Steel Times International March 2020

IN-PLANT LOGISTICS

USA UPDATE

STAINLESS & SPECIAL STEELS

NEWS ROUND-UP

Italian steelmaker implements fully automated high bay storage system

The tariffs ain’t working, says Manik Mehta

Molybdenum alloying promotes strengthening, says IMOA

Three pages of the latest steel news from around the world

Since 1866

www.steeltimesint.com March 2020 - Vol.44 No2

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL – MARCH 2020 – Vol.44 No2

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CONTENTS – MARCH 2020

IN-PLANT LOGISTICS

USA UPDATE

STAINLESS & SPECIAL STEELS

NEWS ROUND-UP

Italian steelmaker implements fully automated high bay storage system

The tariffs ain’t working, says Manik Mehta

Molybdenum alloying promotes strengthening, says IMOA

Three pages of the latest steel news from around the world

Since 1866

www.steeltimesint.com March 2020 - Vol.44 No2

Front cover photo courtesy of Kocks

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL – MARCH 2020 – Vol.44 No2

Two different sizes of KOCKS RSB®s supported by two 4D EAGLE® profile measurement systems are currently operating in USA to produce special bar quality products.

2 Leader

By Matthew Moggridge, editor, Steel Times International 4 News round-up The latest global news

THE CAUSE AND EFFECT OF STEEL TARIFFS STI Cover 1.indd 1

13/03/2020 09:15:29

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

8 USA update Tariff price hike uncertainty 11 Latin America update Argentina’s steel drama 14 Innovations The latest contracts and new products from international plant builders and suppliers

1

30 Stainless & special steels Meeting modern engineering challenges 33 Environment Emissions for BF-BOF vs DR-EAF 38 Special feature The cause and effect of steel tariffs 42 Perspectives Q&A: Lechler Group Continuing to serve the steel industry 44 History The British Iron Industry 1490-1815

Tube & wire 20 Drawing ahead with stainless steel wire 24 Keeping wire rod coils in shape 27 The quest for excellence

Managing Director Tony Crinion tonycrinion@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855164 Chief Executive Officer Steve Diprose

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SUBSCRIPTION Elizabeth Barford 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 £195.00 Other countries: £270.00 2 years subscription: UK £350.00 Other countries: £485.00 ) Single copy (inc postage): £45.00 Email: steel@quartzltd.com

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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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2

LEADER

Corona Virus: it’s kicking off, but we can only wait it out

Matthew Moggridge Editor matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com

March 2020

Leader.indd 1

It would be wrong to say nothing about the Corona Virus, or COVID-19 as it’s officially known (now that would be a great name for a rock band, although nobody would turn up to their gigs). So, the Corona Virus. There used to be a drinks brand going by the name Corona. When I was a kid my mum used to warn me not to be standing in the road when the Corona van roared into town. Even back then the word filled me with dread and now they’ve named a pandemic after it.

Don’t stand in the road when the Corona virus passes through. I’ll probably be run over by an ambulance taking the unlucky few to hospital. Officials say most people will only experience mild symptoms and should ‘self-isolate’ until they’re better, and that just one in 20 people will find themselves on ventilators. But try telling that to a world distorted by social media and, indeed, the mainstream media, who have taken the virus under their wing and are busy cranking up the panic levels. As I write this, President Donald Trump has banned all flights (of people, not goods) into the USA from continental Europe; Italy, as we all know, is on lockdown and various other countries in Europe

have banned gatherings of more than 100 people. Exhibitions and conferences globally are being postponed or cancelled – and for good reason. Who wants to be shaking hands with strangers or locked up in quarantine for a fortnight in a foreign hotel?

For a lot of businesses running conferences and exhibitions, the decision (to cancel or postpone events) is no longer in their hands; they will have to fall in line with whatever foreign governments decide is best for the health of their citizens.

But life goes on. At the time of writing, the steel industry doesn’t seem overly concerned. EUROFER told me that the virus (so far) has had ‘no significant impact’ and likewise, the AISI in the USA has claimed that domestic mills have not been adversely affected. But there are issues in China (of all places!). Baowu Steel reports a 5% month-on-month drop in orders, and with 97% of raw materials for steel being supplied by or refined in China, prices for manganese, silicon and other key raw materials are likely to rise.

But it’s out of our hands and there’s little we can do other than wait it out and hope for the best.

www.steeltimesint.com

12/03/2020 10:10:17

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NEWS ROUND-UP

• South Korean steelmaker POSCO says it will continue to assist communities in need around the globe. The company has recently sent 1 billion won ($820,159) to crisis-hit Wuhan in the wake of the further spread of the Corona virus (COVID-19).

POSCO sent masks and hand sanitisers to prevent the further spread of the disease.

Source: The Korea Herald, 26 February 2020.

• Job losses at Tata Steel's UK sites will be fewer than 500, according to Tata Steel Europe's CEO Henrik Adam. He is now saying that job losses across Europe will be 1,250 rather than 3,000 as originally envisaged. Adam wrote to staff in early March describing the company's financial situation as 'serious'.

Source: BBC, 10 March 2020.

• Higher raw materials costs and falling margins are to blame for South Korean steelmaker Hyundai’s plummeting profits. Total steel production dropped by 1.21% year-on-year in 2019 to 21.22Mt, including 9.36Mt of EAF steel, which was down by -3.31%. Consolidated revenue declined by -1.28% year-onyear to 20.513 trillion won ($16.93 billion), as a result of lower sales volumes and prices following a demand slowdown. Net profit slumped by -93.63% to 26 billion won.

Source: Kallinish Commodities, 25 February 2020.

• Tata Steel has been named as one of the world’s most ethical companies – for the ninth time! The award comes from Ethisphere, a global organisation that defines and advances standards of ethical business practices.

Source: Orissadiary.com, 25 February 2020.

• A new high-strength, abrasion-resistant steel has been introduced by Tata Steel (in collaboration with Steel Warehouse) for use in the mining, agriculture, construction, refuse and recycling industries. Valast 450 is claimed to offer manufacturers a variety of advantages compared with conventional abrasionresistant plate-steel products.

The new product is available in widths of up to 81 inches, 30% more than products offered by Tata’s rivals.

Source: CISION PR Newswire, 25 February 2020.

• The risks of acquiring ThyssenKrupp’s elevator business are larger than the opportunities, according to Kone CEO Henrik Ehrnrooth.

Speaking at a shareholders’ meeting in Helsinki, Finland, he said that profiting from the situation would be the way ahead. That Kone had been pushed off the bidding process didn’t disappoint those shareholders who came to listen to Ehrnrooth.

Maintenance services and modernisation of old equipment were the ways forward, he said.

Source: Reuters, 25 February 2020.

• Berry Metal Company has forged a partnership with Acciarium Alliance to grow market participation with BOF and EAF steelmakers in Europe. According to David Werner, president of Berry Metal Company, the fit between the two companies is perfect. Mauro Bianchi Ferrias, managing director of Acciarium, said that the Berry team was absolutely great.

“I am very happy to be part of the same family now,” he added.

Source: Berry Metals, 26 February 2020.

• Driving domestic steel demand in India is top of mind for ArcelorMittal’s Lakshmi Mittal. Mr Mittal dropped in on India’s Union Steel Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan and by all accounts the two men had a fruitful discussion.

The chat revolved around boosting steel consumption and making the Indian steel and oil & gas industries more vibrant and competitive.

Source: IndiaTVnews.com, 25 February 2020.

March 2020

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5 CORONAVIRUS UPDATE...

• Ilyich Iron and Steel Works and Azov Stal, two steel plants owned by Russian steelmaker Metinvest are being criticised by residents of Donetsk Oblast for polluting the atmosphere. Locals refer to the company as ‘Deathinvest’. The company is also under attack in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol for polluting the atmosphere and creating a huge 40m pile of industry waste dubbed ‘Slag Mountain’.

Source: Kyivpost.com, 26 February 2020.

• ThyssenKrupp has sold its elevator division to a private equity consortium including Advent, Cinven and the German RAG foundation for 17.2 billion euros ($18.7 billion). TK will reinvest 1.25 billion euros from the monies it receives from the sale for a stake in the business.

Source: Reuters, 27 February 2020.

• World crude steel production for the 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association was 154.4Mt in January 2020, a 2.1% increase when compared to January 2019. Of that figure, China produced 84.3Mt. Source: World Steel Association, 27 February 2020.

• Iran is claiming that it is now making enough steel to satisfy domestic demand and export to target markets.

According to the World Steel Association, Iran produced almost 3Mt of crude steel in January, up 46.7% on last January’s 1.971Mt. The global average growth rate is 2.1%.

Source: Tehran Times, 29 February 2020.

• Yoshihisa Kitano, head of Japan’s Iron and Steel Federation, is calling on the Chinese steel industry to cut production in the face of weakening demand from manufacturers. Chinese steel mills should adjust their output to reflect declining manufacturing activities, said Mr Kitano as steel inventories start to climb.

Source: MarketScreener.com, 27 February 2020.

• Following on from the sale of ThyssenKrupp’s elevator business, there are big questions over what to do with the rest of the German conglomerate. Will other divisions be sold off and if so, which ones? According to one online report, the rest of the business doesn’t make a great deal of money.

Source: www.independent.ie, 1 March 2020

• US steel import permit applications for February totalled 1.82Mt (net tons), a decrease of 47.5% when compared to January figures, according to data released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Import permit tonnage for finished steel in February was down 16.8% when compared with January.

More details can be found on www.steeltimesint.com Source: AISI, 4 March 2020.

• With China refining or providing up to 97% of steelmaking's raw ingredients like manganese, silicon and other key raw materials, global steelmakers are beginning to realise just how much they rely upon China.

As a result of the Coronavirus prices for key ingredients rose sharply at the beginning of 2020.

Source: Wall Street Journal, 5 March 2020.

• The Coronavirus is causing many problems for China's steel industry, notably reduced demand (Baowu Steel reports a 5% month-onmonth drop in orders) and rising steel inventories. It is estimated that the impact of the virus will be felt for at least the next two to three years, according to India's Union Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan.

Source: Various online reports.

• Chinese steelmakers are reporting sharp falls in their profit margins because of the coronavirus, with some rebar and hot-rolled coil producers claiming they have barely broken even on sales.

Source: Argus Media, 2 March 2020.

March 2020

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6

NEWS ROUND-UP

• Clayton Equipment, the only British independent locomotive manufacturer in the UK capable of designing and manufacturing locomotives up to 150 tonnes, has agreed a contract to supply a further two Hybrid+™ Diesel CBD90 locomotives to Tata Steel, Port Talbot. The steelworks fleet will eventually include a total of five Hybrid+™ locomotives supplied from Clayton Equipment.

Source: Clayton Equipment, 1 March 2020.

• Projects worth more than $1.2 billion are ready to be inaugurated in Iran’s mining sector across the country, according to Khodadad Gharibpour, head of the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organisation (IMIDRO).

Source: Tehran Times, 2 March 2020.

The European and US steel industry have yet to report any major incidents concerning the so-called Coronavirus. The European Steel Association (EUROFER) says the virus has not yet had a significant impact on the EU steel market. “EU steelmakers are able to deliver products from their EU mills,” EUROFER told Steel Times International. In the USA, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) commented: “The latest data suggests that domestic steel mills have not been adversely affected by the coronavirus outbreak.”

Source: EUROFER/AISI, 4 March 2020.

• Katsuhiro Miyamoto, executive vice president of Nippon Steel, a leading Japanese steel manufacturer, has said that the company needs to prepare for a downside in relation to the Coronavirus. As steel inventories surge 30% in China since the January infections spike, Miyamoto believes there could be wider impacts if things don’t pick up soon.

Source: Reuters, 1 March 2020.

• Jingye Group has signed on the dotted line for the almost doomed British Steel. The Chinese company claims it will save 3,000 jobs, but has admitted that up to 500 might go as the company sets about investing £1.2 million on upgrading the steelmaker’s production facilities. Source: BBC, 9 March 2020.

Li Huiming, Jingye Group CEO

• A number of online media reports discuss the plans of the Advent-led consortium, which intends to spend billions on expanding the newly acquired ThyssenKrupp Elevator business. Apparently there is no shortage of money for global expansion, according to Advent’s Ranjan Sen. Source: Various, 2 March 2020.

• Coronavirus has led to the postponement of Wire and Tube Dusseldorf. The exhibition was going to take place this month (March) but has been put back to December (7-11) following consultation with all partners involved, claimed organiser Messe Dusseldorf GmbH. Source: Messe Dusseldorf, 6 March 2020.

• Jingye has also announced how it will be spending its planned £1.2 million. The plan is to introduce an electric arc furnace to facilities in Teesside, construct a new 250MW power plant to serve the Scunthorpe site, invest in rolling mills to produce high quality steel products, and build a new rebar line.

Source: Jingye Group, 9 March 2020.

• Thomas J. Gibson, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), pictured right, will retire in the autumn. A search for his successor will begin immediately. Gibson has led AISI since September 2008. Under his leadership, the Institute successfully advocated for once-ina-generation legislation to strengthen the trade laws against unfair trade practices and level the playing field for steel manufacturers, for successful passage of transportation and infrastructure bills to benefit the steel industry, and for a balanced approach to energy and environmental regulations that do not diminish manufacturing competitiveness and capitalise on the natural gas renaissance in the US. Source: AISI, 6 March 2020.

March 2020

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USA UPDATE

Tariff price hike uncertainty Last quarter results were hardly satisfying, says Manik Mehta* THE uncertainty characterising the mood of the US steel industry at the start of 2020 poses a sharp contrast to the wave of euphoria on which the industry was riding when US President Donald Trump started his presidency four years ago and the industry was hero-worshipping him for his support to revive its sagging fortunes by imposing tariffs on cheap foreign steel imports, notably from China.

The steel industry’s euphoria has, meanwhile, not only evaporated but has also been replaced by the hard-core reality that tariffs hardly provide a stimulus to growth and merely offer short-term protection. The bitter lesson learnt from the tariff imposition is that the industry has to stand on its own legs rather than rely on superficial life-support which tariffs provide.

Enhancing productivity is, perhaps, the more effective way to strengthen the industry and make it more competitive so that it can face the – often unfairly – subsidised steel shipments from foreign suppliers. Productivity can be a painful process, but the bitter medicine has to be taken to cure the sick patient.

Industry pundits have suggested this course of action and have also called for the deployment of the latest technology, including artificial intelligence, to bolster productivity. There is also some urgency

in undertaking the modernisation and technological upgrading because, going by the performance reports of some US steel manufacturing companies in the 2019 final quarter, the picture is certainly not that rosy.

Another problem that is affecting the performance of US steel companies is the outdated infrastructure of steel mills, though many are paying greater attention to this issue. Arcelor Mittal’ s Indiana Harbor operations in East Chicago had an explosion shortly after Christmas, affecting a furnace and control room; according to the region’s media reports, its Gary Works in Indiana faced flooding forcing a temporary suspension of its blast furnaces.

Anthony B Sindone, an assistant professor of finance and economic development at Purdue University Northwest, was quoted by the Northwest Indiana Times as saying that many steel mills in the US are over a century old, and that much of the infrastructure at the Gary Works was rather aged. Sindone added that while some capital improvements had been made at these and other plants around the country, the improvements had not essentially replaced the century-old equipment in large numbers.

Steel companies have been precluded from making substantial capital investments because of financial constraints attributed

to declining steel prices. Upgrading of steel production facilities and equipment was, therefore, not carried out.

It must be said, however, that while integrated steel mills had made major investments in relining their blast furnaces and other facilities, they also delayed the follow-up maintenance work in an economic slowdown which becomes a compelling reason to cut costs.

Meanwhile, President Trump announced plans to raise tariffs on steel-made items such as nails and cables. This move, effective from 8 February, was announced in the President’s “Proclamation on Adjusting Imports of Derivative Aluminum Articles and Derivative Steel Articles into the United States” dated 24 January 2020.

This plan is an extension of his earlier decision to impose tariffs on foreign steel and aluminium. Trump justified the new move by arguing that the existing tariffs had not been as effective as hoped to revive the nation’s manufacturing sector, and that foreign companies tried to circumvent the 25% and 10% tariffs on imported steel and aluminium respectively, which had continued to increase.

While domestic manufacturers of such items welcomed the President’s new move, others were skeptical about it. Southwire of Carollton, Georgia, which manufactures

* USA correspondent March 2020

USA.indd 1

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12/03/2020 08:40:04

9

power cable, argued that the tariffs were necessary in the interest of fair competition.

But pundits have been shaking their heads over this new tariff imposition. They had already cautioned when Trump first introduced the steel and aluminium tariffs that US production costs of items such as nails or cars would rise sharply.

The steel and aluminium tariffs were blamed for raising the cost of key materials, hurting the competitive edge of internationally-operating American companies using those metals. The expansion of those tariffs has unnerved some in the industry.

The President has been saying that his trade policies are in line with his promises to revive manufacturing and create jobs by safeguarding US industry against unfair competition and by encouraging companies to shift their manufacturing operations to the US. However, according to a study released in December 2019 – the paper is known as Flaaen, Aaron, and Justin Pierce (2019).

“Disentangling the Effects of the 2018-2019 Tariffs on a Globally Connected US Manufacturing Sector,” Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2019-086. Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System – the costs of President Trump’s trade policy vis-à-vis China had outweighed the benefits to manufacturers. The paper also shows that the negative effects of the trade war outweighed the benefits, resulting among other things, in higher prices companies had to pay on imported components supplied by China, not to forget the retaliatory tariffs imposed by China against US products.

Meanwhile, US Steel recently announced that it was idling part of its operation near Detroit; it is estimated that some 1,500 jobs could be lost.

US experts also question the legal basis for the revised tariffs.

President Trump used Section 232 of a 1962 trade law, which, he argued, gives him wide powers to impose tariffs for protecting US industry for reasons of national security, considering that domestic capacity to make iron and steel was necessary for national defense purposes. Although the tariffs were to be applied on global imports, the administration later exempted products coming from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and South Korea. However, the United States Court of International Trade delivered a much narrower interpretation of that statute, laying out a time framework within which the President had to act; that time frame has meanwhile, expired.

According to preliminary 2019 import figures from the US Department of Commerce for steel products, imports into the US declined by 17% to 25.27Mmt compared with 2018 import figures of 30.Mmt. Imports of steel products had totaled 34.47Mmt in 2017.

Meanwhile, US steel companies are not ruling out a decline in steel supplies in 2020. Integrated steelmaker US Steel, for example, is expecting steel shipments in 2020 to fall to 10Mt (short tons) in 2020, a 6.5% decline compared to 2019. This decline is also due to the company’s preparation for a major outage at its flat-rolled mill in Gary, Indiana, which has an annual capacity of 7.5Mt (short tons) per year.

The company’s chief executive David Burritt has been quoted as saying that US Steel is focusing on completing the purchase of steel company Big River Steel in which US Steel had bought a 4.9% stake in October. � www.steeltimesint.com

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11

LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

Argentina’s steel drama

The performance of the Argentinean steel industry was disappointing last year, mainly due the unsatisfactory macroeconomic environment. The latter was highly influenced by the politics.

By Germano Mendes de Paula* BEFORE paying attention to the sectorial and macroeconomic indexes, it is crucial to highlight that Argentina had general elections in late October last year. The centre-left opposition candidate Alberto Fernández was elected president in the first round, beating the Conservative incumbent, Mauricio Macri. To win the first round, a candidate needs at least 45% of the vote, or 40% and a 10-percentage point lead over the second-place contestant. Mr Fernández got roughly 48% of the vote. He took over in early December.

Usually, at least in most of the Latin American nations, the vice-presidents play a ceremonial role. However, in this particular experience, the new vice-president is Ms Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who was the country’s president over the period 20072015. She was also a Senator by Province of Santa Fé (1995-1997 and 2001-2005) and of Buenos Aires (2005-2007 and 20172019). She was married to Mr Néstor Carlos Kirchner, who also was president (20032007). Mr. Kirchner died in 2010.

“Kirchnerism” is a term used to refer

to the political philosophy of Mr and Ms Kirchner. Broadly speaking, it can be described as: a) the opposition of neoliberal policies; b) the adoption of an economic policy of industrial developmentalism; c) a strong antagonism to the multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements pursued by the USA; d) a substantial support of Mercosur and its co-operation with Brazil; e) a markedly progressive attitude towards birth control and sexuality, which has provoked hostility from the Catholic Church and other conservative segments of the Argentinean society.

As Ms Kirchner is said to have played a key role in Mr Fernández’s electoral triumph, there are considerable concerns about the resurgence of heterodox macroeconomic policies in Argentina, which is a country that customarily faces sharp vulnerabilities. In case you’re wondering, ‘heterodox’ means ‘not conforming with accepted or orthodox standards or beliefs.

Macro economic performance When Mr Macri took office in late 2015, Argentina had a consumer annual inflation rate of around 25%-30%. In the following year, it jumped to 40.3% due to the policy of price adjustment of public tariffs, which were artificially repressed during the reign of Kirchenerist governments. Inflation reached 24.8% in 2017 and 47.6% in 2018. It then accelerated to an annual rate of 53.8%, which is the highest value since 1991, as reported by the country’s statistical institute (Indec). According to the latest monthly survey of the Argentinean Central Bank, the economists estimate that consumer prices for 2020 will increase 42%.

GDP has performed badly too. According to the World Bank, it dropped 2.1% in 2016. After a 2.7% recovery in 2017, it plummeted 2.5% in 2018 and an additional diminution of 3.1% is expected for 2019.

Moreover, it forecasts a further retraction of 1.3% in 2020, followed by expansion of 1.4% in 2021 and 2.3% in 2022 (see Fig.1 for a comparison with Latin America and the Caribbean).

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

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March 2020

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LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

3 2 1 0

Fig 1. Argentinean and

-1

Latin American & the Caribbean GDP,

-2

2016-2022 (% y-o-y).

-3

Source: World Bank

-4 2016

2017

2018

Argentina

2019e

2020f

2021f

2022f

Latin America

6

6

5

5

4

4

3

3

2

2

1

1

0

Pig iron

DRI 2015

Crude steel 2016

2017

Longs 2018

Flats

0 Production

2019

Consumption 2015

2016

Exports 2017

2018

Imports 2019

Fig 2. Argentina’s steel and steel input production, 2018-2019 (Mt).

Fig 3. Argentina’s steel production, consumption and international trade, 2015-2019 (Mt).

Source: Argentina Steel Chamber

Source: Argentina Steel Chamber

The utilisation ratio of the manufacturing industry was equivalent to 60.7% in November 2019, according to the latest report from Indec. In the same month of 2018, the level was 63.3%, stressing the deterioration of the economy. In this context, there is little (if any) incentive for investing, which naturally has a negative impact on the country’s steel consumption.

Steel performance Fig.2 demonstrates the evolution of pig iron production, DRI, crude steel and rolled steel products (longs and flats) during the period 2015-2019. Comparing the volume fabricated in 2019 against 2015, the differences are: pig iron (-27%); DRI (-13%), crude steel (-8%), longs (+11%) and flats (-20%).

A similar exercise was conducted for analysing the total fabrication of rolled products, steel consumption, exports and imports for the same year. Contrasting the values of 2019 with those of 2015, the disparities are: • production: (-7%), • consumption (-26%), • exports (+146%) and • imports (-42%).

In order to mitigate the massive retraction of domestic consumption, the Argentinean steel industry was obliged to skyrocket March 2020

LA.indd 2

its exports. A depressive market, per se, generated a negative impact on imports.

One of the main reasons behind the decline is the crisis that has befallen the Argentinian automobile industry.

Argentina’s car production fell from 467k units in 2018 to 315k units in 2019 (a 33.5% drop), according to ADEFA, the Argentinean automakers association.

Domestic sales reduced from 682k units in 2018 to 372k units in 2019, resulting in a 45.4% involution. In 2019, automotive exports diminished by 16.7% to 224k units when compared with 2018, largely due to sales difficulties in Brazil – in the context of the bilateral sectorial trade agreement. In 2019, Brazil was responsible for 67.1% of Argentina’s automotive exports.

Automotive expansion According to consultancy firm IHS Markit, Argentinean automotive production will expand to 368k units in 2020 and even to 458k units in 2021 (which is still below the level observed in 2018). Meanwhile, domestic sales will be equivalent to 336k units in 2020 and 381k in 2021 (extremely lower than 2018’s performance).

Construction experienced a noticeable decline: a 6.9% retraction between January and November 2019 against the same period of the previous year. According to the Argentina Steel Chamber, recovery

expectations for 2020 are restricted to housing activities, because there are no signs of large infrastructure work.

The Argentina Steel Chamber observed that the agricultural machinery and implements sector in general had a good year up until November 2019 (according to Indec) but showed signs of production diversification. A lot depends upon the next agricultural harvests.

According to the Argentina Steel Chamber the energy sector suffered in 2019 due low activity in the “Vaca Muerta”, a geologic formation of the Late Jurassic to early Cretaceous age, located in the Qeuquén Basin in northern Patagonia, which is well known as the host rock for major deposits of shale oil and shale gas.

It is estimated that this formation has large volumes of tight oil and shale gas.

According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Vac Muerta contains 16.2bn barrels of oil and 308 cubic feet of shale gas. There is uncertainty regarding future oil and gas sector development based on the evolution of the new government’s decisions.

Bearing in mind the macroeconomic indicators and the perspective of these four main steel consuming sectors, it is wise to expect slow recovery activity for Argentina’s steel market in 2020. Only in 2021 is a better performance likely to occur. � www.steeltimesint.com

12/03/2020 08:13:05

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14

INNOVATIONS

SSAB revamps Lulea coke oven battery SSAB EMEA AB has chosen Paul Wurth’s service team to carry out, on an EPC basis, a revamp of its coke oven battery at a steel works in Luleå, northern Sweden. The revamp will focus on battery life extension and emission reduction.

Paul Wurth’s first job was to provide SSAB with a detailed feasibility study, defining the most appropriate implementation scenario in terms of extending battery life. SSAB then asked Paul Wurth to study the application of best available technology (BAT) to cut emissions and improve coke quality.

The feasibility study included details of Paul Wurth’s patented SOPRECO® technology (Single Oven Pressure Control) for emission reduction and evaluated the best implementation scenario for removing existing design constraints in relation to the by-products plant. These actions optimised the overall project cost, taking into account capital and operational expenditures along with minimum production losses.

Paul Wurth’s proposals fitted into SSAB’s strategy and the company was

awarded the order, which covers the replacement of the entire raw gas system including ascension pipes, goosenecks, the SOPRECO® system, gas collecting main (GCM) and off-takes. The company will also renew the roof of the battery ovens by replacing the rails for charging machines, transversal tie rods and some refractory layers.

Since Scandinavian weather conditions are extreme during the winter months, the replacement works will be carried out in two

New in-line measurement solutions Zumbach is attending TUBE 2020 in Dusseldorf (7-11 December) to present its in-line measurement solutions for pipes and profiles. In addition to intelligent non-contact measuring solutions, the company will also demonstrate its modern networking and digitalisation possibilities.

The Zumbach booth at the show will also be displaying ‘interesting systems with new features and functions’ including:• New PROFILEMASTER® model SPS 80.

A profile measurement system based on the principle of light-section technology and machine vision. It is claimed to be capable of handling any March 2020

innovations.indd 1

shape or profile.

• The BENDCHECK system, demonstrating its ability to measure the straightness of tubes and pipes directly in-line without slowing down production.

• New 1, 2 and 3 axis diameter gauges of high precision, the well-known ODAC® series for any tube or pipe. Also, new models with special beam geometry, fault detection function and high scan rate.

• Software and interface solutions, fulfilling Industry 4.0 (IoT) requirements.

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

www.steeltimesint.com

12/03/2020 10:20:31

INNOVATIONS

15

Special adapters for IoT systems steps: preparation activities to remove any existing constraints will take place in summer 2020, followed by the main intervention for replacing equipment in summer 2021.

According to Paul Wurth, its approach to the job was tailored to SSAB’s specific needs and as such will lead the 54-oven coke battery at Luleå to an extended and environmentally friendly life cycle, thus promoting future sustainability.

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

Rittal, a leading industrial enclosures, climate control, power management systems, and automation services company, is now offering a special adapter that retrofits comprehensive communications capabilities to ensure that customers can integrate existing Blue e cooling units into condition monitoring and IoT systems.

According to Rittal, smart manufacturing is driven by the rise of technology; digital retrofit may be the most economical solution when a company’s equipment lacks adequate communication capabilities. When installed, the new adapter ensures the units can link up to smart condition monitoring and IoT systems, the company claims.

The new adaptor can be used to set up condition monitoring for up to 10 cooling units in a master/slave arrangement.

In this scenario not only can data be recorded, but efficiency analyses can also be carried out on the cooling solution. Rittal claims that monitoring systems that issue automatic notifications can also be set up to detect faults and limit breaches, thereby helping boost availability and prevent expensive machine downtime.

The new adapter is compatible with all wall

and roof-mounted NEMA 12, 3R/4, and 4X rated Blue e units employing Rittal’s Comfort Controller. Rittal claims that NEMA 3R/4 and 4X are ideally suited for incorporation into IoT applications and are often used outdoors.

Typical examples of outdoor applications include renewable energy facilities, such as solar and wind power plants, which are usually located in isolated areas, making it essential that they incorporate remote monitoring.

Combining the IoT Interface with the IoT Adapter, Blue e cooling units may be integrated into higher-level systems. Rittal claims it developed the new IoT adaptor because the older units cannot communicate directly with an IoT interface. The whole system can be configured and commissioned via the web server integrated into the IoT interface – quickly, conveniently and without the need for any programming.

“Our new Blue e adapter is the ‘easy way’ to get cooling units IoT-ready in industrial applications,” said Mike Freund, managing director for the US at Rittal. “For a company to truly implement smart manufacturing, its machinery and equipment must be able to communicate over a network,” he said, adding that Rittal’s new special adapter retrofits existing cooling units to offer comprehensive communication capabilities.

For further information, log on to www.Rittal.us

G32 grapple for soft demolition Brokk, a leading manufacturer of remote-controlled demolition machines is now offering the compact G32 grapple for soft demolition, separation and sorting.

According to the company, the G32 is specially designed for increasing the versatility and efficiency of the Brokk 70, compact machine for interior and top-down demolition applications.

Brokk’s primary goal is to help customers expand their capabilities with new technology, claims the company’s president, Lars Lindgren.

“Demolition is a broad industry with many varied applications. Having a machine that’s only good for one or two isn’t efficient. That’s why we offer an extensive line of attachments specially designed to work with our machines. With the G32 grapple, Brokk 70 operators can easily add one more application to their demolition resume.”

According to Brokk, the G32 grapple is designed to optimise the application flexibility of Brokk’s smallest electric robot. The Brokk 70 boasts 9.8 kW of power with a hydraulic output of 5.5 kW. At just 35 inches (880mm) tall and 23.5 inches (597mm) wide, the Brokk

70 fits through narrow doorways and into tight spaces. With a base weight of just 1,235 pounds (560kg), it can be transported on an ordinary passenger elevator, making it an option for topdown demolition projects in urban areas.

Brokk claims that when the G32 is paired with the Brokk 70, it can provide significant time and cost savings over manual methods for soft demolition applications in tight and confined spaces.

The G32 grapple features a 12.8in (32.5cm) jaw opening. One fixed and one movable jaw means it can firmly grasp structural elements such as drywall, ceiling sections, piping and HVAC ducts, while a 360-degree hydraulic rotation circuit allows for fast and accurate positioning. Using the Brokk machine in these situations, claims the company, eliminates the need for harnessed workers on ladders or scaffolding manually cutting or pulling down structural elements.

Boltable grip plates facilitate picking and sorting, allowing operators to complete those tasks without switching attachments.

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

Brokk’s G32 grapple is specially designed for the Brokk 70 machine.

March 2020

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INNOVATIONS

17

Energy Efficiency Excellence

= minimized costs

COOLING MORE EFFICIENTLY.

Chinese steelmaker buys LiquiRob Baoshan Iron & Steel Company, part of the newly formed China Baowu Steel Group Corp and the second largest steel producer in the world, started up two LiquiRob systems at its Meishan plant last year following on from the successful commissioning of two LiquiRob systems at BaoSteel Shanghai’s CCM3 in 2018.

An order to supply a LiquiRob system for Baosteel’s Zhanjiang plant was also placed bringing the total number operating in Baosteel to five.

Commissioning at Meishan took just four to five days, according to supplier Primetals Technologies.

The Meishan project includes two robots performing shroud manipulation with the Safe Opening System (SOS) shroud, where oxygen lancing is included in the shroud. The systems, for two continuous casting machines, provide tundish temperature measurement, O2 content measurement and steel sampling as well as oxygen lancing and tundish powder handling.

According to Primetals, the LiquiRob systems are now operating on casters CCM4 and CCM3 in the Meishan plant. With only five days of commissioning downtime for CCM4, the first www.steeltimesint.com

innovations.indd 4

of the two LiquiRob systems performed shroud manipulation - attaching and detaching a shroud to and from a ladle - as well as tundish measurements. One week later, after just four days of commissioning downtime at CCM3, the second robot system successfully started operation. The positive results achieved with the LiquiRob systems active in Baosteel´s Shanghai and Meishan plants prompted an additional order for a fifth robot system to be set up at caster CCM3 at Baosteel Zhanjiang.

Primetals Technologies developed LiquiRob to improve occupational safety and the quality of measurement under the severe operating conditions encountered in the iron and steel industry.

Currently, 31 LiquiRob systems are working worldwide, 21 of them are on continuous casting machines.

Baoshan Iron & Steel Co has an annual production capacity of 70Mt and produces high-quality products for domestic and the world markets.

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

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12/03/2020 10:20:40

18

INNOVATIONS

X-Definition plasma technology at IMTEX 2020

Saarstahl commissions new caster

Industrial cutting systems and software company Hypertherm, exhibited at the IMTEX exhibition in Bangalore, India, earlier this year.

The company was exhibiting its X-DefinitionTM plasma technology during live cutting demonstrations at the company’s stand in Hall C, Booth C102.

Hypertherm claims that its X-Definition plasma is the newest form of plasma technology, building on high definition plasma and setting new standards for cut quality on mild steel, stainless steel, and aluminum. The result, says the company, is squarer cut edges, markedly less angularity, and excellent surface finish on non-ferrous metals like stainless steel.

Visitors at this year’s show were able to see the latest member to the XPRTM plasma product family as well as the Powermax45® XP plasma system.

Marco Mostert, regional director EMEIA, said that India was an important market for

German steelmaker Saarstahl AG, a world-leading producer of high-grade steels, has successfully commissioned a new SMS group five-strand billet caster at its plant in Völklingen.

The caster is designed for a nominal annual production of 850kt and the casting of 180mm square billets.

The new five-strand continuous casting machine – called S1 by Saarstahl AG – is equipped with latest technological features, such as: CONVEX molds, hydraulic mold oscillators, mold and strand electro-magnetic stirrers, mechanical soft reduction and an electrical and automation system prepared for the full implementation of Industry 4.0.

According to SMS group, the S1 is the first caster in the world designed with mechanical soft reduction (MSR) technology for a billet cross section of 180mm square. It produces billets in a wide range of steel grades, including bearing steel, spring steel, cold-heading and free-cutting steels.

Saarstahl AG was the first manufacturer in the world to apply mechanical soft reduction in billet casting. With the new S1 caster, the steelmaker is now even better positioned to further strengthen its leading position in this technology and to successfully cope with the volatile and increasing market demands, claims SMS group.

The caster is equipped with a complex discharge system, with a turnover cooling bed equipped with a forced cooling system to cool the billets down to 100 deg C. Saarstahl AG has co-operated with SMS Concast AG for many years. In 2003 and 2008, SMS Concast had already supplied the steelmaker with two casting machines.

Hypertherm and that IMTEX was a key international platform for meeting and interacting with customers. “Whether it is plasma, waterjet or another technology, our mission is to provide each customer with the optimum cutting solution that meets their business needs.”

The company was also showing its CAM nesting software line, automation products as well as torch and consumable technologies.

Hypertherm designs and manufactures industrial cutting products for use in a variety of industries such as shipbuilding, manufacturing, and automotive repair. Its product line includes cutting systems, in addition to CNC motion and height controls, CAM nesting software, robotic software and consumables.

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

Fesan Makina praises SSAB steel Turkish trailer and tipper manufacturer Fesan Makina (FM) has switched to Hardox® wear plate and Strenx® performance steel to meet customer demand for stronger and lighter equipment.

Mehmet Baypinar, who is responsible for domestic sales, says the company has made a name for itself in Turkey and now it wants to be a big name in the rest of the world. He believes that using Hardox and Strenx will help.

In fact, Fesan Makina claims that the implementation of Hardox 450 wear plate and Strenx performance steel have met the company’s expectations and more. Their new multi-purpose loads model, the Dangal, withstands harsh conditions, and its design incorporates innovative solutions, says the company.

Strenx 700 and Strenx 960 steels have replaced the previous thick mild steel and shaved off about 800kg from the chassis. “Fesan was the first company to use Hardox in the side and rear doors,” Baypınar says. “The change to 1.5mm Hardox 450 from 3mm thickness in the doors has made the vehicle another 600kg lighter just from the doors.”

The doors of the tipper bodies used to be made out of mild steel, meaning that deforma-

tion and severe dents would be a big issue for heavy loads. But in 2015 Fesan decided to test Hardox® 450 steel for the side doors with supporting parts made of Strenx steel. The result was extremely positive, claims FM. “We got remarkable feedback about the quality, and customer satisfaction was exceptionally high,” company founder Selim Selvi said.

“Before Hardox and Strenx entered our lives, our trailers in Turkey would weigh about 9 or 9.5 tons. After we began using Hardox and Strenx we were able to decrease the weight in phases, first to 8,000 kilos, then to 7,000, and now 6,200 kilos.”

Selvi said that less weight means carrying more product load and this translates into better productivity for the end user. “Less fuel consumption saves money, and is positive from a sustainability point of view,” he said.

Fesan became a ‘Hardox In My Body’ member last year to certify the quality. Membership includes material support from SSAB. Looking ahead, Fesan is focused on a new design and is looking forward to technical support from SSAB in order to start incorporating the steelmaker’s Hardox 500 Tuf steel in its planned new models.

“Fesan is an innovative company and our trademark is producing quality products, and for that you need quality material,” said Selvi.

For further information, log on to www.sms-group.com

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

innovations.indd 5

12/03/2020 10:20:48

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20

TUBE & WIRE

Drawing ahead with stainless steel wire

THE biannual Wire trade fair is always an important date in our diary for meeting customers in fasteners, springs and welding.

However, this year will be a particularly big year for us as we’re introducing two new grades to our wire rod and wire portfolio.

We’re also launching a new bar stocking service in partnership with Böllinghaus Steel to provide more flexibility and shorter lead times for customers across the Nordics.

In addition, we’re expecting to draw a

crowd with live machining demonstrations to show how our machinable bar can enable faster machining times and longer tool life than standard grades of stainless steel.

Strong demand We’ve recently completed a major upgrade of the rolling mill at our Fagersta wire rod and wire facility in Sweden. This has been prompted by surging demand for more

special alloys, such as Alloy 825 and Alloy 625 to mention just two. Both of these are nickel alloys that provide excellent corrosion resistance and high strength.

Alloy 825 is widely used in demanding applications, especially process equipment in the oil and gas and chemical industries.

Thanks to its relatively low carbon footprint compared with other fossil fuels, natural gas demand is growing fast. However, some gas fields present a challenge for upstream

* Head of Fagersta Stainless March 2020

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www.steeltimesint.com

12/03/2020 08:17:42

TUBE & WIRE

Mats Benson* explains how Finnish steelmaker Outokumpu is ready to take the first orders for wire and wire rod in Alloy 825 and Alloy 625 at the Wire 2020 exhibition in Dusseldorf, Germany, 7-11 December 2020. Outokumpu also outlines the on-stand demonstrations of bar machinability and how a new bar stocking service for the Nordics will provide speed and flexibility for steel buyers.

oil and gas operators due to high levels of sulfur. Known as sour gas, the gas from these fields is highly corrosive, meaning that oil and gas operators need materials such as Alloy 825 for process steelwork, tanks and fasteners.

The corrosion resistance of Alloy 825 is key to ensuring a long life and low total cost of ownership (TCO) of process equipment. Therefore, we’re seeing strong demand for the grade as a semi-finished product as wire rod for cold-forming of nuts and bolts, and also as a finished drawn www.steeltimesint.com

tube wire Outokumpu.indd 2

21

rod, the upgrade to our rolling mill is enabling us to better handle both Alloy 825 and Alloy 625. One aspect of the upgrade is that the mill is now equipped with more powerful rollers to enable us to exert more force during the rolling process. In addition, we have also upgraded the process control of the rolling temperature.

Together, these improvements have provided us with the right levels of control and power to ensure that we produce wire and wire rod that meet our customers’ high requirements on product quality, particularly for surface quality and inclusions.

Buyers of stainless steel and other alloys are looking for enhanced corrosion resistance, but when producing wire and wire rod, consistent quality, surface quality and product properties become more important than with other product types.

As a result, wire and wire rod products rely on high and consistent quality of billets, together with precise process control. This means that we can deliver consistent products to our customers – and for them, this represents better productivity.

We can also meet very unusual or specific requirements and we often create unique products for customers.

wire product.

As another nickel alloy, Alloy 625 offers excellent corrosion resistance for environments exposed to both acids and chlorides. As a result, it is in high demand as wire rod as a welding filler. When using it as a filler material, engineers can be certain that the weld in a tank or tube will not be the weak point.

Ready to meet customer demand Now that the upgrade to the rolling mill is complete, we’ve carried out testing and quality control to ensure that we meet all the official requirements in the standards and that the products provide the right corrosion resistance and mechanical properties. In addition, we’ve been carrying out inspections to ensure that the products have a consistent and correct metallic structure.

We’ve also been working with customers to provide them with the opportunity to see how the alloys work on their production lines and to provide them with confidence in the products.

Since then, we’ve been ramping up production and are ready to accept the first orders for Alloys 825 and 625 wire and wire rod at Wire 2020.

Powerful rollers Having introduced Alloy 825 to our portfolio in 2017 as coil, sheet and wire

Enhancing flexibility The other major news we are announcing at Wire 2020 is a new bar stock service March 2020

12/03/2020 08:17:56

22

TUBE & WIRE

popular grades, such as 304/1.4307 and 316/1.4404. These will be stocked in various sizes of round bar, as well as square, hexagon and flat cross sections.

The location in central Sweden has been chosen to ensure delivery within a week to customers throughout the Nordic countries.

A further advantage is that we have set a minimum order quantity of one bundle, which is equivalent to one tonne of steel – and this is a major advantage for smaller distributors, which would not normally be able to commit to a major delivery from us.

for customers in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. Nordic Bars stock located at Storfors, will provide customers with straightforward access to the most popular stainless steel grades from Outokumpu’s Long Products plants in Degerfors and Sheffield, as well as shaped bars from our

long-term partner Böllinghaus Steel.

Normally, steel distributors need to order bars up to eight weeks before delivery and sometimes place orders at different mills when ordering different sizes. This is complex and time-consuming.

Nordic Bar Stock will have the most

Live demonstrations Our other big news for Wire 2020 is that we will be holding live machining demonstrations on our booth. We’ve all seen video testimonials, but there’s nothing like seeing something for yourself, so we decided to bring a CNC machine onto our stand for what we think is the first demonstration of its kind from a stainless steel producer at a trade show.

Our aim is to show our improved machinable Prodec bars in action followed by a talk from one of our experts. �

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www.steeltimesint.com

12/03/2020 08:18:00

27-29 April 2020 Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The only event in Europe dedicated to met coke, coal and steel

Save 10% promo code COKE20STI Find out more and book your place at metcokemarkets.com/STI Steel Times International_Digital2.indd 1

16/12/2019 13:59:04

24

TUBE & WIRE

Keeping wire rod coils in shape

By the autumn of 2020, a wire rod mill in Udine, Northern Italy, will take delivery of a fully automated high bay storage system for handling premium quality wire rod coils inside the mill.

By Matthew Moggridge* UDINE-BASED Acciaierie Bertoli Safau SpA (ABS) is a subsidiary of the Italian plant builder Danieli, which is based roughly 10km away in Buttrio in Northern Italy.

ABS is currently engaged in a major new 200 million Euro investment based on the development of an ultra-innovative wire rod mill.

According to Pesmel, a Finnish company headquartered in Helsinki and a specialist supplier of fully automated internal logistics and high bay storage systems, the mill will serve as a state-of-the-art showroom for Danieli’s rolling mill equipment for their customers.

On completion later this year, the 500kt/yr mill will produce wire rod from steel billets of which roughly 150kt/yr of that production will be smaller high-end products destined for use in end-user sectors, like the automotive industry, which rely upon the use of high quality, critical components for use in car manufacturing.

According to Alessandro Trivillin, CEO of ABS, the main objective of this new investment is the production of smaller dimension products ranging in diameter

from 14mm down to 5.5mm that are currently not produced by ABS. The plant, which will rely heavily upon Industry 4.0 technologies, started its first rolling tests last month (February 2020).

The new production site will be located in front of ABS’s Cargnacco headquarters and will occupy roughly 150,000 square metres.

ABS president Carla de Colle says that 150 jobs will be created and that the plant will be voluntarily subjected to ISO14001 with a view to minimising its environmental impact.

Pesmel’s aforementioned high bay storage system is designed to handle 150kt/yr of high quality wire rod coils. The system will be controlled by the company’s proprietary Warehouse Management System (WMS) that, it is claimed, ‘will enable smooth material flows and high storage efficiency’.

According to Pesmel, the storage system functions both as an intermediate store for coils going to annealing as well as despatch storage for customer deliveries using trucks and trains.

Tony Leikas, CEO of Pesmel, commented:

“My view of this project is that Danieli and ABS were brave enough and of the correct mindset to try something new that is reliant upon new technology. They wanted to implement new technology for wire rod handling.”

Steelmakers producing critical products for sectors like the automotive industry need to maintain product quality throughout the internal handling process at the plant and this means that gentle handling and full traceability are prerequisites where in-plant logistics are concerned. In car manufacturing, having full traceability from billet through to end product is important from a safety perspective where critical components are concerned.

Leikas claims that full traceability can be secured more easily with a fully automated system. A manual system reliant upon forklifts is always rougher on the product.

When wire rod coils are stacked up to four high, there is pressure on the coils at the bottom; operators don’t have immediate access to the lower coils and the traceability element of the process is questionable

* Editor, Steel Times International March 2020

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TUBE & WIRE

25

“My view of this project is that Danieli and ABS were brave enough, and of the correct mindset, to try something new that is reliant upon new technology. They wanted to implement new technology for wire rod handling.

”

TONY LEIKAS, CEO OF PESMEL

when compared with what a fully automated system can offer.

The system’s full traceability function means that individual parts can be traced back through the process to the billet originally used to manufacture the wire rod.

Leikas claims that Danieli and ABS were impressed with Pesmel’s experience in the paper and metals industries and understood the possibilities for wire rod coil handling.

The core of the Pesmel system – the brain – is the Warehouse Management System (WMS) that is used to control the stacker cranes and basically run the warehouse.

The high bay storage system at ABS is a six-storey structure of racking for individual coils, dissected down the middle to accommodate three key items of equipment: sorting car, stacker crane and channel vehicle, the latter being a wheelmounted unit and an integral part of the stacker.

The process is simple: coils arriving from the compactor on a C-hook are taken by the Pesmel system’s lifting car – a fourth piece of key equipment – which will be installed in a 2.2m deep pit. The lifting car carries four coils simultaneously and transfers them to a sorting car, which www.steeltimesint.com

Tube wire pesmel.indd 2

can pre-sort them to many channels and travels along the lowest level of the racking system, acting as the in-feed and out-feed mechanism for the stacker crane, which transfers the coils (of 2,050mm in width) to all six levels of the 180m-long storage facility. “Stacker cranes put coils in place, but they’re resting on the channel vehicles,” Leikas said.

According to Pesmel, deep lane warehousing is cost-efficient because it uses less cranes than other systems; typically two stacker cranes operate along a single aisle and transfer coils to racking on its left and

right over the six storeys of available space.

The stacker crane can turn a 360-degree angle.

Loading wire rod coils from the high bay storage system on to trucks and trains is achieved using small cranes that are not part of the Pesmel system as ABS has its own crane technology. While the system offers storing and buffering, the ABS configuration does offer automatic loading or unloading.

System extensions include integrated packing, which protects the wire rod coils from rusting and other mechanical stresses March 2020

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TUBE & WIRE

PESMEL Pesmel is a Finnish company, headquartered in Helsinki, that specialises in advanced mill logistics and provides fully automated systems for moving, storing, buffering, sorting and despatching steel coils and sheets.

According to CEO Tony Leikas, the company is an international expert in material handling and the steel industry is keeping the company very busy at present.

Pesmel claims that it has delivered over 400 handling and packing projects and around 120 storage systems.

“We represent the future of internal handling for ABS,” said Leikas, adding that his business is investing heavily on research and development and is now focused on three key industrial sectors: paper, metals and (most recently) the tyre industry.

With 56 million Euros turnover in 2019, the company hopes to almost double that figure in the next decade.

incurred by external handling systems outside of the high bay storage unit. A leading Japanese high-end producer is using Pesmel’s integrated packing facility.

According to Leikas, operators can add the packing function as a bolt-on.

For ABS, the Pesmel system represents the future. It was optimised for the mill using 3D animation and simulation during the design phase. “The software we write knows where the coil has to go and this is all programmed,” said Leikas, explaining how the system is unmanned, making the software a crucial element of the offering.

Danieli initially approached Pesmel to discuss the possibility of implementing a high bay storage system at the ABS wire rod mill based on knowledge gathered, notably from steelmakers like Outokumpu, one of Pesmel’s key steel industry customers.

Pesmel has supplied Danieli with packing lines before, notably for aluminium projects.

Looking ahead, Leikas believes the next step for Danieli/ABS should be in the packing field to secure quality and develop auto-loading functions. “More or less, on the software side, the traceability exists, so adding functions to make the physical handling easier would make sense,” said Leikas.

Timelines Engineering on the project started last May (2019) and currently the equipment is being tested in Pesmel’s workshops. “We are always testing the critical equipment,” Leikas said, referring to the aforementioned lifting car, sorting car and the channel vehicle. Delivery will start in April, he added.

The racking installation is constructed first and then key equipment will be supplied later, followed by the stacker cranes and then installation and commissioning. “It should be up and running in the early autumn,” Leikas said.

Once completed, ABS’ new wire rod storage facility will be capable of accommodating 3,800 wire rod coils, each weighing three tonnes. In total the Pesmel system accommodates 11,400 tonnes of wire rod, which represents roughly three to five weeks’ production at the plant. � For further information, log on to www.pesmel.com

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TUBE & WIRE

Construction of the rotary furnace

27

in TenarisBay City

Journey to the Centre of Excellence Competition is a question of good time management. It’s not the big companies swallowing smaller ones, it’s the fast overtaking the slow in a race for the dream customer. The so-called “Centre of Excellence” contributes significantly to winning this race. It helps companies with client acquisition and provides a deep understanding of their industry. The concept of a Centre of Excellence (COE) is particularly suitable for complex sectors such as the metals industry. Many metals producers are interested in setting up such a centre for the implementation of a production management solution. In this article, Raffael Binder* outlines how Tenaris, one of the world’s leading suppliers of tubular steel products, worked with the Austrian software solutions company to develop their very own CoE

ON 11 December 2017, Tenaris unveiled its $1.8 billion state-of-the-art seamless pipe mill in Bay City, Matagorda County, Texas.

“TenarisBayCity shows our commitment to domestic manufacturing, competitively supplying the US oil and gas industry,” said Tenaris chairman and CEO Paolo Rocca in his inauguration speech. “This mill, which incorporates the most advanced technologies available worldwide, will lead our domestic industrial and service network dedicated to the US market”.

The 1.2 million square foot mill combines a high level of automation and cutting edge technologies. Seeking the most widely used green building rating system in the world, LEED (Leadership in Energy

and Environmental Design) certification, TenarisBayCity is the company’s most environmentally efficient mill. Its strategic location near key shale enhances its ability to quickly supply high quality products to customer operations. With the plant’s annual capacity to produce 600kt of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) Tenaris has strengthened its position as a leading producer of seamless pipes for the oil and gas industry, worldwide.

One year before the announcement of the TenarisBayCity project in 2013, Tenaris decided to implement PSImetals, the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) platform of PSI Metals, at its welded tube production facility in Conroe, Texas. For

this purpose, the company established a competence centre consisting of its own employees in Veracruz, Mexico, and Buenos Aires, Argentina. This was the first step in defining Tenaris’s vision and strategy for a roll-out within a multi-site environment.

Internal bundling of competences A Centre of Excellence (CoE), or competence centre, consists of a cross-functional team that focuses on a specific area within an organisation. Its aim is to achieve business objectives efficiently by continuously transferring knowledge and promoting the pooling of resources and competencies. This improves the processes within a company sustainably, leading to consistent and

*Director of Marketing, PSI Metals www.steeltimesint.com

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TUBE & WIRE

The Tenaris Competence Centre team

efficient results.

By reducing IT and process costs through defined procedures and templates and by eliminating inefficient practices, a competence centre also reduces the time required to implement new technologies and acquire new competencies.

The first steps After an extended proof of concept in 2012, Tenaris decided to implement PSI Metals’ MES platform, PSImetals, at the company’s welded pipe plant in Conroe, Texas. The main goals of the project were to improve business processes and staff effectiveness, digitalise data, reduce costs, standardise procedures and centralise order dressing to effectively target customers and markets.

After several technical and organisational difficulties during the complex implementation process in 2014, Tenaris decided to establish an internal CoE. “We were interested in developing our CoE with the goal of reducing implementation time and costs,” said Marcelo Llambias, IT senior project manager at Tenaris. “Although this was not usual for PSI at that time, they were completely open and committed to helping us build our CoE – they trained our team, shared best practices with us, assisted us with technical support and defined the scope of work based on our capabilities”.

An expert for each module The competence centre focused on establishing the technical aspects of the project. To this end, the head of the CoE recruited five talented professionals who met the tailored requirement profiles. Every professional was responsible for one big March 2020

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module: data base administration, GUI development, order dressing, quality, and production and material management.

The CoE team worked closely with PSI experts, especially in the areas of specification, configuration, customisation, and implementation, as well as in golive and maintenance spheres. “The relationship was very open,” said Mr. Llambias. “Employees from all areas had the opportunity to exchange visions, interactions and design processes.”

Daily meetings in order to plan, evaluate and/or distribute the tasks, as well as comprehensive training and mentoring support from the PSImetals Academy, were an integral part of the competence team’s everyday life.

The Conroe plant went live in 2014 and was able to perform slitting, forming, heat treatment, hydro testing/non-destructive testings and threading of welded pipes.

The order entry was integrated with SAP and quality assurance was warranted. After Conroe, the Bay City plant was the second implementation of PSImetals, the MES platform of PSI Metals. “TenarisBayCity was designed as a very efficient and automated plant with a high degree of automation,” explained Mr. Llambias. “Therefore we needed a MES with a very strong and flexible order-dressing module – it should have been able to provide a complete order specification for the automation and control the material pipe by pipe. PSImetals was able to cover most of the requirements” he added.

More independence The comprehensive training, mentoring and coaching PSI experts provided on

the Conroe project ultimately gave the TenarisBayCity greater independence. “It was challenging to find and develop the resources in our CoE,” said Mr. Llambias.

“Conroe’s experience and the training by the PSImetals Academy were very important – the team was well-skilled and showed an extraordinary commitment”. Thanks to this support, the Tenaris CoE team was able to execute 80% of the project work themselves, while PSI took on a consulting role and provided a few additional training sessions. The main goals of the project were flexible order dressing, a high degree of automation as well as high visibility and transparency test results.

TenarisBayCity is now following the latest requirements on digitalisation process transparency across each stage of production. For example, the mill has an extensive US OCTG product portfolio, a high integration degree with L2 and enterprise resource planning (ERP). as well as a highly automated lean production process that ensures no more downtime because of logistics. An optimisation of all transports as well as an error and defect analysis complete the profile of the world’s most advanced pipe manufacturing facility.

Lessons learned Whether or not a company should establish its own CoE greatly depends on the scope or level of services it wants to address, the structure of the company, its objectives and its strategy. Based on Tenaris’ experience, there are some aspects that should be taken into consideration when establishing a CoE. Firstly, the company should define and discuss the purpose of the competence centre and how it will operate. This will clarify the governance of the centre, its most optimal strategy as well as its most efficient functionality. “It was very important to define the CoE’s scope of action,” explains Mr. Llambias. “We divided the project into three different phases and in each phase, we worked with PSI to assess the degree of autonomy we could achieve.

Step by step, the team began to feel more confident” he added.

Secondly, the company should define the main goals for its CoE. With clearly defined goals it is easier to measure the effectiveness and success of the competence centre. In this regard, it is important that the head of the CoE takes part in the team recruitment process after defining the tailored profiles of www.steeltimesint.com

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TUBE & WIRE

professionals required. Only then can he or she select the right experts to do the work and ensure the quality of the competency centre. Building a small core team at the beginning of a project and gaining experience step by step is key.

Thirdly, there is no perfect size of a CoE. It is more important to assign every big module to one well-skilled visionary who focuses his or her work on this special field. This ensures the depth of knowledge in every single module, which is critical regarding the complexity of the particular system.

Finally, the company should outline the role of the CoE within the greater organisation and understand the needs of the CoE team so that employees can work more efficiently and achieve better results.

One of these measures could be flexible working hours that allow employees to make the most of their performance curve.

The most essential part of creating success is, however, to define a clear vision of the CoE. With a clear vision, a clear set of goals and an early start of training, the CoE is likely to improve the business. �

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March 2020

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30

STAINLESS & SPECIAL STEELS

Meeting modern engineering challenges As ever-stronger steels are needed to meet engineering challenges, molybdenum alloying not only promotes strengthening but also enhances resistance against embrittlement. By Professor Hardy Mohrbacher* HIGH-STRENGTH low-alloy (HSLA) steels offer considerable advantages for tackling todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s engineering challenges. These advantages include lower structural weight, improved handling efficiency, reduced welding effort and as a consequence of all that, a smaller carbon footprint from cradle to grave. High strength steel is also hugely beneficial as it allows lightweighting at no extra cost, unlike many other materials.

The increased cost of higher strength steel grades is typically outweighed by the reduced material weight and, therefore, cost as well as by more efficient processing and handling during manufacturing or construction.

In addition to strength, the selection of structural steel is concerned with ease of forming, welding and other fabrication procedures. Service conditions require that these steel grades exhibit good toughness at the temperature of service.

From high strength low alloy towards ultra high strength steels Structural high strength low alloy (HSLA) steel grades with a yield strength of up to 550 MPa are typically produced by thermomechanical-controlled processing (TMCP) either as hot-rolled strip or plate.

The alloy concept relies on low carbon, manganese and microalloying. Similar to the evolution in car body steels, structural applications are seeking even higher strength than that offered by conventional TMCP-processed HSLA grades. Such ultrahigh strength steel (UHSS) grades with a yield strength of 700 MPa or higher require more elaborate alloy concepts in combination with advanced processing in the mill. Direct quenching (DQ) has become the process method of choice, relying on

strong water-cooling of the hot steel directly after TMCP rolling.

With its process variants, direct quenching/ self-tempering (DQST) and direct quenching/partitioning (DQP), steel properties such as strength (hardness), toughness and formability can be tailored to the needs of the application. Direct quenching technology is very cost-efficient and allows high productivity compared to conventional reheat and quenching processes. It can also be applied in strip as well as plate mills. Most relevant steel producing regions now have production facilities ensuring a reliable global supply.

Applications of UHSS The advantages of UHSS are of particular interest to the transportation and materials handling industry where the ratio of payload to dead weight is of paramount importance. Benefits include greater speeds, lower fuel consumption per load and smaller sized propulsion units.

Mobile cranes are an excellent example of where the use of UHSS can deliver significant benefits. Current applications require increased reach of the crane boom, for instance when assembling windmills for which the average hub height is now around 130 metres. With standard HSLA steels the boom itself would become so heavy that hoisting capacity would be insufficient. Stacking of the required boom length would also become impossible due to the heavier gauge needed for the boom * Specialist in materials and mechanical engineering

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STAINLESS & SPECIAL STEELS

segments made from softer steel. Therefore, UHSS grades with 1100MPa yield strength are already being used for boom fabrication in recent mobile cranes.

A similar situation occurs with concrete pumps which require extended reach due to the construction of ever-taller skyscrapers. Wood harvesting is a further example where the weight of timber forks and onboard grippers can be reduced to increase the payload of respective trucks.

Lightweighting of trailer structures similarly increases transport capacity or reduces fuel consumption. Upgrading from a standard 550 MPa HSLA steel to 700 MPa UHSS has proven potential to reduce the weight of the main longitudinals of container trailers by nearly 30% while more recent designs are already applying 960 MPa UHSS grades. Upgrading from a standard 550 MPa HSLA steel to 700 MPa UHSS was shown to enable a weight saving of nearly 30% for the main longitudinals of container trailers while more recent designs are already applying 960 MPa UHSS grades.

Equipment for agricultural, earth moving, mineral processing and mining applications requires increased wear resistance of critical components as this has a direct benefit for operational performance and service life and with that reduces replacement cost. The required UHSS typically has a strength of over 1000 MPa and a minimum hardness of 400 HV. Reduced weight in these applications is a secondary benefit, especially for mobile equipment.

125% 100% 75% 50% 25%

Steel cost per ton

special steels Molybdenum.indd 2

Weight per component

Steel cost per component

Welding cost (process + wire)

Fig 1. Economy of lightweighting by high-strength steel grades

Microstructure makes the properties The microstructures resulting from the various direct quenching (DQ) processing routes range from bainite, tempered martensite (possibly containing a fraction of austenite) to full-hard martensite.

Alloying elements have a moderating functionality in that respect as they can enhance hardenability, control grain size, improve tempering behaviour or promote austenite formation. Small grain size is beneficial to toughness and strength, while high hardness provides excellent wear resistance. The presence of austenite in the microstructure produces the so-called TRIP (transformation induced plasticity) effect, which significantly improves formability.

Welding in particular requires careful alloy design to avoid undesired microstructures in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) and to

Fig 2. Molybdenum improving strength and low temperature toughness in DQ UHSS steel

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31

counteract excessive softening in the same area. In steel grades of 1100 MPa strength, molybdenum additions of up to 0.7% can successfully minimise HAZ softening under typical gas metal arc welding conditions.

For quite a few applications, fatigue strength, rather than tensile strength, is the limiting design criterion. For HSLA steels, fatigue strength usually correlates linearly with tensile strength. The decrease in the fatigue strength at ultra-high strength level can be attributed to the transition of fatigue cracking sites from the surface to the inner inclusions as well as the presence of residual stress in the material. In this respect, the expertise and skill of the steel producer is making the difference in fatigue performance. Fine and homogeneous microstructure is also beneficial to fatigue properties.

Molybdenum increasing delayed cracking resistance of UHSS (accelerated testing)

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STAINLESS & SPECIAL STEELS

When the going gets tough, Moly gets going Molybdenum is one of the most established alloying elements for providing hardenability to steel. This effect was discovered in the 1930s, but only started being exploited on a larger industrial scale in the late 1960s, initially for producing conventional quenched and tempered steels. Other alloying elements – such as chromium, manganese or boron – compete with molybdenum when it comes to increased hardenability. However, molybdenum alloying is far superior in harsher conditions including high-impact loads, very low operational temperatures, or mild corrosive environments.

Recent projects supported by the International Molybdenum Association (IMOA) have increased understanding of the superior performance of molybdenum additions in DQ steel grades and, more specifically, those with martensitic microstructure. It is evident that molybdenum alloying increases strength and toughness simultaneously. The 28 Joule Charpy transition temperature is often defined as a limiting criterion. Molybdenum alloyed DQ steels of over 1000 MPa yield

strength were shown to have a transition temperature below -80°C. In other words, these steels can perform very well in any existing climate condition on earth.

Sensitive to failure Steel grades of more than 1000 MPa strength are often sensitive to failure caused by hydrogen. This is related to more specific phenomena such as stress corrosion cracking (SCC), corrosion fatigue cracking (CFC), and hydrogen-induced cracking (HIC), also known as hydrogen embrittlement (HE). Embrittlement can occur when hydrogen is present within the bulk of the steel during simultaneous application of a load. In addition, embrittlement might result from the exposure of a steel under load to a hydrogen-containing environment.

Both situations are possible in many practical circumstances. The embrittlement manifests itself by a non-ductile fracture mode, extremely low toughness, reduced elongation, and compromised tensile strength. The higher the strength level of the steel, the greater its susceptibility to HE and the lower is the amount of allowable diffusible hydrogen content. Consequently,

countermeasures to HE focus on reinforcing grain boundary strength as well as obstructing local aggregation of hydrogen.

Microstructural refinement, hydrogen trapping by precipitates and reducing mobility of dislocations or vacancies are allimportant mechanisms in obstructing local aggregation of hydrogen. Molybdenum, as well as acting like a ‘glue’ between grain boundaries, has direct or indirect benefits to those mechanisms impeding hydrogen-induced damage. A recent IMOA project showed that adding 0.5%Mo to a 2000 MPa martensitic steel increases the resistance against hydrogen-induced delayed cracking by a factor of 6-9.

Summary It has been clear for some time that there are significant benefits of molybdenum alloying when producing high-strength steels that can operate in the harshest of conditions and offer real lightweighting opportunities. Recent IMOA research projects have demonstrated additional benefits of molybdenum alloying in ultrahigh strength steels including increasing strength while also increasing toughness and resistance to hydrogen embrittlement.

These steels are effectively meeting the engineering challenges of our modern world and, as research continues, will continue to provide innovative materials that contribute to sustainable development. �

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ENVIRONMENT

33

Emissions for BF-BOF vs DR-EAF Comparing blast furnace oxygen steelmaking with Direct Reduced Iron electric arc furnace steelmaking in terms of global warming impact, the overall DRI route provides a 40-60% reduction in CO2 emissions.

Within the DRI route, the Danieli - Tenova Energiron process provides recovery of over 50% of the CO2 produced which can be sold as a valuable by-product.

THE steelmaking industry is characterised by the intensive use of fossil fuels, which leads to a significant environmental impact in terms of global warming thanks to greenhouse gases (GHGs) which translate as CO2 emissions. Most of worldwide steel production is made through the coal-based Blast Furnace (BF)-Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) integrated route.

Today, to comply with environmental regulation as stated in the Paris Agreement, it is necessary to adopt technologies that are able to reduce CO2 emissions by using an alternative to coal-based production which has a lower environmental impact compared to coal. The primary source for reduction of iron oxides in the BF/BOF route is coal, while in the Direct Reduction (DRI) process coupled with the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF), the source of reducing gases can be syngas from coal, natural gas (NG), coke oven gas (COG), and hydrogen (H2).

These have a lower environmental impact.

In general, based on the use of coal in the Blast Furnace (BF)-Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) route, as compared to NG in the DR-EAF route, by simple material balance, the DR-EAF route emits 40 - 60% less CO2 (depending on plant location and source of power generation) as compared to the BF-BOF route.

This article compares the carbon footprint of emissions for the DR/EAF and the BF/BOF routes for manufacturing Hot Rolled Coil (HRC).

A typical integrated steelworks comprises a coke oven plant, sinter plant and blast furnace to produce molten pig iron for the BOF steel plant followed by finishing in a ladle furnace. Casting is by continuous casting which, in recent years, has increasingly been of thin slab which may be linked to the mill via a compact strip plant (CSP) for the production of HRC.

Coking coal 440kg/tLS 361 kgC/tLS

Iron ore CO2 emissions

PCI 150kg/tLS 118kgC/tLS

1,810 kgt/tLS

Iron ore Sinter Coke

Coking plant

Blast furnace

Limestone 120kg/tLS Hot metal

Liquid steel

Power plant

0.20 t scrap BDF 1.0 t liq. steel

Fig 1. BF-BOF route for HRC production: Energy/CO2 emissions scheme

Danieli environment.indd 1

Natural gas: 2.22 Gcal/tLS Power: 79kWh/tLS (0.5kg CO2/kWh) Oxygen: 55Nm3/tLS

0.91 t HM

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Fig 1 shows the energy distribution of such a facility.

The major gaseous fuel by-products recovered in integrated steelworks, are: blast furnace gases (BFG), coke oven gases (COG) and basic oxygen furnace gas (BOFG). The energy balances of an integrated steelworks show that a portion of these gaseous energies is used for power generation ~10kWh/ per tonne of liquid steel (tls).

Electricity generation has an impact on CO2 emissions depending on the location of the steel plant. Electric power generation is a composite of sourcing from natural gas, coal, hydro, oil, nuclear, biomass, etc.

There are countries such as Germany where power generation is now mainly from wind turbines and this is reducing the carbon intensity by ~0.3kg CO2/kWh. Others, such as India, generates most of their power from fossil fuels resulting in a carbon

Export power 10kWh/tls (@0.5kg CO2/kWh)

Power: 400kWh/tLS (0.5kg CO2/kWh) Dolomite: 32kg/tLS Oxygen: 36Nm3/tLS Power: 100kWh/tLS (0.5kg CO2/kWh)

Hot DRI

Selective CO2 emissions 235kg/tLS ENERGIRON ZR Direct Reduction Non-Selective CO2 emissions 306kg/tLS 0.92 t HDRI 0.20 t scrap 1.0 t liquid steel

Fig 2. DRI-EAF route for HRC production: Energy/CO2 emissions scheme

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ENVIRONMENT

CO2 Emissions – Steelmaking routes (location: 0.5kg CO2/kWh; w/o CO2 off-taking/commercialisation 100%

BF-BOF DRI (w/NG) to BF (Competing technology)

90%

DRI (w/NG) to BF ENERGIRON (1) DRP-EAF (Competing Technology)

84%

DRP-EAF ENERGIRON (1) DRP-EAF ENERGIRON (35% H2-as energy) (1)

53%

59%

33% 0

400

800

1600

1200

CO2 Emissions (kg/tls) Fig 3a. CO2 emissions for the various steelmaking routes without selective CO2 off-taking

intensity of ~0.9 kgCO2/kWh. For the integrated BF-BOF plant considered, the specific CO2 emissions are about 1810kg of CO2/tls. For this analysis, the selected location for power generation has a carbon footprint of 0.38kg CO2/kWh, which is a reasonable value for European countries where energy comes mainly from gas, nuclear, and renewable energy.

Considering that the BF-BOF installation has an export power of about 10kWh/tls, the credit for this will be reflected as minus 3.8kg CO2/tls, for net CO2 emissions of ~1806kg CO2/tls.

The alternative route, DR/EAF, is presented in Fig 2. The Energiron Zero Reformer (ZR)based DR plant was selected as a reference, for production of high carbon DRI (94% metallisation and 4%C), the carbon providing additional fuel energy to the EAF for secondary reduction of FeO, when 80% DRI is fed to the EAF, similarly to the scrap charge to BOF (~20%).

The main observations in Table 1 are that the integrated steel plant is a net exporter of electricity, but the DR-EAF plant is a net importer. By using Energiron technology, more than half of the CO2 generated is selectively removed. This provides a strong potential for alternate disposal of this CO2, thus significantly reducing GHG emissions.

The difference between BF-BOF and the DR-EAF routes in terms of CO2 emissions is clear when analysing the reduction of iron ore with natural gas:

dramatically reduces CO2 emissions as compared to using coal, for which all reductants are coming from carbon in a ratio of 2/1 since half as much iron is produced as illustrated in the equation below for the same amount of CO2 emitted.

3C + 2Fe2O3 � 4Fe° + 3CO2 CO2 emissions in an Energiron plant GHG emissions may be significantly different when comparing the two leading technologies for the production of DRI. Regardless of whether using natural gas (CH4), syngas from coal gasifiers, or COG; unless H2 is used, the make-up of reducing gases to a DR module contains carbon, either in the form of hydrocarbons and/

or carbonaceous compounds – CO and CO2. Also, regardless of the DR process configuration, from the total carbon in the make-up, only 15-40% (depending on the carbon content in the DRI) exits the process as combined carbon in the DRI. By the principle of mass conservation, the balance of the carbon must exit the process, and for the case of a DR process, this takes place in the gaseous form as CO2. In this regard: - Because the Energiron ZR process takes advantage of the catalytic effect of metallic iron in the DRI, combining carbon in the form of Fe3C, higher levels of carbon are included in the product and thus less carbon is removed in the form of CO2. This higher carbon level in DRI is beneficial in the EAF steelmaking process by providing chemical energy to the furnace, and for making the steelmaking process more efficient. Additionally, a distinctive feature of Energiron technology is the selective removal of CO2.

- In other technologies, using an integrated gas reformer in the reducing circuit, all carbon entering the process (except for the low %C leaving the system as part of the DRI) is purged through the flue gases of the reformer, to preserve the overall carbon balance.

Analysis for CO2 emissions The overall analysis for the BF-BOF route, as compared to DR-EAF using the Energiron ZR scheme (with and without selective CO2 commercialisation and/or sequestration) and to the competing DR technology, is shown in Figs 3a and 3b, respectively. This

CO2 Emissions – Steelmaking routes (location: 0.5kg CO2/kWh; w/o CO2 off-taking/commercialisation 100%

BF-BOF DRI (w/NG) to BF (Competing technology) DRI (w/NG) to BF ENERGIRON (2)

90%

DRP-EAF (Competing Technology) DRP-EAF ENERGIRON (2)

59%

DRP-EAF ENERGIRON (35% H2-as energy) (2)

33%

84%

53%

0

400

800

1200

1600

CO2 Emissions (kg/tls)

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Fig 3b. CO2 emissions for the various steelmaking routes-with selective CO2 off-taking

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ENVIRONMENT

Typical BF-BOF steelworks

Typical DR-EAF mill

Input

Unit

Consumption

CO2 emissions

(kg/tls

(kg CO2/tls)

Input

Unit

Consumption

CO2 emissions

(Unit/tls)

(kg CO2/tls)

Coking coal (dry)

kg/tls

440

1324

Natural gas

Gcal/tls

2.22

526

PCI (dry)

kg/tls

150

433

Domomite

kg/tls

32

15

Limestone to BF/Sinter

kg/tls

120

53

Total

1810

Total 541

Credit for export power

Import power (incl O2) 10kWh/tls

-5

630kWh/tls

+315

Total

1805

Total

856

Table 1. Total CO2 emissions from BF/BOF and DRP/EAF route

atmosphere along with the flue gases through the reformer and process gas stacks. This technical solution not only provides steelmakers with the possibility of minimising emissions, but it also provides an opportunity to sell the absorbed CO2 after cleaning as a by-product. The technology is environmentally friendly also in respect to NOx emissions: as per standard design, with the only adoption of ultra-low NOx burners for the reformer and process gas heater, it is possible to keep the emissions as low as 0.080kg of NOx per tonne of DRI produced. This figure is enough to comply with most environmental regulations worldwide. For specific cases in which the NOx emissions must be down to the best available technology limit, it is possible to install a Selective Catalyst Reduction (SCR) to further lower the emissions to 0.030kg of NOx per tonne of DRI.

analysis refers to a location producing 0.38 kg CO2/kWh (typical of that prevailing in some European countries).

In general, the DR-EAF route is characterised by 38% to 53% lower CO2 emissions than the BF-BOF route, depending on the possibility of using the CO2 removed for other applications.

Specifically, the Energiron ZR route is 6%-20% lower than the competing DR technology.

Commercialisation of CO2 from Energiron plants The CO2 absorption unit comes with the standard process and selectively removes CO2 from the process gas recycling stream (Fig 4). The entire process produces approximately 450kg of CO2 per tonne of DRI. Over half of this can be selectively removed (~250 kg/t), while the remaining part (~200 kg/t) will be released to the

SELECTIVE CO2 EMISSIONS Captured and sold as by-product

Kg CO2/TDRI

ENERGIRON ZR 256

NON-SELECTIVE CO2 EMISSIONS Released to atmosphere

Kg CO2/TDRI

159

NON-SELECTIVE 38%

OTHER TECHNOLOGY 0

-500

NON-SELECTIVE 100%

green red

Iron ore

NON SELECTIVE 38%

H20

CO2 (+H2S) - NG - H2 - COG - Ref. gas - Syngas

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Danieli environment.indd 3

Fig 4. Selective CO2 PG Heater

removal in the

O2

Energiron ZR process

Fuel

While selective CO2 from Energiron DR plants makes it possible to sell the CO2 as a by-product, it is important to note that this is dependent on the iron ore composition, natural gas analysis and the absorbing solution used in CO2 absorption. In the case of amines absorbing solutions, both CO2 and H2S are removed and thus the CO2 stream may contain some H2S in the range of 200ppm. For H2S removal, there are several possibilities: - Passing the CO2 stream through an incinerator to convert the H2S to SO2, in which case the CO2 will have no further use, - Delivering the CO2 stream as it is, as a valuable by-product, to gas companies for further treatment and commercialisation, or - Passing the CO2 stream through a sulphur removal system, such as SulferoxÂŽ for CO2 purification and immediate commercialisation as a more valuable byproduct.

Food and beverage industry The main applications for clean CO2 by-product are: the food and beverage industry, as an accelerating admixture for concrete, for production of dry ice, injection into oil wells to enhance oil recovery (EOR) and production of synthetic fuel. The selective removal of CO2 from Energiron DR plants is then not only an efficient way to reduce the carbon footprint of steelmaking but also provides a valuable by-product for various applications, the sources of which would otherwise come from other fossil fuel combustion systems.

What is usually considered to be an environmental problem for steelmaking, thanks to the Energiron technology, becomes a lucrative source of added income. This is a clear advantage of this configuration when compared to any competing DR technology. ďż˝

DRI

March 2020

12/03/2020 08:53:50

REGISTER NOW FOR THE EARLY BIRD RATE

DA KE YN OP Y O OT EN NE E A IN – DD G RE SS

2-3 JUNE 2020 Grandior Hotel, Prague, Czech Republic LEADING GLOBAL STEELMAKERS SPEAKING INCLUDE:

Big River Steel Emirates Steel POSCO Tata Steel India Liberty Steel Group TMK ArcelorMittal Global R&D Metinvest Digital Kobe Steel Badische Stahl-Engineering Buderus Stahl

DA KE YN OP Y T OT EN WO E A IN – DD G RE SS

SPEAKERS INCLUDE

Dave Stickler, CEO, Big River Steel

Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi, CEO, Emirates Steel

Katja Windt, member of the management board, SMS group

Stephen Pratt, founder and CEO, Noodle.ai

EXHIBITORS INCLUDE

Plus leading steel trade associations, academics and plant builders

TOPICS INCLUDE

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

SUSTAINABILITY

LOGISTICS

Have you got 2020 vision?

PLANT SAFETY

CASE STUDIES

provider that together with SMS group and Dave’s in-house team, developed the world’s first ‘learning mill’.

The 2020 Future Steel Forum will take place in the

of Big River Steel of Osceola, Arkansas, USA , opens

Czech capital of Prague at the Grandior Hotel, 2-3

Day One. Dave’s company epitomises the strong

June, and it promises to be a top flight event. What

and successful partnership that can exist between

makes the 2020 event so good? Well, it’s down to

a steelmaker and hi-tech digital manufacturing and

the speakers and the exhibitors and, ultimately, the

Industry 4.0-based technologies.

and a major and influential player in the global marketplace.

Dave will be joined on stage by Prof. Dr. Ing. Katja

Plenty of leading steelmakers will be speaking (see panel above

delegates, and this year the steel industry has taken the event under its wing as we have some major global players signed up to speak including our opening Keynote speakers. Dave Stickler, the CEO

Windt, a member of the management board of SMS group, and Stephen Pratt, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Noodle.ai, an artificial intelligence

VISIT THE WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION

www.FutureSteelForum.com

Sponsored by:

On Day Two, the conference will open with a Keynote address

by Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi, CEO of Emirates Steel, a leading steelmaker operating from the United Arab Emirates

left) alongside leading steel industry associations, research & development organisations, leading academics and steel production technology specialists. Register online now.

Official Media Partner:

Organised by:

Since 1866

TO FIND OUT MORE AND BE PART OF THE FUTURE, CONTACT: Matthew Moggridge Programme Director matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com +44 1737 855151 Paul Rossage Sales Manager paulrossage@quartzltd.com +44 1737 855116

BUSINESS MEDIA

FutureSteel_DPS_A4.indd All Pages

09/03/2020 15:00

REGISTER NOW FOR THE EARLY BIRD RATE

DA KE YN OP Y O OT EN NE E A IN – DD G RE SS

2-3 JUNE 2020 Grandior Hotel, Prague, Czech Republic LEADING GLOBAL STEELMAKERS SPEAKING INCLUDE:

Big River Steel Emirates Steel POSCO Tata Steel India Liberty Steel Group TMK ArcelorMittal Global R&D Metinvest Digital Kobe Steel Badische Stahl-Engineering Buderus Stahl

DA KE YN OP Y T OT EN WO E A IN – DD G RE SS

SPEAKERS INCLUDE

Dave Stickler, CEO, Big River Steel

Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi, CEO, Emirates Steel

Katja Windt, member of the management board, SMS group

Stephen Pratt, founder and CEO, Noodle.ai

EXHIBITORS INCLUDE

Plus leading steel trade associations, academics and plant builders

TOPICS INCLUDE

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

SUSTAINABILITY

LOGISTICS

Have you got 2020 vision?

PLANT SAFETY

CASE STUDIES

provider that together with SMS group and Dave’s in-house team, developed the world’s first ‘learning mill’.

The 2020 Future Steel Forum will take place in the

of Big River Steel of Osceola, Arkansas, USA , opens

Czech capital of Prague at the Grandior Hotel, 2-3

Day One. Dave’s company epitomises the strong

June, and it promises to be a top flight event. What

and successful partnership that can exist between

makes the 2020 event so good? Well, it’s down to

a steelmaker and hi-tech digital manufacturing and

the speakers and the exhibitors and, ultimately, the

Industry 4.0-based technologies.

and a major and influential player in the global marketplace.

Dave will be joined on stage by Prof. Dr. Ing. Katja

Plenty of leading steelmakers will be speaking (see panel above

delegates, and this year the steel industry has taken the event under its wing as we have some major global players signed up to speak including our opening Keynote speakers. Dave Stickler, the CEO

Windt, a member of the management board of SMS group, and Stephen Pratt, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Noodle.ai, an artificial intelligence

VISIT THE WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION

www.FutureSteelForum.com

Sponsored by:

On Day Two, the conference will open with a Keynote address

by Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi, CEO of Emirates Steel, a leading steelmaker operating from the United Arab Emirates

left) alongside leading steel industry associations, research & development organisations, leading academics and steel production technology specialists. Register online now.

Official Media Partner:

Organised by:

Since 1866

TO FIND OUT MORE AND BE PART OF THE FUTURE, CONTACT: Matthew Moggridge Programme Director matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com +44 1737 855151 Paul Rossage Sales Manager paulrossage@quartzltd.com +44 1737 855116

BUSINESS MEDIA

FutureSteel_DPS_A4.indd All Pages

09/03/2020 15:00

38

SPECIAL FEATURE

The cause and effect of steel tariffs In the United States of America (and perhaps elsewhere in the world), there is a saying: “For every action, there is a reaction.”

The idea is that every time a person, a business, or a government does something – or chooses not to do something – a corresponding reaction takes place.

Richard McDonough* reports

IF a supplier raises their price on a raw ingredient, the purchaser is likely to react. The purchaser may, short-term or long-term, absorb some or all of the price increase and lower their profit margins.

Or, the purchaser may pass some or all of the price increase on to their customers to keep their profit margins stable or close to current levels. Or, the purchaser may seek another supplier willing to sell the same raw ingredient at a lower price. Or, the purchaser may choose to find an alternative raw ingredient.

While it may not be certain what the manufacturer/supplier will do, it is exceedingly likely that the buyer will do something. Even if the manufacturer decides to take no action, that decision means that the buyer, in essence, is making a decision to lower their profit margins.

This concept of action/reaction has been in play in the steel industry for years, not just since the Section 232 tariffs went into effect in March of 2018.

Within the steel industry, the Section 232

Workers from the steel and aluminium industries witness President Donald Trump sign the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminium imports into the United States of America on 9 March 2018. Also present were vice president Michael Pence; Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury; and Wilbur Ross, Jr., the Secretary of Commerce. (The photograph was produced

by Joyce Boghosian and was provided courtesy of The White House.)

tariffs included a 25% tariff to be applied to mill steel imported from most nations into the USA. This specific steel tariff is not applied to mill steel imported from certain

countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and South Korea.

Separate Section 301 tariffs have also impacted the steel industry in the USA.

Contact Richard McDonough at ferrumchronicles@gmail.com March 2020

Richard McDough.indd 1

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13/03/2020 09:19:19

s

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SPECIAL FEATURE

Origins Looking at the steel industry today in the USA by focusing only on the recent tariffs – without considering the past history – would not be accurate.

The tariffs are known as ‘Section 232’ because they relate to the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, passed by Congress and signed into law by JFK himself. In essence, Section 232 of the Act states that under certain circumstances, the President can impose tariffs based on a recommendation from the US Secretary of Commerce if ‘an article is being imported into the United States in such quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten or impair the national security’.

There appear to be five distinct activities occurring at the same time in the steel industry in the USA: One, the basic steel industry is continuing its transition away from chiefly large-scale integrated domestic producers of steel within the country. Two, governmental actions in a number of countries – chiefly in China – have encouraged development of steel industry sectors for export of products to other countries – the USA, among others.

Three, the implementation of a broadbased tariff on mill steel imported into the USA. Four, the implementation of tariffs by other nations on other products imported into their countries from the USA. Five, efforts underway to circumvent the tariffs by focusing on transshipping of steel and fabricated steel products into the USA. The steel tariff implemented in March of 2018 was in re-action to the impact of the first two items – the transition underway of the basic steel industry in the USA and the development and export policies of China relating to the steel industry.

The trade wars underway through the implementation of those USA tariffs and the increased transshipping of steel and fabricated steel products are then reactions to the steel tariffs.

Some businesses have done well because of this series of actions and reactions.

Some workers have had better job security because of these activities. Others, though, have not been as fortunate. Businesses and workers in some locales have suffered because of these activities.

As steel production grew in other countries, imports of basic steel increased tremendously into the USA. To meet the impact of lower prices due to these steel imports, consolidation and automation www.steeltimesint.com

Richard McDough.indd 2

China transships steel to the US market

China exports billets to Turkey

Turkey exports rebar to the U.S.

Turkey processes billets into rebar

China exports hot-rolled steel to Korea

Korea processes hot-rolled into oil country tubular goods

Korea exports oil country tubular goods to the U.S. This map from the AISI highlights the issue of steel being produced in China and shipped to another nation – in this case South Korea and Turkey – and the steel being converted into steel products for shipment into the USA

Steel Dynamics’ $1.9 billion at Sinton in Texas

became common among the major domestic steel producers in the country.

Hundreds of thousands of workers in the USA lost their jobs through these years.

The most recent statistics from two governmental sources indicate that about 140,000 workers were employed in the steel industry in the USA in 2018. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas indicated that 139,800 people worked in the steel industry, while the U S Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that the number was 140,750 workers.

China The World Steel Association reported that China was the largest steel producer country in 2018; the Association indicated that China produced 928.3Mt of steel in that year. The USA was ranked by the Association as the fourth largest producer of steel in 2018, with 86.7 million tonnes of steel produced within the country. India and Japan produced more steel than the USA, while South Korea, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Brazil, and Iran rounded out the top 10 steel producing countries, according to the Association.

To put the numbers from the World Steel Association into perspective, the level of steel production in China in 2018 was

greater than the amount of steel produced in all of the other nine nations in the top 10 – combined.

The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) has been a prime supporter of the Section 232 steel tariff. The members of the AISI include both integrated and electric arc furnace steelmakers as well as associate members who are suppliers to or customers of the steel industry.

“President Trump’s use of the Section 232 trade remedy has helped create a more favorable climate for steel, with imports declining and shipments and production rising since the tariffs’ implementation,” stated Lisa Harrison, senior vice president, communications of the AISI. “Steel imports have decreased since the Section 232 took effect, and imports make up a smaller part of the steel market. And, though it has softened in the last few months, capacity utilisation is higher now than when the Section 232 took effect. Also, shipments of steel mill products were higher in 2018 than in 2017 and are up in 2019 compared to the same period in 2017. Several idled steel mills have been restarted, and American steel producers have announced plans to invest in new steelmaking capacity.

However, the momentum has been tapering off lately…due to slowing demand – and there is more to be done.”

“Current utilisation rates, while improving, are still far below those that prevailed in the decade prior to the great recession, and global steel overcapacity continues to be driven by unfair trade practices, government-owned and controlled steel industries, and other trade March 2020

13/03/2020 09:19:23

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SPECIAL FEATURE

Steel was fabricated at Hillsdale Fabricators in St. Louis, Missouri, for the construction of the 41st Street Pedestrian Bridge in Chicago, Illinois (inset)

distortions,” Ms. Harrison remarked. “We must continue to urge the US government to fight against unfair trade practices that inhibit the steel industry and our partners from realising our maximum competitiveness.”

The map above on how China transships steel to the US market, highlights the issue of steel being produced in China, shipped to another nation – in the examples cited on the map, South Korea and Turkey – and the steel being converted into steel products for shipment into the United States.

United States Steelworkers The United Steelworkers (USW) union welcomed the Federal government’s actions to implement the Section 232 tariffs on both imported steel and aluminium products. Some 65,000 members of the USW provide the skilled labour that produces steel and steel products at a number of businesses throughout the USA. The union has strongly backed efforts to stabilize and grow the steel industry within the country.

At a Congressional hearing on March 21, 2018, Mr. Leo Gerard, the thenInternational President of the USW, stated that “We do not seek protection for March 2020

Richard McDough.indd 3

protection’s sake, but to foster competitive markets and support our national security interests…Unfair foreign trade, global overcapacity, currency manipulation and other factors have undermined our ability to protect this country.”

In a statement from earlier this year, Tom Conway, the current International President of the USW, detailed some of the deep concerns seen by many workers within the steel industry.

‘Real trade problems’ “Make no mistake, [President] Trump inherited real trade problems. For more than 20 years, politicians of both parties failed to fix a broken system.

“Corporations exploited trade agreements to shift family-sustaining manufacturing jobs to Mexico, China and other countries that pay workers low wages and deny them the protection of labour unions. They made boatloads of money offshoring jobs, but in the process, they robbed US workers of their livelihoods and hollowed out countless American communities, decimating their tax bases and exposing them to epidemics of crime and opioids.

“Cheating compounded the job losses.

China subsidises its industries, manipulates its currency and then floods global markets

with cheaply priced goods, severely damaging US manufacturing in steel, aluminium, paper, furniture, glass and other products.”

In addition, Conway noted the impact of Chinese trade on Americans in the steel industry and beyond: “The US lost 3.7 million jobs to China since 2001, 700,000 of them during [President] Trump’s presidency, and the trade deficit actually increased during the first two years of his term.

“The loss of American jobs is no accident.

It’s part of China’s policy to destabilise competitors and boost its own power.

“China subsidises its industries, giving companies raw materials, land and cash.

Then the companies sell their products abroad at prices that US companies— lacking government handouts—can’t match.

“In addition, China allows its industries to overproduce and flood global markets, further driving down prices with gluts of steel, aluminium and other products. And it artificially depresses the value of its currency to encourage still more overseas sales.”

The Steel Manufacturers Association has also strongly backed the implementation of the Section 232 tariffs.

“The Administration’s Section 232 trade actions, together with its tax and regulatory reform policies, and passage of the USMCA [United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement] have allowed the American steel industry to begin to recover after more than a decade of low capacity utilisation and weaker earnings due to repeated surges in imports fueled by global steel overcapacity and unfairly traded imports,” noted Philip Bell, President of the Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA).

He indicated that the SMA “is the largest steel industry trade association in the United States, representing North American electric arc furnace (EAF) steel producers. www.steeltimesint.com

13/03/2020 09:19:24

SPECIAL FEATURE

EAF steelmakers account for almost 70% of domestic steelmaking capacity using an innovative, 21st century production process that is less energy-intensive and has a lower carbon footprint than blast furnace steelmaking.”

“The tariffs have increased capacity utilisation in the US, lowered imports and sparked investment,” stated Mr. Bell.

Utilisation rates within the overall steel industry have generally been on the upswing in the past two years. Capacity utilisation rates were down considerably during the Great Recession years and grew back during the subsequent five years.

Another dip then occurred before the Section 232 tariffs went into effect. Since that time, capacity utilisation rates have steadily increased again.

“Capacity utilisation is around 80% and steel prices are lower now than when the tariffs were announced,” continued Mr. Bell. “The gloom and doom scenarios of high prices, steel shortages and massive layoffs within the steel industry supply chain never materialised and were wildly overstated. Until the structural problems of global excess capacity, circumvention and state-sponsored capacity expansions are [addressed], the tariffs serve as a way of leveling the playing field in global steel markets.”

Members of the SMA have restarted steel mills and new steel mills are being built, according to Mr. Bell. He explained that member firms have announced plans to invest more than (US) 10 billion dollars “in new, sustainable, state-of-the-art steelmaking capacity.”

Recycling of steel products Part of that growth continues to focus on the recycling of steel products and is a key aspect of the expansion of the EAF steel industry in the USA. Bell detailed that “Through EAF steel production, more steel is recycled than aluminium, paper and plastic combined. SMA’s 24 EAF producer members and over 100 associate members have operations in 43 states.”

In 2019, Steel Dynamics, Inc. (SDI) announced plans for a (US) 1.9 billion dollar investment in new steel production in Sinton, Texas (Fig.3). The site is located in the vicinity of Corpus Christi. Mark Millet, chief executive officer of SDI, spoke highly of this new investment in a video detailing the planned development: “It broadens SDI’s portfolio. It allows us to penetrate the www.steeltimesint.com

Richard McDough.indd 4

Southwest market of the US and also the growing market within Mexico.”

The recent years have been productive times for some in the steel industry in the USA, while others have been met with challenges. In late 2019, for example, US Steel announced that it “intends to indefinitely idle a significant portion of its Great Lakes Works operation near Detroit, [Michigan]. The company expects to begin idling the iron and steelmaking facilities on or around April 1, 2020, and the hot strip mill rolling facility before the end of 2020.”

It’s estimated that about 1,500 people are expected to be laid off because of this closure.

The Section 232 steel tariff itself has negatively impacted a number of structural steel fabricators.

“Since the Section 232 tariffs only protect mill material and not fabricated assemblies, they incentivise foreign countries to purchase tariff-free steel, fabricate it, and then ship it into the United States without penalty,” stated Mr. Brian Raff, director of communications and public affairs at the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). “Structural steel fabricators are the manufacturers in the supply chain who cut, drill, bolt, and weld the steel shapes and plate produced by steel mills to create the actual bridges, buildings, and critical infrastructure projects that use structural steel.”

Mr. Raff noted that the transshipping activities are “circumventing the very trade laws put in place to protect the steel industry. We've seen substantial increases to fabricated imports in order to circumvent the existing 232 tariffs.”

“While major steel projects have historically been fabricated in American plants, our trade policies have made the American construction market a rich target for foreign steel interests,” Mr. Raff continued. “Foreign steel producers have expanded from just exporting mill steel, to exporting fabricated structural steel that circumvents some US trade actions and dilutes the effectiveness of tariffs.”

The AISC has indicated that it has not supported or opposed the steel tariffs, but that the organisation believes that trade actions “must include downstream users of mill material like fabricated structural steel.”

Steel was fabricated at Hillsdale Fabricators in St. Louis, Missouri, for the construction of the 41st Street Pedestrian Bridge in Chicago, Illinois. The finished

41

bridge opened in 2018. This infrastructure project was honoured by the American Institute of Steel Construction and the National Steel Bridge Alliance in 2020.

“While [Section] 232 didn't include fabricated structural steel, Section 301 tariffs now do protect fabricated structural steel from China,” Mr. Raff explained. (“Section 301” refers to “Section 301” of the US Trade Act of 1974.)

Ilegal dumping Efforts by the AISC to further protect steel fabricators were dealt a setback in February of 2020. A year-long investigation had been undertaken by the United States Department of Commerce on the impact of fabricated structural steel imports from Canada, China, and Mexico.

“While [the U S Department of] Commerce found overwhelming evidence that these three subject countries [Canada, China, and Mexico] were illegally dumping and subsidising fabricated structural steel into the US,” Mr. Raff noted, “the [United States International Trade Commission (ITC)] ruled 3-2 that there was no injury to the domestic industry, and therefore, there will not be any orders in place to offer our industry the relief it desperately needs.

We are obviously disappointed in the ITC ruling.”

There is a relief valve with the Section 232 tariffs. Businesses that state that they have been or will be harmed by the steel tariff are able to ask the Federal government for exclusion from the 25% steel tariff. A number of businesses have requested and been granted exclusion from paying this specific tariff. The exact number of those granted exclusion is not certain because the exclusion requests must be made on each individual size of each individual product of each requesting business. There have been more than 47,100 entries in the database of requests of exclusions made, pending, denied, and granted by the US Department of Commerce.

The concept of actions and reactions within the steel industry will likely continue in the coming years. As the steel industry continues to go through transition in the USA and strives to deal with the global economy, some businesses will likely see and capture growth opportunities, while others will face difficulties that they may not be able to overcome. � © 2020 Richard McDonough March 2020

13/03/2020 09:19:24

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PERSPECTIVES: LECHLER GROUP

Continuing to serve the steel industry Lechler Group has worldwide reach when it comes to the steel industry. The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s products are in demand globally and find great success not only in China and India, but also in the USA and other parts of the world where the steel industry is active. Here, Jurgen Frick* answers our questions and explains how he is very optimistic for the future.

1. How are things going at LECHLER? The steel producers have kept us very busy since 2017 when the prices for many of their products skyrocketed having brought them back to making profits again after four rather difficult years. We shall see what will happen in 2020 and how far down the steel price spiral will take us this time.

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

In November 2019, EUROFER estimated that global crude steel production overcapacity was 450Mt and this represents the core structural problem of our industry.

China cannot shut down obsolete plants fast enough while new capacities are being added in India, in Vietnam and lately in the USA, and still in China.

Steel is always and immediately affected by an increasing number of international political and economic conflicts and their consequences in fast changing trade policies, globally and regionally. In Europe, it is very uncertain if the EU will be willing to provide the political and financial framework conditions for the huge investments required for the transition of the steel industry into carbon neutral production.

Lastly, the steel industry is standing at a crossroads, just like the automotive industry, because of the pressure of climate change policies.

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

You can find Lechler nozzles and systems in all processes of iron and steel making.

In the liquid phase, we concentrate on exhaust gas cooling and cleaning with nozzles, complete injection systems and

droplet separators. In doing so Lechler is contributing largely to a cleaner environment already.

Further downstream Lechler single fluid and air mist nozzles are key components when it comes to secondary cooling in continuous casting for billets, blooms and slabs. The significantly reduced consumption of compressed air of the new Slabcooler ECO and the energy efficiency of our Billetcooler nozzles in the casting of high quality steel grades has reached a new level.

tandem and reversing cold mills.

Nozzles and headers for pickling and other processing lines extend our offering into the cold finishing area of the steel industry.

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

There is no doubt that China, representing more than 50% of world steel production, has always our fullest attention. But also the fast-growing steel industry in India is very important. Europe remains strategically important because, among other things, the three main metallurgical plant builders having their main offices or headquarters here.

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

We are currently working with all major plant builders in connection with their projects for Nucor, US Steel, and SDI to name only the major ones.

In many regions of this world, the majority of hot rolled strips and plates have been descaled with Lechler high-pressure descaling nozzles, in particular with the Lechler Scalemaster HPS. The nozzle configurations have been designed with Lechlerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s DESCALE application software.

The other area of activity is roll cooling, both for hot and cold rolling, with nozzles and our Selectospray selective roll cooling systems for shape control especially in

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

When it comes to business my heart is definitively with steel since the majority of our business in my division comes from steel. It is amazing to see how much ground steel has regained in the battle for lightweight vehicles with the new Advanced High-Strength Steel grades and hot forming technology. However, we are also involved in many processes in the aluminium industry as well.

7. What are your views on Industry 4.0 and steelmaking?

With our nozzles we are at the far end of any liquid applying system. Data received or generated by these systems will certainly be processed in the big data communication across the entire process chain of a plant.

* Director, Metallurgical Division, Lechler GmbH. March 2020

perspectives Lechler.indd 1

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PERSPECTIVES: LECHLER GROUP

Processing such data at a plant level will open up new potentials for increasing plant productivity, quality enhancements and energy efficiency. We will see thousands more sensors in all processes, which is offering new opportunities for innovations in all relevant areas.

11. Where does LECHLER lead the field in terms of steel production technology?

Lechler is one of the leaders in spray technology for high pressure descaling and roll cooling in hot rolling and for secondary cooling in continuous casting.

8. “…any hint of doubt when it comes to predictions of climate doom is evidence of greed, stupidity, moral turpitude or psychological derangement.” Do you sympathise with this viewpoint?

Climate change is a fact, which can be noticed by everybody. I can see the effects in my own garden with growing intensity, and I don’t like it. However, our planet earth has always been subject to climate changes for millions of years.

12. How do you view LECHLER’s development over the short-tomedium term?

We will continue serving the steel industry and contributing to their efforts for improving energy efficiency and product quality. We are investing heavily in new factories in China and India, but also in Germany where we are constructing a new logistics centre.

9. Are producers looking to LECHLER to offer them solutions in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability?

What can you offer them?

Besides surface quality, energy efficiency has become the main focus for us when working out proposals for optimisations of high pressure descaling installations.

In a relatively new hot strip mill, the optimisation of the nozzle arrangement with the Scalemaster HPS has resulted in energy and cost savings of approximately Mio. 9 kWh respectively €670.000,annually. With the new application software Lechler Mill.Config we can calculate such energy saving potential together with the CO2 emission reductions over an entire hot strip or plate mill very easily.

Installing Slabcooler ECO air mist nozzles with their reduced consumption of compressed air in a slab caster can lead to very significant energy savings.

10. How quickly has the steel industry responded to ‘green politics’ in terms of making the production process greener?

The steel industry today is much more energy efficient and is consequently less harmful to the environment than only a few decades ago. However, world crude steel production has doubled over the last 20 years. Like every other industry, the steel industry is meeting the limits of local environmental legislation, but let’s face it, a steel plant will never be environmentally friendly.

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perspectives Lechler.indd 2

43

available in an industrial scale.

A famous US political figure posted a Tweet in 2018, which goes: “If you don’t have steel, you don’t have a country.” I agree with him.

16. LECHLER is headquartered in Germany, but what’s happening steelwise in the country?

The German steel industry is very important to us as it is our home market; this is where our heart is. However, it accounts for only 2,3% of global steel production and it needs to be seen when a new attempt for an international consolidation will be launched.

13. What is LECHLER’s experience of the Chinese steel industry?

Since our first steps more than 25 years ago, we have always liked how open and willing steel producers in China are in testing and applying new products in their plants and machines. That the local competition is not always playing on the same level playing field is something other suppliers have also experienced.

14. Where do you see most innovation in terms of production technologies?

We will see the most significant innovations on the primary side when it comes to hydrogen-assisted iron making or hydrogen-based DRI processes with carbon engineering technologies directly connected.

We will see many more incremental innovations in downstream processes with compact production lines for flat and long products. EAF-based plants are ideal for serving regional markets.

15. How optimistic are you for the global steel industry?

Very optimistic when I think about steel production in general. There is no material and no other metal that has penetrated our lives and our existence more than steel.

Steel demand will rise as long as economies in developing countries will grow and emerging economies are entering the global markets.

The biggest challenge, however, is massive steel production overcapacity and the immense investments for new green production technologies once they are

17. Apart from strong coffee, what keeps you awake at night?

Jetlag is still keeping me awake at night occasionally.

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

To work out a plan and an agreement on how to effectively deal with the abovementioned challenges in a good spirit.

The former French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Robert Schumann, accomplished a similar task successfully in 1952 with his plan for the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the predecessor of the EU. However, this time we need the major steel and coal producing countries from around the world at the table. This is why a diplomatic superpower would be required, and nothing less. � March 2020

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HISTORY

The British iron industry 1490-1815 A Review by Tim Smith* A two-volume, 738 page book: ‘A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490 – 1815’, published in January 2020, arises from extensive research by the author, Dr Peter King, dating back to the 1990s.

As the size of the volumes suggest, this is far more than a listing of sites. It includes a 13-page general introduction as well as regional introductions to each area described. The book encompasses ironworking sites, the ironmasters who ran them, and trade.

Descriptions of close to 450 blast furnaces, 400 refining forges, 78 bloomery forges and 163 other sites using iron – such as plating forges, screw mills, wire mills etc – are included, many in great detail.

All the sites were mechanically powered, mainly by water, but from the 1740s increasingly by steam, at first by pumping water that had driven a water wheel back to a higher pond for re-use, but, by the 1780s, following the invention by James Watt to capture rotary motion, directly driving bellows or air cylinders. The start date of 1490 coincides with the arrival of the first blast furnace to Britain. Using Walloon technology transferred from Europe, this furnace was at Buxted on the Weald of Southern England, an area rich in carbonate ore, timber for charcoal and streams that could be dammed to create ponds. The 1815 cut-off date is chosen as the point where the output of coke fired furnaces exceed charcoal-fired furnaces, although this date is extended in some cases when the final days of a particular site are within a few decades of this date. Also, early coke-fired furnaces are included.

Regions are sub-divided into 44 geographic areas each with an outline map giving the location of sites by type and numbered for identification by name.

Thus, for example, the Northeast Region is divided into six areas. Each area starts with a comprehensive introduction running to several pages. For example, the opening description of the Pennine Dales of W

Rockley Lower Furnace built sometime between 1698 and 1704, rebuilt 1726. Picture taken during excavations between 1978 to 1982 showing casting pit for rolls

Yorkshire runs to seven pages and includes a family tree of the Spencers who, from 1658, were in partnerships owning several furnaces and forges in the area.

The Gazetteer of sites of this area is divided into charcoal ironworks, forges, smithies and water-powered bloomeries.

Each site includes the National Grid Reference if known, a comment on the site as of now, the history of the site including ownerships and lessees, production and trading, and key dimensions and output if known. The sources of the information conclude the entry.

Dr King argues the case for correcting some past misinterpretation of sites, often where sites have been confused either through common ownership or by lying

within close proximity. Wherever possible, he has drawn on primary sources including estate records, account books, diaries of ironmasters and visitors, letter books, merchants’ records and the Boards of Naval Ordnance and Victualling – the latter reflecting the high demand for iron barrel hoops essential for the provisions for crew.

Other useful information of a general nature includes a note on weights and measures. While our older generation may recall that an Imperial ton consists of 20 hundredweight (cwt) or 2,400 pounds (lb) (1.088 metric tonnes) they may not recall this was named a ton longweight to distinguish it from the oddly named Yorkshire shortweight ton of 22cwt (2640 lb or 1.117 metric tonnes) which differs again from the short ton of 2,000lb (0.907 tonne) used only in the USA. Imports from Sweden were weighed in skeppound (shippound) equating to 299.8 lb (English) or 136kg while Russian imports were based on the pood equating to 36lb or 16.3kg. Tinplate, a key export, was sold by the box of 225 ‘single’ sheets each 20x14 inches (508 x 355mm) while ‘doubles’ were twice this length with 112 in a box. A box weighed 108 lb (49 kg). Other measures addressed are the ‘load’(12 bags of charcoal = 3814 litres, weighing about a ton or 477 litres of ore).

Volume two closes with a two-page conclusion, a 41 page bibliography, a fourpage table of patents and a 59-page index.

The book is light on tables – with only two, has seven family trees and lacks any illustrations of sites apart from the cover picture. However, given the great volume of information contained, the author can be forgiven for not including illustrations other than the 44 maps. � A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490 – 1815’ By Dr Peter King, Published by BAR Publishing, No 652 (I & II) BAR British Series, Oxford 2020 paperback Vols 1 & 2 ISBN 978 1 1512 6 or e-format ISBN 978 1 4073 5401 9. Price £150.

*Consultant editor, Steel Times International March 2020

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