phosphorus in Cort’s process.

The Thomas Process This contrasts with the Thomas Process of 1877 in which a molten basic slag removes phosphorus from molten iron by the replacement of the silica lining of the Bessemer converter with a basic (alkaline) lining of ground limestone and magnesia mixed with pitch. Today, the Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) achieves the same. Indeed, the advent of puddling caused the demand for Swedish Oregrund iron to drop dramatically.

‘Grey or white pig? The importance of the starting material whether fining iron in charcoal hearths, clay pots or puddling furnaces’ by Richard Williams published in ‘Historical Metallurgy’, the journal of the Historical Metallurgy Society, Vol 58 Pt1 pp84-103. Available free to access on-line at https://hmsjournal.org �

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