Steel Times International October 2017

CONFERENCE REPORT

THE HOUR BEFORE DAWN

MAINTENANCE

INNOVATIONS

We attend the Brazilian Steel Association’s annual conference

Continuing Mick Steeper’s excellent essays on the global steel industry

Jeremy J Rydberg on improving furnace roll reliability

Four pages of the latest contracts news from around the world

www.steeltimesint.com October 2017 - Vol.41 No7

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL – October 2017 – Vol.41 No.7

© 2017 Exxon Mobil Corporation. All rights reserved. All trademarks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Exxon Mobil Corporation or one of its affiliates unless otherwise noted.

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07.09.17 09:08

CONTENTS - OCTOBER 2017

CONFERENCE REPORT

THE HOUR BEFORE DAWN

MAINTENANCE

INNOVATIONS

We attend the Brazilian Steel Association’s annual conference

Continuing Mick Steeper’s excellent essays on the global steel industry

Jeremy J Rydberg on improving furnace roll reliability

Four pages of the latest contracts news from around the world

1

www.steeltimesint.com October 2017 - Vol.41 No7

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL – October 2017 – Vol.41 No.7

Picture courtesy of: Exxon Mobil

32

24 © 2017 Exxon Mobil Corporation. All rights reserved. All trademarks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Exxon Mobil Corporation or one of its affiliates unless otherwise noted.

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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

2 Leader

By Matthew Moggridge, editor, Steel Times International.

4 News Astounding facts and figures, industry news and diary dates.

Managing Director Steve Diprose stevediprose@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855164 Chief Executive Officer Paul Michael SUBSCRIPTION Elizabeth Barford Tel +44 (0) 1737 855028 Fax +44 (0) 1737 855034 Email subscriptions@quartzltd.com Steel Times International is published eight times a year and is available on subscription. Annual subscription: UK £182.00 Other countries: £258.00 2 years subscription: UK £324.00 Other countries: £460.00 ) Single copy (inc postage): £41.00 Email: steel@quartzltd.com Published by: Quartz Business Media Ltd, Quartz House, 20 Clarendon Road, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1QX, England.

Tel: +44 (0)1737 855000 Fax: +44 (0)1737 855034

6 Innovations The latest new products.

Ironmaking 24 Keep it running if you can.

28 Emission reduction for coking plants.

11 USA update Trump’s ‘America First’ conundrum.

32 Maintenance Improving furnace roll reliability.

13 Latin America update Venezuelan steel: down on its luck.

37 Rolling Smoother operation with digital control.

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.

15 The hour before dawn An inconvenient by-product?

Printed in England by: Pensord, Tram Road, Pontlanfraith, Blackwood, Gwent NP12 2YA, UK

18 Iron ore S&P turns its gaze on iron ore.

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Contents.indd 1

20 Conference report: Coverage of the annual Brazilian Steel Association conference

40 Refractories – abstract Doubling the life of torpedo ladles.

42 Perspectives Guild International’s Lee Kothera.

44 History 19th century industrial nations.

October 2017

11/10/2017 12:34:51

2

LEADER

Kobe Steel – no longer ‘big in Japan’?

Matthew Moggridge Editor matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com

It’s a shame that the word ‘steel’ has to come into it, but it does, even if the problem involves ‘the miracle metal’ – aluminium – and copper. The fact remains that a steel company (Japan’s third biggest producer, Kobe Steel) has admitted it may have falsified data about the quality of its products. Why this has happened is anybody’s guess, but the admission has had dire consequences for the steelmaker as the products concerned have found their way into aircraft, cars and trains; and the bigger question now is whether or not safety has been compromised.

The question of ‘why’ is important because in the case of Kobe Steel the sorry outcome – $1.6 billion wiped off the company’s market value, shares plunging 18% in Tokyo – has surely negated the effort of falsifying the data in the first place. Wrongdoing, after all, is always uncovered – eventually.

The problem appears to be peculiarly Japanese with other ‘reputable’ companies (Takata Corp and Nissan) both implicated in similar misdemeanours. Nissan is to recall one million cars and Takata pleaded guilty to misleading carmakers over the safety of its airbags. Most worrying,

however, is that whenever something like this raises its ugly head, the initial scandal proves to be just the tip of the iceberg.

For Kobe Steel there are potentially big costs involved, not to mention untold harm to the company’s reputation (which will linger for years); and, of course, there will be legal challenges too.

Toyota (a Kobe Steel customer) has described the situation as a ‘grave issue’ and rightly so; and whether Kobe Steel’s conduct is systemic remains to be seen, but either way, surely, the spotlight will now shine brightly on the company’s other products, namely its steel output.

Unauthorised inspectors, misleading automakers, a breach of compliance rules, falsified data – they’re all phrases that would spell trouble for any company and they have certainly put another phrase – ‘Made in Japan’ – on the naughty step.

While aluminium and copper account for just 20% of Kobe Steel’s output, what about steel? And even if steel is not affected by the scandal, the company’s deteriorating reputation will deter potential buyers not only from purchasing Kobe’s steel, but also from buying steel from other Japanese producers.

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4 NEWS IN BRIEF US August steel shipments up 6% US steel mills shipped 7.9Mt (net tons) of steel during the month of August, according to figures released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).

The figure represents an increase of 6% on the 7.4Mt (net tons) shipped in July and a 5.1% rise compared to August 2016 shipments of 7.5Mt. Shipments year-to-date in 2017 are 60.8Mt (net tons), a 3.1% increase when compared with 2016 shipments of 59Mt (net tons).

SAIL seeks POSCO know-how State-owned Indian steelmaker SAIL is looking to POSCO for advice on the operation and maintenance of coke making and iron and steelmaking, according to an online media report.

A strategic agreement between the companies has been signed relating to the IISCO Steel Plant in Burnpur, India. The deal involves POSCO providing a technical supervising service, offering its know-how on all matters concerning steel production.

The IISCO plant is ramping up production and it is estimated that the plant’s 550kt/yr wire rod mill will soon be producing ‘world class wire rods…to meet domestic and international’ demand.

Sustainable indicators launched The World Steel Association (worldsteel) has released its 2017 Sustainable Steel report.

The report highlights steel as a critical enabler and partner for other industries in a sustainable society; steel as an industry, which takes its commitments and responsibilities seriously; and the challenges facing the industry and initiatives in place to address them.

Dr. Edwin Basson, director general of worldsteel, explained that seven new indicators – air quality, water, by-products, recycling, supply chain, environmental investment and product applications – have been identified and will be relied upon over the coming years.

INDUSTRY NEWS

“No new blast furnaces need or indeed should ever be built, since the existing complement is sufficient to generate the level of new iron stocks required to meet

”

foreseeable demand growth.

Source: Mick Steeper, The Hour Before Dawn.

Xinji Aosen contracts SMS group Chinese steelmaker Xinji Aosen Iron & Steel Co. Ltd., based in Shijiazhuang City in Hebei Province, has ordered high-speed equipment for its wire rod mills numbers eight and nine.

Once commissioned in the summer of 2018, each mill will be designed for an annual capacity of 700kt and will be capable of producing wire rod in sizes ranging from 5.5mm to 16mm; and rebar in diameters from 6mm to 16mm at rolling speeds up to 105 metres/second.

According to SMS group, the wire rod outlet of mill No. 9 will be equipped with one six-stand and one four-stand wire rod block.

Installing two separate blocks will allow Xinji Aosen to cool the rolling stock before and behind the blocks in such a manner that all

sizes can be finish-rolled at low temperatures (thermomechanical rolling) and to very close tolerances. Already 10 wire rod mills in China use this mill concept, which was developed by SMS group.

Both mills will be equipped with state-of-the-art loop layers and pinch roll units and capable of producing wire rod of premium quality and at high production rates.

CMI wins Bangladesh cold rolling mill contract PHP Family, one of the biggest manufacturers of cold-rolled steel in Bangladesh, has contracted Belgium-based CMI (Cockerill Maintenance & Ingénierie) to build and install a high-capacity push pull pickling line (PPL), a fully automated 6-HI cold rolling mill plus a state-ofthe-art continuous galvanising line (CGL) and two finishing lines for a new cold rolling mill facility.

The finishing lines will be supplied by an Indian affiliate of CMI. The plant in question is based

in Feni, a district of South Eastern Bangladesh, and will be operational by mid-2019.

PHP Integrated Steel Mills is the name of the new complex, which is being built to satisfy growing domestic steel demand and enable increased exports.

PHP has worked with CMI before.

It contracted the company to equip its first cold rolling mill complex in Chittagong, which is a seaport and financial centre in South Eastern Bangladesh.

Astounding According to the International Energy Agency, in 2016, the worldwide installed geothermal capacity was 12.7 gigawatts, but this has the potential to reach 1,400 terawatt hours per year by 2050.

Source: worldsteel

North Korea has a steelmaking capacity of 12Mt/yr, but in 2015 produced a little over 1Mt. Source: S&P Global Platts

Electric vehicle sales will surpass conventional petrolpowered cars by 2038.

Source: worldsteel.

There is more than 700Mt (metric tons) of excess global steel capacity today and more than half of this global overcapacity is in China alone.

For more global steel news, log on to our news website, www.steeltimesint.com

October 2017

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Facts and Figures...

By 2035, roughly 20% of the population in Europe, North America and China will be 65 years old or older, representing about the same share with population below 25 years. This trajectory will affect the patterns of steel consumption.

5

October 2017 John Ferriola

Around 25% of global industrial CO2 emissions attach to iron and steel manufacture, equating to around 9% of man-made emissions overall.

Source: Steel Times International

24-27 Korea Metal Week 2017, Hall 7-8, Centre 2, Kintex, South Korea International metals industry conference covering many subjects under one roof.

For further information, log on to www.korea-metal.com

November 2017

Nucor Corporation is North America’s largest steel producer and recycler. It has approximately 200 facilities in the USA and Canada, operates 25 scrap-based mills in 17 US states and has an annual production capacity of 26Mt. Source: Asian Steel Watch.

In 1969 Nucor Corporation’s plant in Darlington, South Carolina, became the first US steel mill to exclusively use Electric Arc Furnaces to make steel.

Source: Asian Steel Watch

Nearly 65% of worldwide steel production takes place via the so-called pig iron (hot metal) route, which is the production of steel in the blast furnace from iron ore by use of coke.

Source: DMT.

DIARY OF EVENTS

Global scrap availability is expected to grow strongly in the coming years, increasing from 720Mt in 2016 to 1 billion tonnes in 2030 and even 1.3 billion tonnes by 2050.

Source: worldsteel The survival of Venezuela’s steel industry can be explained by the fact that it is controlled by state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Source: Steel Times International

US automakers account for 15% of all steel consumed in the US, and a substantial part of that steel comes from domestic production.

Source: American Automotive Policy Council.

A single furnace roll failure can cost a plant as much as $750,000 in lost production, ruined product, and maintenance labour.

Source: Atlas Machine and Supply.

Around 9 in 10 Icelandic households now harness the power of geothermal energy. Infact, geothermal now accounts for 66% of Iceland’s primary energy use, with its largest plant located in the Hengill volcano.

Source: worldsteel

02-04 CWIEME Istanbul Expo Centre, Turkey Highly specialised engineers and procurement professionals 'in key manufacturing heartlands' attend this event to meet new and existing suppliers and keep up-to-date with the latest industry trends.

For further information, log on to www.coilwindingexpo.com 11-14 NMD ATM, Goa, India.

Organised by the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) The organiser describes this event as an 'annual mega event' where metallurgists and material engineers from industry and academia get together to share their experiences of various aspects of metallurgical and mechanical engineering.

For further information, log on to www.nmd-atm.com 14-17 Metal Expo, Hall 75, VDNkHa, Moscow, Russia Last year it attracted 530 companies from 32 countries, including steelmakers, tube and pipe manufacturers and distributors and engineers. In fact, there’s so much going on, you’d better check the website.

For further information, log on to www.metal-expo.ru 21-22 The 11th CSM Steel Congress, Beijing. Organised by the Chinese Society for Metals.

The biennial academic conference on metallurgy and material science has attracted worldwide attention and active participation from global steel experts, claims the Chinese Society for Metals, the event's organiser.

For further information, email csmcon@csm.org.cn

October 2017

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6

INNOVATIONS

Metalloinvest’s DRI plant ticks all the boxes A new 1.8Mt/yr Midrex hot briquetted iron (HBI) plant in Gubkin, Russia, has completed a performance guarantee test (PGT).

The plant is owned and operated by Metalloinvest Management Company, which comprises a mining division (Lebedinsky GOK or LGOK, and Mikhailovsky GOK) and a steel division (Oskol Elektrometallurgical Plant, or OEMK). The plant relies upon a Midrex HBI-3 system supplied

by Primetals Technologies and US-based Midrex Technologies.

Metalloinvest is Russia’s biggest iron mining company and a leading producer and supplier of iron ore and ore-based metallic iron products.

Commissioning of Midrex HBI-3, the second of its kind on-site, began in early 2017. Prelimi-

nary acceptance was received on 15 March, the PGT was completed in May and a Performance Test Certificate (PTC) was issued at the end of June.

According to Primetals Technologies, test parameters included HBI production, HBI physical and chemical characteristics, the plant’s key natural gas and electricity consumption and environmental/emissions impacts. Midrex HBI-3 achieved 100% of the test parameters during its first attempt at the PGT. The supply of the Midrex HBI-3 plant formed a key part of LGOK’s development strategy. The company intends to strengthen its position in the global HBI market and significantly increase its production volumes of high-value-added iron

ore products.

Parent company Metalloinvest took advantage of expanded project financing (export credit financing) through Primetals and Midrex, both of whom were responsible for the engineering and supply of mechanical and electrical equipment, steel structure, piping, ductwork, training and advisory services.

Primetals claims that the new plant produces high-quality HBI from iron ore pellets using the natural gas-based Midrex Direct Reduction Process (Midrex NG). By using natural gas to make HBI, the technology is free of the emissions associated with coke and sinter pro-

Nucor signs off Tenova water detection system Nucor Steel Seattle Inc. has officially signed off a water detection system (WDS) supplied by Tenova.

The system was approved based on controlled testing and successful detection of actual electric arc furnace water leaks, says Tenova.

According to Tenova, the results confirmed that the WDS met the plant’s requirements to detect and alert plant operators when higher than normal water conditions were present in the EAF. Furthermore, the WDS has also demonstrated minimal false alarms even in Seattle’s highly variable seasonal weather conditions.

Tenova claims that its the NextGen and i EAF project, commissioned in April 2016, surpassed Nucor Steel Seattle Inc’s expectation for ‘quantifiable and sustainable improvements in monthly process consumptions and operating costs’.

Average monthly furnace consumptions were significantly decreased in the following areas: 5% electrical, 1.5% oxygen, 11.5% natural gas, 7.5% injected carbon and 32% charge carbon.

Complete system performance has more than doubled from the original estimated savings target determined at the start of the project with total electrical and chemical energy costs per ton of steel reduced by over 6%.

For further information, log on to www.tenova.com October 2017

innovations.indd 4

12/10/2017 09:47:49

INNOVATIONS

duction, says Primetals. Furthermore, it is claimed that HBI production displays ‘a significantly higher energy efficiency and a significantly lower carbon footprint’ than traditional blast furnaces.

In 2005, the same Primetals/Midrex consortium supplied the plant with its first HBI module, which commenced operation in 2007. In each of the last five years, the plant has operated over its 1.4Mt/yr (metric tons) design capacity, and on 26 April 2015 it produced its 10 millionth ton of HBI. The plant’s HBI-3 Module will increase the company's HBI production capabilities to 4.5 Mt/yr (metric tons) strengthening Metalloinvest’s lead in the commercial HBI market and boosting its global share to over 40%. The feed for the new HBI plant consists of pellets produced by LGOK iron ore.

Metalloinvest also owns the Oskol Electrome-

7

tallurgical Works (OEMK) in the city of Stary Oskol in the Belgorod region of Russia. Primetals claims that the OEMK plant is one of the most up-to-date steelmaking enterprises in Russia. It employs Midrex DRI technology and EAF steelmaking. It is claimed that the plant produces high quality steel ‘free of detrimental impurities and residual elements’ and meeting a stable high demand in Russia and abroad.

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

Tenova and SMS Concast build new Iranian steel plant A new Steel Making Plant, belonging to Chadormalu Mining & Industrial Co. (CMIC) and built on technological supplies and engineering provided

by Tenova in consortium with SMS Concast, has been successfully started up in Ardakan, Yazd province, in central Iran.

The combined technological know-how of Italian and German plant builders has been put to good use in Iran where the Chardormalu Mining & Industrial Co (CMIC) has developed and started up a new steelmaking plant.

The new plant, located in Ardakan in the province of Yazd, is fed by DRI pellets and equipped with a 170-ton electric arc furnace and ladle furnace supplied by Tenova, plus a six-strand continuous casting from SMS Concast. Provision has been made for the installation of a vacuum degasser that will allow production of special steel grades for domestic usage and export.

Tenova’s electric arc furnace was designed to produce 1.2Mt/yr of billet from cold DRI and is equipped with a 160 MVA transformer and a chemical package with a total rated flow of 10’000Nm3/hour.

The EAF, claims Tenova, currently processes a mix of cold DRI and scrap and was designed to process hot DRI directly charged from the plant’s iron reduction reactor at a temperature up to 600°C, with an estimated productivity increase of 30% against the design target. When the hot www.steeltimesint.com

innovations.indd 5

DRI charging system is in place, Tenova’s electric arc furnace is expected to be the first in Iran to produce steel through this process.

Engineering and Commercial Services GmbH (CPG), in partnership with Parsland Mines & Industries Development Company (PAMIDCO) placed the order with Tenova.

Beyond the supply of technological equipment, Tenova developed an extensive plant engineering package for CPG including overall plant process, logistics and basic engineering of auxiliary plants and equipment.

The CMIC project was a greenfield development characterised by strong co-operation with local sub-contractors, who supplied steel structures, a distribution network and auxiliary equipment following Tenova’s basic engineering. Parts of the electric arc furnace and the ladle furnace were built in Iran based on detailed engineering from Tenova.

For further information, log on to www.tenova.com or www.sms-group.com October 2017

12/10/2017 09:47:52

8

INNOVATIONS

Emirates Steel sets record production rate Over the past 12 months, Emirates Steel has set a new direct reduced iron (DRI) production record. The company has produced 2Mt of high quality DRI operating for more than 8,400 hours (equivalent to 105% net availability) for 315 days non-stop.

According to plant builder Danieli, such a record confirms the reliability of Energiron technology.

Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Steel operates two twin Energiron DRI plants, which are supplied by Danieli on an EPC basis. The plant was originally

designed for a nominal capacity of 1.6Mt/yr of hot and cold DRI at 94% metallisation and 2.5% carbon. The first was started in 2009 and the second in 2011.

“Both plants followed a smooth learning curve that resulted in 90% availability in the first three years for plant one and 95% in only two years for plant two,” Danieli explained, adding that both plants were upgraded from 1.6 to 2Mt/yr, reaching 100% stable production in six months.

“Since then Emirates Steel has steadily operated the Energiron plants at their increased

nominal capacity of 2Mt/yr, producing high quality hot DRI conveyed to adjacent Danieli EAFs through Hytemp pneumatic transport systems and thus optimising the downstream steelmaking process,” said Danieli.

Energiron is the result of a strategic alliance between Tenova HYL and Danieli designed to ‘competitively serve the direct reduction plants market’.

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

Fives’ furnaces at Baosteel’s Zhanjiang steel plant The Zhanjiang integrated steel production complex in southeastern China's Guangdong province was officially opened in August by Baosteel, China’s largest manufacturer of automotive steel.

The Zhanjiang complex consists of a 1,550mm wide cold rolling mill with a pickling line, a pickling line tandem mill, a continuous annealing line (CAL), a continuous hot-dip galvanising line (CGL) and two silicon steel lines.

The plant has an output capacity is 2.55Mt/yr of high quality coils, mainly for home appliance, general machinery and automotive applications and oriented for the highly demanding Asian market.

Fives, a strategic partner of Baosteel, has deOctober 2017

innovations.indd 6

signed and supplied two annealing line furnaces and a galvanising line furnace for the plant.

Stein Digiflex furnaces are being employed for a 700kt/yr continuous annealing line and a 270kt/yr galvanising line for a 1,550mm wide cold rolling mill.

The continuous galvanising line was operational 165 days ahead of schedule, while the annealing line was advanced by 90 days and the cold rolling mill was also implemented ahead of schedule, says Fives.

Stein Digiflex furnaces feature a new compact design and advanced combustion and cooling technologies, including the latest generation AdvantTek WRT 2.0 combustion system. “Such

combustion technology benefits from high recuperative energy efficiency, low NOx emissions and usage of site-generated fuels,” claims Fives.

Fives has been providing technology in the field of high-quality strip processing lines and furnaces for advanced automotive and other high value-added steels to Baosteel for more than 25 years. Over the last 10 years, Fives has designed and supplied Baosteel with 13 strip processing lines and furnaces.

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

12/10/2017 09:47:53

9

INNOVATIONS

New ladle furnace for ArcelorMittal Temirtau Kazakhstan-based ArcelorMittal Temirtau has awarded SMS group a purchase order for the supply of a new 290-ton ladle furnace.

The scope of supply, says SMS group, comprises the engineering, mechanical and electrical equipment and supervision of erection and commissioning of the furnace, gas cleaning plant, additives handling system and water treatment plant.

According to SMS group, the ladle furnace allows precise control of the chemical composition and temperature of the liquid steel and slag, thus satisfying an important basic requirement for further process steps aimed at producing high-quality steel grades. It also functions as a buffer for the molten metal upstream of the remaining processing stations.

ArcelorMittal Temirtau is one of the largest steel producers in Kazakhstan. The integrated steel plant at Temirtau has an annual crude steel capacity of 4Mt and produces hot and cold rolled steel, tin plate, galvanised steel and polymer-coated coils, welded pipes, coke, and chemical by-products.

Commissioning is scheduled for Q2 2018.

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

Danieli helps Evraz ZSMK improve VD performance

Russian steelmaker EVRAZ ZSMK (Novokuznetsk) has awarded Danieli Centro Met the contract to supply a Q-TEMP VD Technological package that will enable continuous liquid steel temperature monitoring in the existing VD unit without the need for vacuum killing.

According to Danieli the order will ensure ‘constant increased contactless temperature measurement quality, reducing the treatment cycle and increasing VD productivity’.

Q-TEMP VD is designed to perform continuous contactless temperate monitoring and provide continuous liquid steel temperature estimation during the entire vacuum process, says Danieli. The system comprises a dedicated thermal camera combined with an advanced automation system based on a neural network providing precise, high-temperature measurement, reliability and repeatability. www.steeltimesint.com

innovations.indd 7

It is claimed that the installation of this technological package will reduce the utilisation of thermocouples and contribute to reduced operating expenses. Q-TEMP VD can be installed on any

new or existing vacuum degasser, claims Danieli.

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

October 2017

12/10/2017 09:47:56

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© 2017 Exxon Mobil Corporation. All rights reserved. All trademarks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Exxon Mobil Corporation or one of its affiliates unless otherwise noted.

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Account Management

ADAPT

USA UPDATE

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Trump’s ‘America First’ conundrum The arguments for and against US President Donald Trump’s ‘America first’ vision rage on, but will the plan create jobs or lose them and is the Section 232 Investigation the mantra for reviving the steel industry’s slump? By Manik Mehta*

AS the saga of US President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ vision continues, the administration is planning to make it mandatory that oil and natural gas pipelines should be made of US steel.

Many also fear that the end result of the ‘America First’ plan, which is to create more jobs, would in fact lead to job losses in the country.

Firstly, US steel manufacturers do not produce the appropriate parts, in terms of size and specifications, for the pipelines.

Secondly, US-produced pipelines are more expensive than imported steel because the costs of domestic labour and production are much higher. The use of domestic steel, consequently, would cause a price spiraling and huge delays in projects, resulting in job losses instead of creating new ones for thousands of American workers.

According to steel-consuming sources, oil and natural gas companies import over 75% of the steel used in pipelines.

The volume of steel imports is not going to change anytime soon because only 25 US steel plants manufacture the parts used in domestic oil and natural gas pipelines.

But for some pipelines, very thick pipes are needed and the US steel industry does not manufacture them.

Making the use of domestic steel mandatory for pipelines would force steel manufacturers to reorganise their production facilities, resulting in huge costs that could lead to substantial price hikes of over 100% for pipeline parts, besides causing a slow-down in production.

That would adversely affect jobs because

pipelines create thousands of jobs. This is illustrated, for example, in the case of the Keystone XI pipeline project, which could potentially create 40,000 jobs, and generate a total income exceeding $ 2 billion for local workers. Trump has exempted builders from using domestic steel in the Keystone project.

Protectionist policies on steel have not benefited US workers as the case of tariffs imposed on imported steel in 2002 by the Bush administration showed, resulting in a sharp rise in steel prices and contributing to an economic slowdown and 200,000 job losses.

Thomas J. Gibson, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute, argued in a recent piece he wrote in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that every military platform and weapon system in the nation’s arsenal depended on steel produced in America. However, the domestic steel industry was under attack from “repeated surges in imports of dumped and subsidised steel from numerous countries around the world”.

Gibson noted that several trade associations representing a number of American industries that buy steel had recently written a letter to Donald Trump opposing imposition of restraints on imports of steel for national security reasons, and expressed their support for a strong national defence and a strong domestic steel industry, yet demanded unlimited access to cheap imported steel.

“They cannot have it both ways,” says Gibson.

Excess steel capacity globally totals more than 700Mt (metric tons) – which is greater than all the steel produced in the USA – and half of it comes out of China.This massive steel glut, driven by subsidies and other interventionist foreign government policies, has led to high levels of dumped and subsidised imports into the US market, causing severe economic harm and significant job losses.

Gibson cites the example of US Steel which, he says, has been forced to reduce its tubular products workforce by more than two-thirds, idle 50% of its tubular mills and abandon about 40% of its Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) products; today, imports make up approximately 50% of the OCTG market. “Foreign suppliers have made it their mission to steal much of this market from US companies, presenting a tremendous loss of domestic capacity, which endangers America’s national security,” he said.

While Gibson has a point about excessive foreign steel capacity affecting America’s domestic steel industry, the recourse to protectionism will, invariably, have a negative effect on US trade, which can suffer in the long run with many of the foreign steel supplying nations resorting to retaliation against US exports. There is also the probability of jobs being lost, instead of new ones being created, as a result of protectionist measures being imposed.

The United Steel Workers (USW) union has been saying that it will support measures to stop foreign steel from entering the US market, and has urged

* USA correspondent www.steeltimesint.com

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October 2017

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12

USA UPDATE

the administration to do more than just slapping protective tariffs against China. Many pin hope on the Section 232 investigation.

In June, Trump directed the Commerce Department to conduct what became known in industry circles as the Section 232 investigation into steel and aluminium imports to determine whether these were hurting US national security. If such a threat is found to exist, the government can, under this section, impose protective tariffs against one or several countries.

The AISI latest data suggests that US steel-producing plants have reached a 74% capacity; while this is an increase over the previous year, the level is still low.

The steel industry’s tough rhetoric is matched by equally fierce resistance from the consuming industry. Even US car manufacturers, major buyers of US steel, argue that a protective tax on imported steel would only encourage domestic steel suppliers to raise prices of steel supplied by them. That may help US steel producers, but it would result in US cars becoming more expensive, with consumers preferring, in the end, to buy cheaper imported cars. It’s a vicious circle!

According to the American Automotive Policy Council (AAP), a trade group consisting of car manufacturers Ford, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and General Motors Co., US automakers account for 15% of all steel consumed in the US, and a substantial part of that steel comes from domestic production.

AAP’s comments to the Commerce Department maintain that tariffs on foreign steel would adversely affect the auto industry, resulting in lower sales of US made cars and trucks in the fiercely competitive auto market, and job losses. This view is challenged by the AISI whose executives say that a little over 70% of capacity in the US steel industry is not sustainable over the long term.

Many steel companies consider Section 232 investigation as a mantra for reviving the fortunes of the steel industry. The USW recently led a delegation to Washington DC urging lawmakers to release findings of the Section 232 investigation, which began in April but, according to the Commerce Department, was not completed as of mid-September.

USW vice president Tom Conway described the delay in releasing the investigation report as “devastating”.

To underscore the urgency, a group of Ohio senators recently urged Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to expedite the release of the Section 232 report.

Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman say that foreign steelmakers accelerated their flooding of US markets while the investigation is pending to maximise exports before any sanctions are imposed.

“We urge you to complete your investigation and publish your final report with conclusions and recommendations as quickly as possible to prevent further damage to the US steel sector,” the senators recently wrote to Ross.

Meanwhile, the two recent hurricanes, Harvey and Irma, may give the industry the much-needed boost as several states affected rush to re-build new houses and infrastructure destroyed by the hurricanes.

The hurricanes’ impact has also temporarily overshadowed talk about massive tariffs and/or quotas on steel imports.

The Section 232 investigation result, originally expected in late June, has been delayed. But is it the mantra that will restore the steel industry’s former strength? Let’s wait and see. �

October 2017

10/10/2017 10:22:04

LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

13

Venezuelan steel: down on its luck In the last article we dedicated to the Venezuelan steel industry back in April 2015, the final remarks were inconclusive. We said it was hard to predict whether the country’s steel sector would hit rock bottom or not. Two years on, while the same statement can be repeated, the steel industry there has further deteriorated. By Germano Mendes de Paula* THE dramatic situation facing the Venezuelan steel industry cannot be dissociated from macro-economic turmoil in the country. Venezuela is experiencing a deep recession and is on a path towards hyperinflation, driven by wide fiscal deficits combined with scarcity of goods and a loss of confidence in the currency. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), annual consumer price inflation (CPI) amplified from 19% in 2007 to 41% in 2013, 62% in 2014, 122% in 2015 and 255% in 2016. By the latest forecast, released in April 2017, the CPI is expected to reach 720% in 2017 and even 2,068% in 2018. These figures are equivalents to a daily inflation of 0.58% and 0.85%, respectively. The hyperinflation trend has accelerated since then.

Venezuelan real GDP achieved improvements of 5.6% in 2012 and 1.3% in 2013. It moved to a negative outcome of 3.9% in 2014, 6.2% in 2015 and 18% in 2016. The IMF forecasts additional drops of 7.4% in 2017 and 4.1% in 2018. If these estimations are correct, Venezuela’s GDP will be 26.5% lower in 2018 compared to 2007. Venezuelan companies say they are

operating in an economic environment of war. Firms are reporting many hurdles including limited access to foreign exchange and import inputs; distortions generated by three exchange rates and regulated prices; and legal uncertainty, with frequent attacks on private property.

There was an increase in the unemployment rate from 6.7% in 2014 to 21.2% in 2016 and a projected 28.2% in 2018. An IMF report, published in April 2017, highlighted that Venezuela’s social conditions continue to deteriorate rapidly, with poverty in 2016 rising to 82% of households, 50% of which are classified as being in extreme poverty. The situation is further aggravated by lack of medicines and the collapse of the health system. Violence is also a concern, with the homicide rate (per 100k inhabitants) jumping from 79 in 2013 to 92 in 2016.

Steel industry performance Fig. 1 shows that Venezuelan DRI production declined from 7.8Mt in 2007 to 5.5Mt in 2009, 4.2Mt in 2011, 2.7Mt in 2013 and only 900kt in 2016. Considering the performance of the first seven months,

the annualised figure for 2017 would reach 617kt. Therefore, the industry has lost 92% of its volume in comparison with 2007.

The evolution of crude steel production followed the same trend, by diminishing from 5Mt in 2007 to just 553kt in 2016 and might achieve 465kt in 2017, resulting in a 91% retraction. The corresponding figures for the fabrication of hot rolled products are 3.9Mt in 2007, 530kt in 2016, 500kt in 2017 and a 87% loss. The industry today is 10 times smaller than in 2007.

Sidor is the largest steelworks of Venezuela, with a 5.1Mt/yr capacity. It produced 308kt of crude steel in 2016, which was the lowest level in its history. In H1 2017, the outcome was slightly worst: 141kt of crude steel. A lack of electrodes meant that the plant didn’t produce any steel in July and this might suggest that effective crude steel output in 2017 could be smaller than the annualised number.

Estimated Venezuelan crude steel capacity enlarged from 6.1Mt/yr in 2007 to 6.2Mt/ yr in 2011 and maintained this level since then. The utilisation of capacity degree diminished from 82% in 2007 to 62% in 2009, 36% in 2010, 24% in 2014, 8.9% in

Fig 1. Production of DRI, crude steel and hot rolled products, 2007-2017 (Mt). Source: world-

Fig 2. Exports of DRI and steel products and imports of steel products, 2007-2016 (Mt).

steel, Alacero and own estimates. Note: a = annualised figures.

Source: worldsteel

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

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14

LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

2016 and 7.5% in 2017. Such a large idle capacity implies a severe profits impact.

Survival of the country’s steel industry can be explained by the fact that it is controlled by state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The Venezuelan steel sector’s idle capacity is higher in contrast with both the world steel industry and the country’s manufacturing activities. According to worldsteel, in the period January-July 2017, the global crude steel capacity utilisation ratio was 72%. The Confederation of Venezuelan Industrialists (Conindustria) said that the capacity utilisation ratio in the country’s industrial activities plummeted from 58% in Q12012 to 32% in Q12017.

Thus, the national steel industry was more negatively affected by macroeconomic chaos, which explains why steel industry performance is highly dependent on investments. The IMF predicts that gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) as a proportion of GDP in Venezuela will be around 9% from 2016 to 2018.

Fig. 2 demonstrates that Venezuela’s DRI exports diminished from 2.7Mt in 2007 to

Fig 3. Aggregate consumption (Mt) and consumption per capita (hg/inhabitant) Source: worldsteel, Alacero and own estimates. Note: a = annualised figures

56kt in 2014, recovering to 928kt in 2015, which is the latest available data. Steel exports plunged from 1.4Mt in 2007 to 20kt in 2014. It revived slightly to 78Kt in 2015 and then 41kt in 2016. Steel imports declined from 668kt in 2007 to 417kt in 2009, but amplified to 1Mt in 2012. Due to economic shrinking, it diminished to 318kt in 2016.

The left axis of Fig. 3 shows that the apparent consumption of steel products in Venezuela plummeted from 3.65Mt in 2007 to only 678kt in 2016. Based on the five first months of 2017, annualised demand would reach 655kt by the year-

end. Consequently, consumption will be 82% lower this year than in 2007.

Simultaneously, steel products per capita diminished from 132kg per inhabitant in 2007 to 100kg in 2012, to 24kg in 2016 and roughly to 20kg in 2017.

Supply was more affected than demand and the industry’s current route is towards destruction. This can be changed, but the political conflicts are gathering steam.

Assuming a quick solution, it would take a long time to re-establish economic links between the players. A substantial effort is needed for the Venezuelan steel industry to be reborn. �

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15

THE HOUR BEFORE DAWN

An inconvenient by-product The fifth essay in the Hour Before the Dawn series, by Mick Steeper*, considers the environmental aspects of the global steel industry, in particular the challenge of climate change through carbon dioxide emissions, as well as its influence on recycling.

STEEL used to be one of the more benign of the bulk industries in environmental terms. Within the working lifetime of many of its practitioners, though, the global steel industry has been thrust into the forefront of one of mankind’s most urgent debates.

No industry that makes a billion tonnes a year of anything can claim to be wholly green. (Steel, incidentally, is the third of just three members of that club, behind cement and cereal crops). It can be argued that the very landscape of many western countries has been altered by iron and steel, especially by deforestation in the pursuit of charcoal before the 18th Century, but also more locally to the productive centres through mineral extraction, industrial construction, pollution and the concentration of population associated with the activity.

To the credit of the industry, steel can point to significant improvement in recent decades in all of these respects. Its safety record, while not blameless, is also good in comparison with other industries with a similar level of energy intensity. Today, though, many of the world’s scientists and engineers consider the use of carbon as an oxide ore reductant to be an unsustainable

practice.

Eco-science began to develop real momentum about 50 years ago. If you revisit the early literature, whether populist or academic, you will be reminded that the threat to civilisation was foreseen in terms of the depletion of natural resources, and particularly of oil. Some of the alternative energy sources, notably nuclear power, were then inducing almost as much fear, but the principal peril from our 21st Century perspective, namely climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions, was scarcely anticipated in the first published research.

Steel’s carbon dioxide problem is one of sheer volume, and the statistics are unequivocal and extremely challenging. The production of unit mass of iron by carbon reduction of the commercial mix of oxide ores produces some 1.8 units of carbon dioxide – so a free-to-air reaction in the blast furnace releases rather more CO2 by weight than it makes useful metal. Around 25% of global industrial CO2 emissions attach to iron and steel manufacture, equating to around 9% of man-made emissions overall. (For an explanation of the figures, one of the best sources is the

research of Professor Julian Allwood at Cambridge. Try for example the free-todownload book “Sustainable Materials with Both Eyes Open”: http://www. withbotheyesopen.com).

By far the largest part of steel’s carbon footprint comes from blast furnace ironmaking. While carbon capture is technically feasible, the costs associated with storage (or better, absorption) of more than a billion tonnes of CO2 annually are not. Without this practical remedy, blast furnaces are increasingly seen as “legacy” technology, even by many steelmakers. It is now arguable, for example, that no new blast furnaces need or indeed should ever be built, since the existing complement is sufficient to generate the level of new iron stocks required to meet foreseeable demand growth.

Unless you choose to deny climate change altogether, it’s difficult if not impossible to envisage the achievement of internationally-ratified emissions targets without a significant reduction in steel demand – which would, of course, mean a down-sizing of the global industry.

The overall solution has to be global, of course, but there are evident ways in which

* Chair of the Iron and Steel Society (steel division) www.steeltimesint.com

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THE HOUR BEFORE DAWN

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developed countries could contribute positively without compromising their economies. The most effective would derive from a change in scrap use.

Taking the UK as an example, current scrap arisings (from steel at the end of life) are some 10Mtpa. Estimates of future trends vary, but all sources predict an increase. About 80% of this scrap is exported at present, but it’s widely accepted that this practice will become uneconomic as world scrap markets become saturated. Saturation is moreover inevitable – we’ve made the steel that’s destined to create a surfeit of scrap already (through the volume boom of the Noughties) and this recently-created steel will reach the end of its first application life in increasing amounts over the coming decades. The UK, in common with most other long-time steel-producing nations, is therefore inexorably progressing towards a choice between harnessing a valuable raw material or accommodating a profound waste problem.

If countries like the UK are to retain a steel industry, then a process practice conversion away from blast furnace ironmaking and towards steelmaking from scrap appears to be an imperative. Ultimately this will mean the predominance of electric steelmaking in the West, but for this a shift in power generation methods is also needed, since the embedded CO2 in electricity derived from fossil fuels is only slightly less than the direct CO2 from the blast furnace. The rate of change will moreover be moderated by the now-familiar problem that we’ve encountered throughout this essay series, namely that the steel industry cannot afford to re-equip with alternative process technology as long as the projected return on that investment remains low. One of the ironies of the scenario, indeed, is that the desirable ultimate solution of reduced steel demand would actually compound overcapacity in the existing industry, hence slowing down the conversion of existing production to low carbon methods.

Quality challenge There is, of course, a quality challenge too. Is recycled steel as good as new steel? By conventional quality measures, the answer has to be no – but the environmentalists’ counter-argument is that any material need only be as good as its application requires. Residuals such as copper and tin (as the major ones, though there are others) meanwhile degrade the properties of steel significantly, with ductility and surface condition declining most. Another irony of the system is that copper gets into the scrap stream mainly via car-crushers, while the high-value steel application most compromised by its presence is the deepdrawing of autobody.

We can and should sort scrap better. We can and should assess the manufacturing criticality of steel properties more reasonably, and learn to tolerate steel that’s good enough for its application instead of demanding near-perfect uniformity of properties along with excessive quality headroom. We can and should seek to improve the yields of all the downstream manufacturing processes, so that we need less fresh iron and generate less of the greenhouse gases that come with it.

Those examples of good practice are all disciplines that were considered unnecessary as long as steel was a commodity material with minimal environmental impact. The second part of that description has changed, however, and gives the global steel industry one more major headache as it strives to escape from the first part of the description.

In the next essay, we will look at today’s major technology changes in and around the steel industry and identify some ways that they will impact on future economic models. �

www.steeltimesint.com

11/10/2017 15:23:49

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18

IRON ORE

S&P turns its gaze to iron ore

S&P has just enhanced its information facilities by bringing out its initial iron ore and zinc reports.

Forming part of S&P’s Commodity Briefing Service (CBS), the reports focus on mine supply estimates, recent market developments and asset forecasts at asset- and country-level – a ‘mine to finished metal’ approach. By Michael Schwartz* AS part of its iron ore CBS, S&P looked at prevailing market conditions: there was initially a substantial difference between the major price rises of 2016 and afterwards a four-month period of correction, which has now resulted in a bottoming-out phase.

This situation has in turn been complicated by differing trends among the big four producers.

Most exceptional is the 8.3% increase in year-over-year output posted by Vale for H1 2017. BHP did not come close to Vale, as its increase was 4.7%. There was a further substantial difference regarding Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group, these two recording declines of 2% and 1.3%.

By coincidence, the CBS iron ore report follows The Iron Ore Market 2017, written

by S&P on behalf of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). This report points out that the mining industry as a whole is currently spending US$22/dry metric tonne (dmt) less on producing iron ore than it did in 2013.

Tightened capital controls, renegotiated contracts and the removal of high-cost

supply are cited as the reasons for this.

Indeed, US$34/t was the productionweighted average cost for seaborne iron ore in 2016.

The Chinese factor As part of the CBS report on iron ore, two S&P analysts, Maximilian Court and Sanjay Saraf, looked at imports into China. They note that there is resilience in seaborne imports of 62% iron products into China, reflecting a 16% year-on-year rise in June 2017. This has resulted in a total for this period of 94.4Mt, with a real input from Australia, the source of 63.4Mt out of the global total.

In fact, June is traditionally a month that witnesses a seasonal slowdown.

The authors attribute the rise to current robustness in Chinese steel-making, which is now seeing record daily production.

The future?

It is precisely this buoyancy which leads S&P to expect iron ore prices to stay at relatively elevated levels throughout Q3 2017. Short-

term weakness on a significant scale is not anticipated, although when S&P has built in a risk factor the expected average cost for mid- to high-grade iron ores is US$63/t, just a little under the prevailing level.

Further observations in the UNCTAD report are of a changing market. Slower growth, lower prices and squeezed profit margins in 2015 were balanced by 2016 trends when prices rose during most of the year, but have since fallen sharply in early 2017 before a more recent upward turn.

Australian exports boom The total given in the UNCTAD report for worldwide iron ore production in 2016 was 2,016 Mt. A primary reason for this was a boost to exports emanating from Australia: 30 Mt extra was supplied to China, meaning that iron ore exports for 2016 amounted to 1,513 MT, up from 2015’s 1,439 Mt. S&P’s report is available free of charge from: https://pages.marketintelligence. spglobal.com/mining-industry-research-andanalysis-resource-hub.html. �

* Iron ore and mining correspondent October 2017

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CONFERENCE REPORT

Hurdles and challenges

The Brazilian Steel Association (Aço Brasil) made a point of inviting Brazil’s 37th President, Michel Temer, and two of his Ministers (Finance and Industry) to speak at the organisation’s 28th Conference, which took place in Brasilia in late August 2018. It was seen as important to increase the political establishment’s awareness of the hurdles facing the Brazilian steel industry. By Germano Mendes de Paula* THE main difference between the 2017 conference and previous years was that this year the organiser paid greater attention to domestic issues. While many speakers mentioned the international competitive arena in general, and China in particular, the latter was not a theme for any specific presentation.

Japan

50

United States

China

160 140

40

120 30

100

20 10 0

selected countries, 1960-

60

2016 (ton steel/GDP

40

million 2010$).

20

Source: worldsteel

was 20% lower in 1980 compared to seven years earlier. This figure showed some recovery, but at its best (in 2007), it was 12% poorer than the top and this negative gap has increased thereafter.

The World Steel Association expects that China will follow a similar trajectory in relation to the aforementioned developed nations. The main driver will be the fact that Chinese steel intensity will probably diminish as its economy moves away from an investment-led model to one that is consumption-led. Steel intensity demonstrates how the state of economic development affects the level of steel consumed per unit of GDP. In general, steel intensity increases as GDP rises, but it starts falling at a certain point once the economy reaches a sufficiently high level of income.

Fig.1 shows the evolution of steel

2016

2012

2008

2004

2000

1996

1992

1988

1984

1980

1976

1972

1968

1964

0 1960

Global structural issues Bekir Baris Çiftçi, head of raw material at the World Steel Association (worldsteel), emphasised structural modifications regarding the global steel industry, such as: steel demand prospects; environmental challenges and opportunities; and global steel raw material markets. Çiftçi started an in-depth presentation by analysing the evolution of world steel consumption. After the boom, headed by China, between 2001-2013, the global steel industry entered a new phase. Over the past two decades, according to Çiftçi, worldwide steel demand used to reach 4-7% in terms of an annual growth rate.

However, worldsteel expects a much weaker expansion in the coming decades.

Chinese steel consumption peaked in 2013, and worldsteel believes that demand will remain stable in the near-term and decline in the medium-term. This projection is based on the previous experiences of the USA, Japan and Germany, where demand peaked in 1973. Their joint consumption

Fig 1. Steel intensity of

80

intensity over the period 1960-2016 for selected nations. The USA and Japan’s indexes showed a predominant downward trend, diminishing roughly to one third of their initial values. China doubled its ratio in the 1960s and has maintained a high level for many years. It’s most recent figure was some 40% below its peak and it would be reasonable to assume that steel intensity in China will shrink over the coming years, even without converging to the same level of the USA and Japan. Çiftçi also highlighted that some developing nations will register high growth rates of steel consumption, a process that will be championed by India and the ASEAN countries. It is expected that they will deliver the biggest annual consumption growth, over 5%. Nonetheless, this won’t be big enough to result in another period of

* Professor in Economics, Federal University of Uberlândia, Brazil. E-mail: germano@ufu.br October 2017

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CONFERENCE REPORT Structural Hi-income

Fig 2. Decomposition

Within sector

of productivity growth by region, 1990-2005

Asia

(%).

Source: Rodrik, Macmil-

Africa

lan and Verduzco-Gallo (2014) quoted by worldsteel

Latin-America -2.0%

-1.0%

0.0%

1.0%

2.0%

3.0%

4.0%

5.0%

Population, Urbanisation GDP per cap Steel use per cap

million

www.steeltimesint.com

Conference report Germano.indd 2

2015

2016

1,324 1,452

32.7 37.0

1.8

3.1

63

Mexico

128 141

79.2 81.8

9.6

10.8

198 131

Vietnam

95

33.6

1.7

2.7

236

Turkey

80 86

73.4 77.7

14.0

18.2

428 128

Brazil

208 220

85.7 87.8

10.7 12.9

87

76

1,045 1,080

80.4 82.3

45.5

381

80

103

2016

2015

2016

39.9

2025

kg

India

2016 2016 2007=100 144 218

Developed economies*

51.7

Table 1. Population, urbanization ratio, GDP per capita and steel use per capita of selected countries, 2007-2025.

Source: worldsteel

The iron and steel industry accounts for roughly 7% of global CO2 emissions. Çiftçi declared that the steel industry improved its environmental performance considerably, as the energy consumption per ton of crude steel produced was 60% lower in 2014 than it was in 1960. Nevertheless, there is still space for further improvement in environmental performance, not only through modernisation and higher diffusion of best available techniques, but also by the adoption of transformational innovative technologies and changes in the structure of steel production.

The speaker mentioned digitalisation, electric vehicles and the sharing economy as important technological factors.

Regrettably, he didn’t pay much attention to digitalisation, preferring to inform

in North America. Europe is expected to register a small decline.

Regarding population, Çiftçi stressed the increasing rate of urbanisation, the rising middle class, and the ageing population. The latter is becoming a global phenomenon as China leads the next elderly wave. By 2035, roughly 20% of the population in Europe, North America and China will be 65 years old or older, representing about the same share of the population below 25 years. This will affect steel consumption patterns.

Another important megatrend relates to the environment. Circular economy concepts are spreading with increasing impact on global steel demand, due to the four “Rs”: Recycle; Remanufacture; Re-use; and Reduce.

1400 Obsolete scrap

1200

Prompt scrap

1000 800

Fig 3. Global scrap

600

availability by type,

400

1900-2050 (Mt).

200

Source: worldsteel

2050

2040

2030

2020

2010

2000

1990

1980

1970

1960

1950

1940

1930

1920

1910

0 1900

strong global steel demand progress.

There are various features that will underpin steel consumption improvement in the developing nations, such as: a) a favourable demographic trend; b) a massive infrastructure shortage; c) ongoing urbanisation and industrialisation. Table 1 shows the prospects for population, the urbanisation ratio and GDP per capita (in $ 2010 prices) for selected countries. For instance, India will expand its population by 9.7% between 2016 and 2025, while its urbanisation ratio will amplify by 4.3 percentage points. More importantly, GDP per capita will skyrocket by 72.2%.

The improvement of these three factors combined should lead to a substantial rise in Indian steel demand.

On the other hand, according to worldsteel, Brazil’s population will expand 5.8% over the period 2016-2025; a slight amplification of 2.1 percentage points in terms of its urbanisation ratio is also foreseen; GDP per capita will increase 20.6%. In this context, the Brazilian steel market tends to show lower dynamism when compared with India.

Despite such interesting data provided by worldsteel, unfortunately, instead of showing the steel demand forecast for 2025, the speaker compared 2016 consumption vis-à-vis 2007. In the Indian experience, steel demand jumped 44%, whereas in Brazil, a 24% drop was observed. Çiftçi emphasised that a slower growing global population will dampen future steel demand growth rates. Indeed, the annual global population growth rate will plunge from about 1.1% in the 2010s to only 0.5% as of 2050. It is estimated that global population will amplify by 2.3bn, of which 1.3bn will be in Africa, 794 million in Asia, 141 million in Latin America and 76 million

% th real 2010 US$

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CONFERENCE REPORT

In any realistic scenario, Brazil will need to expand exports of semis and finished products in order to reach an acceptable utilisation level of 80%, leading to: - Production of 36 mtpy - Domestic consumption of 20 mtpy (20% growth over 2016) - Exports of 15-16 mtpy

Fig 4. Brazilian crude steel 13.2

30.2

Source: McKinsey. Note: Crude steel capacity considers only

17.0

operating plants

Production1

October 2017

Conference report Germano.indd 3

Domestic consumption

come mainly from obsolete scrap, which will be boosted by some 120% over the period 2016-2050 (dark blue area in Fig. 3). The respective number for prompt scrap will be 33% (light blue area), whereas for home scrap (green area), 20%.

The Brazilian steel industry Other speakers paid attention mainly to Brazil, which is facing a sharp political and economic crisis. Wieland Gurlit, senior partner at McKinsey, delivered an interesting presentation. According to Gurlit, excluding idle steelworks (such as Usiminas Cubatão and Gerdau Usiba), Brazilian crude steel nominal capacity is equivalent to 44.7Mt/yr, with a 68% current utilisation ratio. Brazil’s 30.2Mt total production is made up of domestic sales (17Mt) and exports (13.2Mt) – Fig. 4.

McKinsey’s base scenario is grounded in the recovery of domestic consumption to 20Mt over the 2016-2022 period. In order to reach an acceptable utilisation level of 80%, the Brazilian steel industry would have to amplify its exports to 15-16Mt/yr. In this context, Gurlit compared the role of exports in the 2002-2015 period with the ‘new normal’ (2016-2022). In the previous stage, exports of finished products were limited to 10%-15% of production. Exports could be 30,000 25,000

24,807

24,387

23,859

20,000

Fig 5. Brazilian finished steel product domestic

15,000

sales, 2013-2018 (kt).

16,525 Brazil’s GDP growth: 0.5% in 2017 2.5% in 2018-2019 3.0% in 2020-2028

10,000 5,000

Source: Brazilian Steel Institute

2028

2027

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2016

2015

0 2014

delegates that a recent study estimates that electric vehicle sales will surpass conventional petrol-powered cars by 2038.

In addition, he observed that the sharing economy is on an exponential growth path.

A progressive move up the value ladder from lower-productivity to higher productivity sectors, is critical for industrialisation and steel consumption. As illustrated in Fig. 2, Asia was successful in improving productivity, mainly because of greater efficiencies, but also due to larger productivity activities (called ‘structural’ in the graph). Latin America, on the other hand, exhibited negative impacts on structural change because a large proportion of labour moved towards lower productivity business.

Many developing nations have experienced premature de-industrialisation, losing manufacturing power to drive economic development and these two factors present additional threats to steel demand dynamism. De-industrialisation is defined as the process of falling manufacturing shares in both employment and real value added products. In this context, public policies should focus on establishing: a) an innovation and entrepreneurship culture; b) industrial R&D and technical education; c) industrial clusters; d) attraction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

He also highlighted that while the iron ore and metallurgical coal markets moved towards stability following the supercycle, there are concerns about quality deterioration and long-term metallurgical coal availability. Global scrap availability is expected to grow strongly in the coming years, increasing from 720Mt in 2016 to 1 billion tonnes in 2030 and even 1.3bn tonnes in 2050. Scrap availability will grow in the developing world, particularly in China. An increase in scrap availability will

Export

2013

Idle

2019

capacity, 2016 (Mt).

Crude steel capacity

characterised as opportunist, in the sense of a ‘Plan B’, aiming to compensate poor domestic demand. Sales were carried out by commodity products traders and the financial objective (of exports) was to ‘fill the plant’ with low margins.

In the new normal, according to McKinsey, the export ratio of Brazilian steel finished products will be inflated to 20%-30%. The external market will be understood as an integral part of commercial strategy, centred on a longterm relationship with key customers abroad. A full-range of products, including higher value-added ones, will be exported.

Regarding the financial goal, the companies will earn an acceptable margin to cover ongoing Capex and return to shareholders.

In the second part of his speech, Gurlit presented the Brazilian steel industry’s competitiveness drivers. Looking inside the plant, he tackled the positive factors (modern and competitive plant configurations; skilled labour, technicians and management), and negative ones (certain management practices, including low productivity of outsourced labour and a lack of dynamic optimisation of raw materials; slow diffusion of new technologies, such as the Internet of Things and digitalisation. Observing outside of the plant, except for overall competitive raw material and labour costs, the remaining issues are adverse. Consequently, the Brazilian steel industry faces substantial challenges to enhance its exports.

Marco Polo de Mello Lopes, executive president of the Brazilian Steel Association, stressed the severe crisis confronted by the sector. By late-2016 there were five blast furnaces, four steel shops, 10 rolling mills, two coke plants and two sintering plants idled or turned off. Over the 2014-2016 period, 46,788 employees were sacked and $3.2bn of investment was postponed.

14.5

2018

44.7

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CONFERENCE REPORT

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Considering a 50.4Mt/yr crude steel capacity, the industry is operating with a 63% utilisation rate, which is much lower than the ideal level of 80%-85%.

Mello Lopes showed that domestic sales have plummeted from 24.4Mt in 2013 to 16.5Mt in 2016. Based on a relatively optimistic forecast of GDP growth rates (0.5% in 2017, 2.5% in 2018 and 3.0% from 2019), only in 2028 will domestic sales recover to 2013 levels (Fig.5). If this estimation is correct, it will take 12 years to offset the diminution of demand verified in only three years. As a short-term relief, the Brazilian steel industry believes that the tax rebate (named ‘Reintegra program’) should increase from 2% to 5%. This measure would foster national exports by 10% and, as a consequence, an additional 434k direct and indirect jobs.

Sergio Leite de Andrade, CEO of Usiminas, analysed the Brazilian flat steel market, which enlarged from 9.2Mt in 2000 to 15.8Mt in 2013, but decreased to 10.4Mt in 2016. The company forecasts that it will recover partially to 10.9Mt in 2017, which was fairly similar to 2004 figures. He also paid attention to the performance of each important consuming sector of flat steel products. Over the first seven months of 2017 the automotive industry expanded its production by 22% y-o-y, underpinned by a 55% increase of exports, while domestic sales improved only 3%. Some segments of capital goods, such as agriculture and construction, showed considerable improvement, but remained some 30% lower than observed pre-crisis levels. Production of household appliances showed a minor production increase of 2%.

In 2016 Usiminas’ CEO said that 2013 Brazilian net indirect steel imports reached 2.5Mt. This amount diminished to 1.5Mt in 2015 and 0.7Mt in 2016. A strong amplification in automotive industry exports and a harsh drop in capital goods imports give rise to annualised 2017 figures of 0.2Mt net indirect imports. This is another way that the international trade has helped Brazilian steelmakers mitigate the severe impacts of the domestic crisis.

André Gerdau Johannpeter, CEO of Gerdau, discussed the Brazilian long steel market, which amplified from 7.4Mt in 2006 to 11.9Mt in 2013 and reverted to 7.7Mt in 2016. Not only has the market reduced in the last three years, but new players have entered the market. Construction, which corresponds to 65% of the country’s long steel demand, remained low in 2017, even falling in comparison with 2016.

This sector has been severely affected by credit restraint and low infrastructure investment. The company expects the nation’s long steel market to recuperate from 2018 onwards. Not surprisingly, exports improved from 1.2Mt in 2013 to 1.7Mt in 2016, as a way to help the companies survive.

Frederico Ayres Lima, CEO of Aperam South America, highlighted that consumption of flat stainless steel dropped 23% from 2013 to 2016. The respective number for grain-oriented electrical steel was 26% and for non-oriented electrical steels, 29%. The firm expects a minor recovery of the three products in 2017 in contrast to the previous year. Despite an unsatisfactory short-term performance, Aperam believes there is huge potential for growth. For example, the apparent consumption per capita of stainless steel in Brazil was 1.7kg/inhabitant in 2014, against 2.8kg/inhabitant in Mexico. Somehow, the long-term rather than the short-term period seems brighter for Brazilian steelmakers.

“Brazil is a country of the future”, said Austrian writer Stefan Zweig in the 1940s, and this seems more realistic than ever before. � October 2017

Conference report Germano.indd 4

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10/10/2017 10:48:32

24

IRONMAKING

Keep it running if you can Coke oven repair should be undertaken by a reputable contractor with the organisational ability to achieve the highest possible production rate and the fastest availability of repaired ovens for production. Never award a repair contract based solely on cost. By Mirjam Ballon* “NEVER leave an oven with a crack unrepaired – it is like cancer, it is a tumor” mentioned Frederic Honnart at this year’s EUROCOKE 2017 conference in Dusseldorf in a discussion about maintenance of coke oven batteries.

Coke ovens are producing coke to be used in the blast furnaces and the quality of their products is essential for steel producers. A lack of production or less quality can become a nightmare for the plant operator. In addition the gas resulting from the coking process is used either for internal energy consumption at the plant, for power generation in the neighborhood or to generate chemical by-products.

Due to economic changes and environmental impact, the steel industry in Europe has shrunk already to a limited number of steel mills and coke plants. It is difficult to get permission for building new facilities due to European, national and regional law. Therefore, the owner of the plant needs to utilise the installed base as much and as long as possible.

But also in other countries the pressure on the industry increases and the plant owner has to decide what measures need to be taken to minimise the environmental impact of operations and to utilise their assets as much and as long as possible.

When you focus on ‘modern’ batteries with chamber heights of more than 6m, which were built since 1960, three main factors need to be considered resulting from this kind of construction: • The investment costs are higher than for smaller, old fashioned batteries – therefore the investors want to use them

ENVIRONMENT

CAPEX

SAFETY

PROFIT

OPEX

Fig. 1

for as long as possible • The static stability has reached its limit – and needs to be monitored continuously, and the stress on walls, anchoring, and mechanical parts are high.

• The operational conditions, like flue temperature and coking time, are maximised to their physical limits and cause extremely high thermal and mechanical strains.

Therefore, a modern coke plant operator has to juggle with different challenges and needs to balance different forces such as: • CAPEX and OPEX. • Highest safety standards with limited resources of manpower and maybe limited specialised labour.

• The demands of shareholders.

• Increasingly stringent environmental legislation pressures.

Factors such as energy management and limited access to high quality coal resources also make the job less easy.

In a coke plant the maintenance and repair requirements increase with the age of the asset up to a point where major parts need to be renewed to allow further production.

The average life time of a battery can be estimated to be around 25 to 35 years depending on the design.

The structural status and thus the expected service life of a coke oven battery surely does not only depend on the coke oven battery´s age, but in particular on its total coke production and on the operating

* Managing director, ThyssenKrupp Uhde Engineering Services October 2017

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IRONMAKING

and maintenance practice of its operator.

Under normal operation conditions, including regular maintenance, the lifetime of those batteries can be extended by major rehabilitations up to 50 years.

Damage patterns and causes Comparing the structural status of coke oven batteries, which were operated in a comparable mode for 15 or 20 years, one will frequently realise that the damage pattern of these plants is often very similar.

Defects most frequently observed in the refractory brickwork are deformation of heating walls, vertical cracks and brick spalling adjacent to the end flues, building of horizontal gaps at the brick joints, brick edge spalling at the oven sole level, heating wall centre and oven crown, chocking and/ or brick fusion in the regenerator checker brickwork, worn-out oven soles as well as over expanded, uneven and leaky oven tops.

Where oven equipment is concerned, problems occur such as excessively deformed buckstays, door jambs, and flashplates, constrained or cracked cross-tie rods, overheated or broken springs of the oven top bracing, inclination of standpipes, deformed collecting main bodies, damage to the oven closure systems and machine defects.

Damaged refractory material and deformed mechanical equipment components reflect a weakening of the total building structure.

Often higher emissions from the battery

Renewal of buckstays, refitting of control press

Repair/renewal of roof

ANC

ENH

VALUE COS

T OP

Fig. 2

TIM

ISAT

ION

stack, at the doors and in the area of the oven top are observed. If at all possible, it can be mastered and counteracted by spending substantial time and costs on maintenance.

Today a plant does not only have to produce as much coke as possible, with the highest quality, but this has to be realised with less energy and the lowest environmental impact possible, not forgetting the permanently diminishing resources. Often the highest coal quality coal is not available and as a consequence all operation and maintenance measures have to be adjusted to an optimum.

Modern asset management implies a 360° view on all plant activities, like excellent HSE performance, total compliance to relevant statutory requirements and standards (also environmental), the continuous improvement of the reliability and availability of the units as well as

Renewal of heating flue and charging hole seal

Repair/renewal of stand pipes

productivity and quality. Above this the life cycle costs must be optimised permanently for energy, maintenance, wastages and, of course, for raw materials, consumables and spares.

Overall the Return on Capital Employed (RoCE) should be improved.

The main steps of asset management planning consist of engineering, planning and scheduling of all maintenance and repair activities and the execution of all service activities.

In the engineering phase, all maintenance options, strategies and procedures will be defined and the performance and condition of the plant units will be monitored. The measures and associated costs will often be analysed using a computerised maintenance management system (CMMS). Sometimes technical improvements will be suggested.

Finally, maintenance intervals will be adjusted and safety strategies as well as training programmes need to be prepared.

During maintenance planning and scheduling all processes at the plant will be incorporated and priorities for the execution of the maintenance tasks defined. Logistical requirements as well as the availability of required workshops need to be considered too. The procurement of required material and subcontractors as well as the integration and balancing of the production and maintenance requirements need to be done at the right time.

In order to create a secure basis for a successful battery repair it is necessary

Refitting of water sealing Repair/renewal of collection main

Renewal of tierods Apply of FLEXIT -doors

Ceramic welding of heating wall damages Renewal of header bricks and end flues Repair of oven sole

E

ANC

ORM

F PER

FE & LI

NT EME

25

Oven sole

New bricklining Checker bricks Remaining bricklining Remaining bricklining (view) Door bricks New steel - and cast iron parts Renewal of regenerator wall

Fig. 3

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IRONMAKING

WORK PROGRESS Insulation

Bulk head

Bracing

First oven in production

Empty oven Heating up

Fig. 4

to execute a careful and comprehensive inspection to record the current status of all the important equipment components of a coke oven battery.

In co-operation with the client the results and visual proposals for rehabilitation are evaluated and documented and the documentation is the basis for maintenance and repair planning. It includes the evaluation of the condition of the refractories, the mechanical parts and the machines as well as the observations made of the heating and gas system.

Deliveries of refractory materials, metallic parts and spare parts are an important part of a successful asset management strategy and should be treated on a par with the supply planning of coal.

A material management and quality control system is essential and consists of material supply and quality planning, evaluating of potential suppliers, logistical and expediting potential and material quality control abilities.

As illustrated in Fig. 3, different parts of a battery can be affected which need attention and repairs. Accessibility is important especially when we realise that the battery is under operation.

In coke ovens ‘Hot Repairs’ – repairs during operation – are often necessary and have their own key priorities, which will be described in detail.

Due to wear and tear key measures need to be differentiated by the frequency of application.

During maintenance, regular sealing and mechanical adjustments (springs) as well as smaller repairs like ceramic welding, grouting, panel patching, guniting and spraying will be executed. Removal of graphite deposits at the charging holes are October 2017

Ironmaking M balloon.indd 3

Build up of brickling

Demolition

New lining

Empty oven

Remaining lining

Sliding joint

Cooling down

Last oven in production

also part of maintenance activities.

During partial and emergency repairs mechanical equipment, like single damaged doors and doorframes, armour plates, deformed buckstays or cracked springs and tierods, will be renewed. Sometimes the refractory is destroyed – mainly at the end flues, but also complete walls will be changed. The oven roof as well as the floor, corbel area and regenerator are sometimes so seriously damaged that an urgent repair is required. Usually smaller maintenance measures will suffice until more ovens become critical and a major refurbishment at the battery, executed in consecutive sequences, will be required.

These refurbishments include the change of mechanical items as well as the renewal of the refractories in the affected zones.

The refractory brickwork and mechanical equipment of the coke oven batteries are constantly exposed to high thermal and mechanical loads during their operational life, leading to banked tensions that can bring operational disruption, production losses and raised pollutant emissions.

The reconstruction of heating walls, heating flues and roof sections allow the repaired coke ovens to run for many more years. All methods, however, secure a maximum possible coke production during the repair.

Whereas through-wall repairs become mandatory when serious damage occurs, especially in the centre of the oven, end flue repairs refer to damages in the front part of the heating wall due to thermal shocks during pushing. Heating walls consist of Silica material, which has a high extension co-efficient. The front end of the ovens will be opened regularly so that the first flues will be affected by cool air, which causes

shrinkage, and after closure of the doors fast extension due to heating up again. As a result of these repeated structural changes, the destructions start at the wall ends first.

Often only the refurbishment of the end flues can lead to longer operation (10-15 years) of the whole battery.

When an end flue repair is planned, operation and project management of the repair project try to find the optimal sequence of ovens to be repaired to minimise the outfall of production.

During repair there are more ovens out of production as are repaired – groups of three to five heating walls are optimal. There are also buffer ovens under hot idle condition or with longer coking time neighboring the repair groups as can be seen in Fig. 4.

The essential element of a successful and in-time rehabilitation is an integral approach. It is also determined by the knowledge level of the executing company.

A coke oven repair does not only need refractory masons to repair the silica block – the refractory specialists must also have knowledge of the whole system, like the bracing system and what is particularly important about the gas flow and the heating. As the heating gas will be exchanged in the adjacent heating flues and the regenerators below, leakages and incorrect adjustments can lead to gas explosions. On the other hand, heating is important to avoid cracks in the remaining brickwork and temperatures must be monitored throughout the whole repair.

It is vital, therefore, that the repair team is entirely responsible for the heating adjustment in the repair area.

In older batteries asbestos could be present and this needs to be identified and removed professionally. In the repaired groups it will be substituted by ceramic fibre sealings.

When a coke producer plans a partial repair, like an end flue or a through wall repair, the main aim is to achieve maximum production, which can be realised despite the outfall of the repaired ovens. The decision for an appropriate contractor for this kind of repair should not be based on costs, but mainly on the organisational ability of the company to achieve the highest possible production rate and the fastest availability of the repaired ovens for production.

Each day of reducing the planned schedule is one step further towards a return on investment. � www.steeltimesint.com

11/10/2017 09:42:31

Industrial Solutions for Service

360° Service We deliver service solutions throughout the entire life cycle of your plant to enhance our customers’ competitiveness. That’s what we call 360° Service. www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com

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IRONMAKING

Emission reduction for coking plants The PROven® system was developed in the 1990s by DMT to allow coke plant operators to control and stabilise oven pressure by decoupling it from the collecting main pressure. This creates a lower inner chamber pressure that results in reduced gas leakage. By Dr. Frank Sowa* Coke is essential for the production of iron and steel. Nearly 65% of worldwide steel production takes place via the so-called pig iron (hot metal) route, which is the production of steel in the blast furnace from iron ore by use of coke.

Environmental issues are a big challenge during coke production, which is achieved by the carbonisation of coal to coke in coke oven batteries which may consist of up to 85 individual ovens. During the process from coal to coke, crude coke oven gas is formed. Coke oven gas is a valuable by-product of the coking process, but it contains a number of toxic or environmentally hazardous substances such as hydrogen sulfides (H2S), ammonia (NH3) or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). These substances play an important role with regard to the environmental assessment of the coking process. Byproduct plants in the gas line are able to sequester or convert those pollutants into usable and valuable by-products. But where fugitive emissions are concerned, emitted from leaks in the coking chambers, like coke oven doors and lids, there is still room for improvement.

The PROven® (Pressure Regulated Oven) system, invented and developed in the 1990s by DMT, allows coke plant operators to control and stabilise the oven pressure by decoupling it from the collecting main pressure. By doing this, a lower inner chamber pressure can be obtained, resulting in less gas leaking. Tests during the product development stage showed that emissions from diffuse sources, like dust and PAH, through the coke oven doors and lids, can be reduced significantly.

Conventional approaches to reduce leaking pollutants were revealed to be

not as effective as required as they do not sufficiently solve the main problem, that of high pressure in the coke oven chamber during the carbonisation phase. Therefore, combining a well-working sealing of doors and lids with the regulation of inner chamber pressure is the most promising way. As all ovens are directly connected to one collecting main, its pressure is decisive for all ovens at the same time.

Due to different carbonisation progress in each oven, individually differing gas volumes have to be exhausted into the collecting main, which also results in distinguishing oven pressures, making an overall simultaneous pressure control of all ovens impossible. Therefore, individual pressure control of each oven is the solution of choice.

The conventional valve separating the oven from the collecting main has only two modes: Open while charging and during the coking process (poven = pcollecting standpipe lid closed) and closed while main pushing (poven = Patm standpipe lid opened). Hence, oven pressure cannot be regulated and adapted to the different levels of gas formation during the carbonisation process. A high positive oven pressure in the initial coking phase after charging causes pollutants to leak through diffuse sources during carbonisation.

Furthermore, a huge amount of charging gas has to be discharged during the charging process. Sucking these gases into the collecting main is commonly achieved by using supplementary steam or water injection to increase the suction.

The PROven® system is able to regulate the pressure of each coke oven individually towards a set point by decoupling it from the collecting main pressure.

More than 2,100 PROven systems have been successfully implemented into coke plants worldwide over the last 20 years.

About 45 – 60 % of the emissions from

Fig 1. PROven in operation

* Head of Cokemaking Engineering, DMT GmbH & Co. KG October 2017

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IRONMAKING

diffuse sources result from leakages from doors, 10 – 20 % from lids, and another 10 – 20 % during charging and pushing conventional coke plants. The PROven system can reduce emissions by up to 70 %. Fig. 2 shows that the decrease of leaking pollutants is even visible as less fumes come out of the oven with the installed system.

PROven new generation In recent years PROven has been developed further (Fig. 1) and several improvements have been made.

The most important parts of the system are the crown pipe with slots at the bottom and a rotatable water cup with a

permanent overflow (Fig. 3). The system is driven by pneumatic cylinders. The water sealing system makes PROven resistant to blockages and fouling.

The functioning of the PROven system consists of three modes: • Charging mode: charging takes place when the crown pipe is completely out of the water cup and extended to its maximum height. This leads to the maximum cross section area for the gas flow and allows huge amounts of gas to leave the oven and enter the collecting main.

By working under negative pressure in the collecting main, it is now possible to suck high amounts of charging gases into the

29

collecting main without any supplementary injection of water or steam.

Constantly spraying ammonia liquor for gas quenching and cooling into the gooseneck and thus into the PROven system has positive side effects. A constant overflow of the rotatable cup is achieved which permanently discharges buoyant particles. The ability to rotate the cup enhances the discharge of particles with water, especially tar and lumps of graphite.

In association with coke oven charging the cup is rotated downwards discharging any solids and leading to an all-in-all selfcleaning system.

• Control mode (during coking): the crown pipe is partly dipped in the water-

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IRONMAKING

Fig 2. Door emissions without and with PROven

filled cup. A constant flow of water over the edge of the cup results in a constant water level. The crown pipe can move vertically. In this way, the cross section area for the gas flow can be regulated due to partly closing the slots in the crown pipe. A changing cross section area enlarges or reduces flow resistance and, therefore, has a direct influence on the pressure ratio between the coke oven and collecting main. This decouples the coke oven pressure from the collecting main pressure, which is essential for achieving the goals of less gas leakage.

Partly dipping the crown pipe into the water cup during the coking process makes individual pressure regulation of each coke oven possible. The vertical position of the crown pipe has a direct impact on the pressure ratio and can be readjusted during carbonisation. By measuring the pressure in the goose neck of each oven, it is now possible to keep the pressure in the oven at a constant set point during the varying levels of gas development during the coking process while the collecting main remains always under suction (negative pressure).

The precise movement of the crown pipe in and out of the constant water level in the cup ensures a fast pressure regulation reacting to any change in circumstances. • Pushing mode: the crown pipe is fully dipped in the water cup. Fully dipping the crown pipe into the water closes the slots, which hinders both the gas from the coke oven and the collecting main gases to exceed the static water pressure.

October 2017

Ironmaking proven.indd 3

During pushing of the oven the collecting main has to be separated from the oven to avoid any ingress of air into the collecting main. The coke oven is sealed from the collecting main by fully dipping the crown pipe into the water cup, thus the PROven system separates the oven from the collecting main.

Those settings allow the operator to react to all processes in the coke oven, which have an impact on inner chamber pressure.

This contains any changes in the outer or inner circumstances and especially the three main process steps of coking, charging and pushing.

A crude and aggressive environment

such as that created by coke oven gas makes a rugged design important. Small and sensitive parts would suffer from tar deposits. Therefore, this next generation PROven system comes with a simple and robust design which makes the whole system less prone to blockages and fouling and enables a fast and direct pressure regulation at the same time. The next generation of PROven can be retrofitted to the coke plant entirely outside the collecting main. Implementing it outside the collecting main makes a modification of the existing collecting main unnecessary, leading to lower installation costs. The new system has already been successfully retrofitted and tested in a 25-year-old coke oven. It was mounted outside the collecting main, between the collecting main valve and standpipe, and worked for eight months until it was deinstalled again, which proved that the system works under really rugged conditions. For the installation of the system the oven was taken out of operation for one shift, meaning that the rest of the battery and the by-product plant continued working. This allows the retrofitting of the whole battery, oven-by-oven, without significant interruption in operation.

The system can be implemented into coke ovens of all ages and keeps them fit for increasing environmental regulations.

Installation between coke oven and collecting main in particular presents an uncomplicated solution for the revamping of existing coke plants and this means that the PROven system enhances the lifetime of a coke oven battery by improving the environmental conditions. ďż˝

Fig 3. Crown pipe and water cup

Oven is on the main ready for charging poven = pcoll. main

Pressure regulation during coking process poven ≠pcoll. main

Oven is off the main ready for pushing poven = patm

crown pipe open standpipe lid closed

crown pipe moves vertically standpipe lid closed

crown pipe dipped in water standpipe lid open

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MAINTENANCE

Improving furnace roll reliability Atlas Machine and Supply was approached by a major steel manufacturer and asked to develop methods to improve overall reliability of steel mill furnace rolls. To accomplish this, the company would need to develop methods to inspect new, used and failed furnace rolls to determine why they fail and how to avoid it. By Jeremy J Rydberg*

PREMATURE furnace roll failure cannot be reliably prevented with current manufacturing and inspection methods.

Atlas Machine and Supply conducted a study of the furnace roll supply chain to evaluate current practices in order to increase reliability and reduce the risk of in-service failures. Furnace rolls, also known as hearth rolls, are used extensively in the steel making industry. They are a critical component for any continuous aluminising or galvanising line and responsible for safely handling the sheet through the heat-treating furnace. A plant’s ability to produce quality steel is directly related to the performance of these rolls. Poor roll designs, manufacturing flaws and the increased physical stress put on rolls by advanced high strength steels (AHSS) all contribute to the premature failure of furnace rolls and ultimately unplanned plant outages. It is reported that a single roll failure can cost a plant as much as $750,000 in lost production, ruined product, and maintenance labour. Current methods of evaluating new and used rolls to predict and prevent failure in service are inadequate and rarely performed.

In May 2015, Atlas Machine and Supply began working on more effective nondestructive examination (NDE) processes to discover what causes premature roll failure and develop solutions for these causes. Traditional NDE practices for furnace rolls frequently went unused by suppliers and end users, but included verifying roll material chemistry, a visual inspection, and fluorescent liquid dye penetrant (FLP) testing. Our initial focus was to begin utilising phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) in addition to traditional methods in order to see flaws below the surface of the

roll. Traditionally PAUT does not perform well in materials with long grain structure materials like cast high temperature stainless steel, but recent developments in hardware and PAUT technique for the nuclear industry had shown promise and it was believed we could apply these advancements to furnace rolls in the steel industry.

In order to begin testing advanced PAUT methods a calibration block was constructed from a failed furnace roll provided by a major steel producer. Since all failure examples that had been seen up to this point were in the weld joint between the static cast end bell and the centrifugally cast body, the calibration block material was taken from this joint in the roll.

Known defects where machined into the block per ASME guidelines and included two drilled holes, one in the body side weld fusion line and one at the end bell weld fusion line, and an ID notch.

With the calibration block Atlas began working with a 3rd party NDE service provider and the PAUT equipment OEM to develop an effective procedure for detecting

Fig. 1 Phased Array UT Coupon and Scanner

the known flaws in the block. The methods developed by this team have proven effective with some minor limitations.

Since the materials are cast and are of varying chemistry and grain structure the dimensional accuracy of the PAUT is reduced. The reduction in accuracy is not substantial enough to prevent a welder or machinist from finding and excavating a defect, but would prevent them from accurately reporting the wall thickness of the roll. The other limitation is that PAUT is not effective at seeing the first .100� of examined surface and can only see defects

Fig 2. Failed HN Furnace Roll

* Vice president, business development, Atlas Machine and Supply October 2017

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MAINTENANCE

33

Fig 3. Coupon from foundry without FEA design or

Fig 4. Coupon from foundry with FEA design or Radiog-

Radiography

raphy

.100� or deeper. Because of this limitation, surface inspections with fluorescent dye penetrant (FDP) are still required.

Once the PAUT inspection method was developed, a major American steel manufacturer began supplying Atlas with new and used rolls from a variety of manufacturers for inspection.

There were several purposes for these inspections including learning how effective the new PAUT process was at finding indications, determining if a technician could use the PAUT report to excavate the flaw, and if the roll was qualified to return to service. Of the first three rolls inspected, two had minor indications showing from the FLP and the third was clean. The PAUT also found the third roll to be free of defects, but found significant sub-surface defects in the other two rolls. One defect was severe enough that we believe the roll body was 60% detached from the end bell. These defects were later determined to be cracks forming from the inside out that propagated from lack of fusion and incomplete joint penetration at the weld root. Attempts to excavate the cracks from the outside ultimately separated the rolls in two. Continued testing of new and used furnace rolls proved that the combination of FLP and PAUT was an effective method for determining if a roll was qualified for service and could be used to determine a repair procedure for the roll.

Following the inspection of several furnace rolls, Atlas began auditing material suppliers and discussing issues with end users to identify what factors reduced furnace roll reliability.

Several factors came into play but the most significant were poor welding craftsmanship, poor casting quality and a poor choice of filler metals.

By design, furnace roll materials

have high yield strengths at elevated temperatures but this also means they are not very ductile at room temperature.

Materials with low ductility are inherently difficult to weld and prone to solidification cracks and heat affected zone cold cracking.

To remedy the welding difficulty many roll manufactures choose filler materials that are over-alloyed with higher nickel content than the base metals. This improves weldability, but ultimately the inconsistency in chemistry in the weld joint reduces roll reliability. The variances in chemistry in the weld joint create differences in the coefficient of thermal expansion between the weld area and base materials. As rolls are thermally cycled in service, these variances create very high levels of stress in the weld joint causing minor defects to grow and eventually lead to premature roll failure. To improve roll reliability, rolls should be manufactured with as few defects as possible with filler metals of matching chemistry.

In May 2015, Atlas Machine and Supply

began developing weld procedures for furnace rolls that would allow for producing a roll with filler metal that had similar chemistry and CTE to the base material and that could be welded nearly defect-free. Atlas also identified material suppliers, audited several foundries and procured sample weld coupons for weld testing. During the audits a wide range of quality control procedures and methods where observed. Pricing also varied greatly, the same pair of end bells was quoted from $10,800-$38,700 between each of the audited foundries. The most common practices to verify casting quality was visual inspection and LP. The foundries that appeared to produce the most reliable castings also used FEA pattern making and pouring software and radiography to insure parts are produced properly.

The differences in the sample provided correlated with cost and improved processes. The cleanest sample and best weld joint came from a foundry that used FEA software and radiography but was also towards the higher end of the price scale.

The cast weld coupons took several weeks to produce. During the down time Atlas developed approximate weld procedures by welding on readily available tubes of 304ss.

Initial weld tests were performed using existing weld procedures for similar alloys in MIG and Sub Arc but with filler metal similar to HN and MO-RE1. The adopted weld procedures, as expected, had issues that needed to be solved. These included solidification cracks, cold cracking in the heat effected zone, and stop cracks at each weld termination.

As weld development continued, the

Fig 5. Example of solidification cracking (Vertical)

Fig 6. Example of stop crack and HAZ cracking (Horizontal)

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MAINTENANCE

Fig 7. HAZ crack 2

Fig 8. Weld sample with more complete foundry controls

Fig 9. Weld sample with less foundry controls

Fig 10. HAZ crack 1

Fig 11. Root crack

Fig 12. Weld coupon being TIG

key to eliminating issues proved to be to keep the heat input as low as possible. Experiments were performed with low amperage spray transfer GMAW welding and short arc GMAW welding. Atlas was not able to produce a weld with consistent fusion utilising short arc processes and decided on a spray transfer GMAW process for further testing. The spray transfer GMAW process was used to test weld the coupons provided by the foundries. The same weld procedure was used on each sample in order to demonstrate how the base metal effected weld quality. Fig. 9 shows the weld in material from a lower cost foundry. This weld sample had cracks in the dilution zone between the sample casting and weld metal. The casting from a higher cost foundry (Fig. 8) with more thorough foundry control methods did not have any surface indications, metallography examination was performed for further evaluation and three indications were found in the weld. They included a root crack and two HAZ cracks.

The weld joint design was successfully changed to an open root design in order to eliminate the root crack. Testing continued with adjustments to a spray transfer GMAW October 2017

Atlas.indd 3

welding process to remove the HAZ cracks.

During testing it was determined that the process window for successful GMAW welding was very narrow and that when the HAZ cracks were eliminated other defects where created. The GMAW process was abandoned in favour of GTAW welding.

GTAW welding development is ongoing and was selected because of lower heat inputs and the ability to separate arc control and wire feed. Weld coupons have been produced in HN and MO-RE1 without defects detectable by PAUT, LP or metallography.

Developing methods for improving furnace roll reliability has proven challenging, but successful. The implementation of PAUT can reliably detect weld joint defects and can be used to determine if a roll should be put in to service. Improvements in raw material supply can help improve material weldability and defect-free welding with matching chemistry and can be accomplished on many furnace roll materials. Implementing these practices can provide visibility to the risk of premature roll failure and offer methods to reduce those risks.

Through destructive and nondestructive examination methods it was determined that the leading causes of premature roll failure stemmed from poor weld filler metal choices, poor welding craftsmanship and low quality castings.

To improve furnace roll reliability Atlas has qualified materials and suppliers, developed qualified weld procedures, and developed NDE methods to qualify new and used rolls for service. It is expected that implementation of these methods will lead to improved furnace roll reliability. ďż˝ This article is based on a paper presented

by Jeremy J Rydberg at ESTAD 2017 in Vienna. www.steeltimesint.com

10/10/2017 11:02:47

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ROLLING

37

Digital leads to smoother operation Replacement of obsolete analogue motor control by digital in the reheat furnace extractor mechanisms provides smoother operation, eliminates slab over-runs and enables interfacing of discharge with existing mill automation. Also, a laser thickness gauge placed before the roughing stand has eliminated thickness errors passed by the furnace operator. By A Prasad*, R Choudhary*, Dr S Chaudhuri* , A K Biswal*, S K Verma**, C S Seshu**, S Shukla** and R K Purohit** THE plate mill of the Bhilai Steel Plant is designed to produce plates in the thickness range of five to 120mm for ships, bridges, structures, boilers and pipes. This mill determines the profitability of the plant. The slabs from the continuous casting shop are heated to 1300°C in one of three re-heat furnaces prior to rolling to the required thickness and length. The slab extractor mechanism is responsible for discharging slabs from the reheat furnace and placing them on the roller table as shown in Fig 1.

The slabs then pass through a descaler and on to the roughing stand via a manipulator for initial reduction before passing to the finishing stand for rolling to the required dimensions.

The slab extractor mechanism and roughing stand performance are critical for mill operation as the rolling process is initiated by these mechanisms. Each of the three re-heat furnaces has two rows for placing the slabs inside the furnace.

For each row there is a slab extractor mechanism driven by a 60kW separately excited DC motor. In the old system, the speed control of these drives was through analogue devices using controller cards.

At times, due to loss of feedback voltage because of faulty cards or otherwise, they gave out an erroneous correction of the speed loop to the drive, which resulted in the drive moving at a high speed. This resulted in mechanical damage to the arms and to the furnace. The electrics of these drives were based on obsolete technology with components prone to frequent failures. These drive panels were placed at the 5m level in the electrical room which

is generally unmanned. Being analogue, the drives could not be interfaced with an existing modern automation system networked in the plate mill. In addition, any electrical fault in the slab extractor mechanism could not be seen by the operator in the electrical control room at ground level and it took appreciable time to attend to a fault in the system.

Secondly, in the plate mill, the mapping of slabs charged into the furnace is performed manually. The manual mapping of slabs by the operator resulted at times

Fig 1. Slab extractor mechanism

in charging mistakes which also resulted in discharging mistakes passing incorrect slab thickness information to the roughing mill operator. The variations in thickness of the slabs was as much as 20mm. This resulted in the tripping of the roughing stand main drive motors due to overdraught set by the operator and based on incorrect thickness.

This resulted in mill stoppage due to the overload and further could lead to cobbles of the rolled plate and hammering of the drive motors.

To overcome these problems and optimise the operational efficiency of the slab extractor mechanism and roughing stand

draught setting, a cost effective scheme comprising digital DC drives and laser sensors was designed and implemented in February 2017 in the plate mill of Bhilai Steel Plant.

Digital drive control In the first stage, the approach was to study in detail the existing analogue DC drive panels of the extractor mechanism. The six slab extractors are numbered 35A-35B, 45A-45B and 55A-55B. The convertor of each DC drive is fed from its standalone transformer rated at 350kVA, ∆ ∕ Y 11, 11kV/450V. Since there is a standalone transformer for each drive panel, the input choke requirement in the drive panel was removed. To further reduce the cost of the new drive system, it uses the existing output choke and line contractor as shown in Fig 2. This also helped to commission the new drive with minimum mill shut down time. A new hot reserve drive panel was installed and the system designed so that it could be connected to either ‘A’ or ‘B’ power bus using a knife switch. The hot reserve panel provides redundancy to the new drive panels 35A, 45A, 55A and 35B, 45B, 55B. In case of a problem in any of the drive panels connected to A bus, the hot reserve drive panel can be connected to the motor through A bus and the defective drive panel isolated from that bus using the knife switch. Similarly such a change-over is possible for any drive panel connected to B bus. Thus one drive panel acts as reserve for all six active drive panels with the limitation that it can replace only one defective panel at a time. Each new drive panel was

*R&D Centre for Iron and Steel, SAIL, Ranchi, India **Plate Mill, Bhilai Steel Plant, India email: ashitpd@sail-rdcis.com www.steeltimesint.com

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ROLLING

Fig 2. Design of slab

11KV

extractor drive Laser sensor

LBS 350 KVA 11KV/450V ∆ /Y 11 450V

Control supply a) 3ďż˝ 350V b) 220V D.C

35A 500 AMp.

MCCB 630 A (min)

460 V DC

Reactor Isolator

LC

Chain for moving the arm for maintenance

KS Min 500 Amp at 50oC 460V (new drive panel)

Maintenance platform

Hot slab on roller table

M 60 KW, 220V 300 Amp. 540 rpm Field fixed - 5 Amp

provided with a communication card to interface it with the existing automation network of the mill via a communication bus. This makes it easier for slab extractor monitoring and fault diagnostics from the electrical control room at ground level.

Errors mapping slabs The roughing stand operator in the control pulpit was responsible for cross checking the slab thickness given by the furnace operator. Errors in mapping the slabs in the furnace sometimes resulted in the incorrect slab thickness being given to the mill pulpit by the furnace operator. To overcome this problem a slab thickness gauge with large display was placed near the entry side of the roughing stand so that the operator can see the thickness of the slab to be passed through the roughing stand. This enables the correct reduction draft to be set at the roughing stand. The selection of a thickness gauge was made based on the prime requirement of the operator and the location was, therefore, finalised near the manipulator just before the roughing stand.

A laser thickness gauge based on the time of flight principle was selected, which was more cost effective compared to thickness gauges based on laser triangulation or nucleonic devices. Water and air pipe lines were laid for lens cleaning and cooling of the device. For ease of maintenance, the mounting arm of the laser sensor was made retractable so that it can be moved off-line if any cleaning or checking of the laser sensor is required (Fig 3).

Operating efficiency Smooth functioning of the slab extractor October 2017

Rolling SAIL.indd 2

Fig 3. Arrangement of the laser thickness gauge

is imperative for initiation of the rolling process. Any aberation in the electrical system such as change in speed with jerks or sudden stoppage of the motor has an effect on the extractor mechanism structure. To keep the mechanical structure in shape it is important to have smooth speed control of the drive motors. The new digital drive installed for the slab extractor mechanism has smoothed the operation of the slab extractors. Jerks in the mechanism are eliminated with smooth ramp up

Fig 4. Thickness display seen from pulpit

during acceleration and ramp down during deceleration of the drive. The chance of mechanical damage to the furnace and slabs as a result of over-travel by the slab extractor arms, as sometimes happened with the former analogue drives, has been eliminated with the installation of new digital drives. The new drives have also been interfaced with the Siemens S7-400 network of the mill. The drive window has resulted in faster drive diagnostics, which was not possible with the old drives. The tuning and study of drive behaviour has also become simpler with the provision

of connectivity to a laptop PC through a COM8 card. Moreover, the new drives are connected in parallel to the old ones so that, in a case of failure of the new drives, the mechanism can be shifted to the old drive until the problem is rectified. With such a reserve, any delay will be minimised.

In addition, the two hot reserve drive panels can be connected to A or B bus providing redundancy for each drive panel.

The laser based slab thickness gauge enables the operator in the roughing stand control pulpit to know the slab thickness to be passed through the roughing stand.

A large digital display of thickness is seen from the pulpit as shown in Fig 4. Any manual charging mistakes can now be rectified by the operator in the pulpit. This has eliminated tripping of the roughing stand motor with its consequent delay and elimination of resulting cobbles. Further, the reduction in hammering on the roughing stand motor due to overdraft set by the operator from incorrect slab thickness has been removed.

The new control of the slab extractor mechanism and slab thickness gauge placed before the roughing stand was installed in the first week of February 2017. There have been no electrical delays reported on account of the slab extractor mechanism to date. Secondly, there has been no tripping of the roughing stand motor due to charging errors. Together, these two technical interventions have improved the performance at the start of plate rolling.

In conclusion, improved design and engineering have reduced the cost of the project and helped in implementation and realisation of the objectives set. ďż˝ www.steeltimesint.com

12/10/2017 11:43:00

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40

REFRACTORIES

Doubling the life of torpedo ladles The selection of refractory lining design and installation of targeted high-wear areas of torpedo ladle lining using innovative techniques have doubled the life of torpedo ladles to 2,500 cycles equating to the transport of 775kt hot metal per ladle before relining. This is the first step in the direction of endless lining in torpedo ladles, argues RB Gupta* A fleet of 12 refractory lined, steel torpedo ladles are used by Rourkela Steel Plant to transport molten metal from Blast Furnace No 5 to the steel melt shop No 2 (SMS-II).

These torpedo ladles have a 350t capacity and can maintain the metal in a molten state ready for charging the BOF converters for up to 22 hrs.

The refractory linings in the torpedo ladles have to be replaced. Previously, the lining life was 1,100 – 1,200 cycles after carrying 300 to 350kt of iron. This required critical transport capacity to be removed from the process flow to reline.

To improve life, a zonal lining development group was formed which introduced an innovative window repair programme, which was taken up by shop engineers. Here, zoning of excessive refractory wear and repairs to these regions

were undertaken either using higher grade refractories or in some cases by increasing refractory thickness.

New repair technologies were incorporated and the cumulative effect of all these factors has seen torpedo lining life extent to carrying 600kt of hot metal.

Torpedo life is still growing.

Innovative repair methods include coating a new lining with an in-house developed compound which prevents the lining from oxidation during pre-heating.

Inspections are conducted to monitor the shell temperature, by visually inspecting the lining; and by tracking the tonnes carried since the previous relining.

Thermographic readings are recorded each week and allow partial window repairs in specific areas to extend the life of the torpedo lining in a balanced manner.

These practices have almost doubled the lining life to over 2,122 cycles to date and in future life expectancy is likely to be over 2,500 cycles or 775kt of hot metal transported.

A 60% increase in lining life is currently achieved and a reduction in costs of 30% as well as improved availability of ladles.

New refractory materials were developed with 0.4 – 0.6% B4C to improve oxidation resistance at a range of temperatures and a graphite and SiC increase improved slag erosion resistance.

A hot heel practice was introduced to protect the impact zone which now reaches the total life of the lining.

This has made it possible to ensure the availability of 10 to 11 torpedo ladles out of 12 and achieve the daily transport of 8.5kt of blast furnace metal to the steel shop. �

For the full article visit: http://tinyurl.com/ybq272vx

The author is deputy general manager, Refractories SAIL, Rourkela Steel Plant, Rourkela – 769011. e-mail rbggupta57@gmail.com October 2017

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42

PERSPECTIVES: GUILD INTERNATIONAL

Several projects on the go Guild International claims that it is currently very busy in Turkey, Mexico, India and the USA with India being the most active, according to Lee Kothera* 1. How are things going at GUILD INTERNATIONAL? Is the steel industry keeping you busy?

The past 15 years have been very busy for us due to many projects for the stainless, carbon and speciality steel industries.

Currently we are working on a number of resistance and arc welding machinery projects and several tube mill entry projects.

time. For the moment, and what seems to be in the near future, projects of this magnitude have decreased. Currently, most orders are for one machine with equipment going into Russia, Mexico, India, Turkey, China, Canada and the USA. However, we do expect an order for a large project that may include four or five welders in the near future.

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

In our experience, the markets seem to have shifted from Asia to India, Turkey, Mexico and even the USA. This applies to most phases of the steel industry.

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

The welders designed and manufactured

by Guild International are widely used in the processing of various steels: stainless, carbon, silicon and other alloys; and in many speciality metals such as copper alloys and stainless alloys. Typical applications are in coil-to-coil process lines, such as hot rolled annealing and pickling line (HAPL), galvanising lines, heat treat lines, grinding lines and bright anneal lines (BAL).

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

We are currently busy in Turkey, Mexico, India and in the USA, with India being the most active.

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

Several years ago we had multiple large projects where four, five or even six coil welding machines were purchased at one

recycled. Depending upon the application, both will have advantages in various uses. It would be difficult to say which is ‘greener’.

8. “…any hint of doubt when it comes to predictions of climate doom is evidence of greed, stupidity, moral turpitude or psychological derangement.” This is a quote from Bret Stephens writing in The Wall Street Journal. Do you sympathise with his view?

That is an interesting quote.

9. Why is Industry 4.0 so important to the future of steel production?

Industry 4.0, whether in steel production or really any other manufacturing system, will at first seem far-fetched. In reality, it will become the way of the future. As information becomes more transparent, de-centralised decision-making will be the norm for manufacturing/steel production.

6. “Aluminium will always outperform steel on a weight basis; and on the stiffness issue alone it will carry the day,” said Alcoa’s chief technology officer Ray Kilmer speaking in 2013 about aluminium usage within the global automotive industry. Where do you stand on the aluminium versus steel argument?

There is a need, and advantages, for both materials. New alloys of these materials are created frequently, which can make it challenging from a welding standpoint.

7. Is aluminium ‘greener’ than steel?

Both materials are widely used and readily

10. In your dealings with steel producers, are you finding that they are looking to companies like GUILD INTERNATIONAL to offer them digital manufacturing solutions?

At this time, we have not seen this trend.

11. Is the steel industry wellplaced to take advantage of digital manufacturing?

We feel that the steel industry iswell placed for the use of digital manufacturing.

However, Guild International is at the very beginning of this cycle.

12. Where does GUILD INTERNATIONAL lead the field in terms of steel production technology?

With the availability of our new fibre laser

* Vice president, sales, Guild International October 2017

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PERSPECTIVES: GUILD INTERNATIONAL

welder, we believe that Guild is at the forefront of this technology.

13. How do you view GUILD INTERNATIONAL’s development over the short-to-medium term in relation to the global steel industry?

We are excited to become more involved in supplying fibre laser welders for the carbon and stainless markets. We actually could have been in the laser sector earlier, but we were never confident with the CO2 solution.

Due to the unique and rugged designs of our arc welders, it is possible in some cases to retrofit the existing Guild welding machine with newer laser welding technology. Depending upon the condition of the welding machine, it may be necessary to have the machine inspected and rebuilt to ensure that tighter laser requirements are met.

14. How would you solve the issue of global overcapacity?

In our opinion, much of the over-capacity issue stems from non-capitalised facilities (government-owned). If this were to be eliminated, overcapacity would not be a problem.

15. The Chinese still rely heavily upon Western steel production technology. What is GUILD INTERNATIONAL’s experience of the Chinese steel industry?

For the past 25 years, we have supplied a large amount of machines to the Chinese steel industry to both government-owned and privatesector companies. The Chinese may still rely on Western technology, but they are seen as one of the best steel producers.

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

We are typically not involved in primary production technologies. Guild is usually involved in what is happening in the secondary or more downstream sectors.

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Perspectives Guild Int .indd 2

17. How important is reputation management to the steel industry?

We feel this is a key part of any user/ supplier agreement.

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

We feel that the future outlook for the steel industry should remain at an acceptable level. Overcapacity may bring some problems occasionally, but overall things should remain stable.

43

Eurblech and Tube Dusseldorf in Europe.

We recently exhibited at a tube and pipe show in India.

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

Whether or not Don will say something silly and/or the usual vodka on the rocks.

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

I would us my superpower to make the industry as pollution-free as possible, all while using almost no energy. �

19. GUILD INTERNATIONAL is based in the USA, but how is the domestic steel industry performing?

Guild has seen an upturn in business in the USA. Some of this has been retrofitting or revamping existing equipment, but a portion of the increased business we have

seen has been for new projects. This applies not only to the steel industry but also to industries such as stamping, tube and pipe, and roll forming.

20. What exhibitions and conferences will GUILD INTERNATIONAL be attending in 2017/18?

We will be at the usual shows, namely Fabtech, AIST and possibly a tube and pipe show here in the USA. We may consider

October 2017

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44

HISTORY

19th century industrial nations As the 19th century drew to a close, Great Britain was considered to be the world’s greatest industrial power - but there was fierce competition on the horizon. By Harry Hodson*

GREAT Britain had built its power base up since the beginning of the 19th century due to the development of steam engine technology and an abundance of coal.

The development of the railways and shipbuilding industries sustained its coal, iron and steel production throughout the whole century unhindered without war – the Crimea and Zulu wars were only considered to be skirmishes. Other nations, however, did not stand idly by and watch this power base grow. France, Germany, Italy and Belgium, a small country of eight million people, decided to get in on the act – which would be an ‘exclusive club’ for most of the century until eclipsed by a superpower. In the early years, the European members of this ‘club’ relied on Great Britain to develop its railways, but they eventually became powerful nations themselves whose main concern was now keeping an eye on each other. Since the Great Exhibition of 1851 when Great Britain showed of its wares to the rest of the world, it became fashionable for the industrial nations to do likewise. One of the first to do this was Belgium with the Brussels Exhibition of 1862.

The new superpower At the time of the American Civil War (1861-65) the total population of all US states numbered 33 million, comprising 24 million in the North and the remainder in the South. The Northern States became industrialised, whereas the Southern economy was dependent on cotton and agriculture. The industrial North would eventually decide the outcome of this terrible conflict, which cost 800,000 lives.

Apart from good generals in charge of large armies, locomotives and arms – all of which could be produced in far greater quantities

Some 19th and early 20th century leading manufacturing companies Great Britain: • Dorman Long & Co, Redcar: Iron, steel, bridgebuilding.

• Woolwich Arsenal: Arms, heavy guns, bombs.

• Sir W. A. Armstrong, Tyneside: Arms, general engineering.

France: Le Creusot: Iron, steel, domestic products.

Germany: Krupp: Iron, steel, arms, machinery.

Italy: Marconi, Ferranti Bros: Electrical communications established in GB. United States: • Carnegie-Phipps: Iron and steel.

• Bethlehem Ironworks: Iron, steel, engineering.

• Edison-Bell: Electrical domestic goods and machinery.

• Baldwin Locomotive Works.

• Henry Ford Motor Company.

• General Motors.

by the North – was the main contribution to the result. The years 1865-1900 saw a rapidly expanding population in the United States, its immigrants bringing with them many skills to the burgeoning iron, steel,

The Chicago exhibition – triple-expansion engine and dynamo, Messrs, Schichau and Co, Engineers Elbing

electrical and automobile manufacturing industries. In 1893 the United States decided to display its manufacturing capacity to the rest of the world. A 46-acre site close to lake Michigan was chosen to stage the Great Chicago Exposition to which the rest of the world was invited.

The logistics of transporting people and goods to the site were unprecedented – before and since. For the benefit of ‘railway buffs’ an astonishing 42 platforms to accommodate the influx of visitors and exhibits were erected at the main railway terminal. The 1000-mile journey from New York to Chicago was served by the steamhauled ‘Chicago Flyers’ that completed the journey in 16 hours including stops for fuel, water, and refreshment. The service still operates today and the running times are very much the same. The Chicago Exposition established the USA as a world industrial power. �

* The author is an iron and steel specialist in the field of the Industrial Revolution October 2017

History.indd 1

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10/10/2017 11:16:34

AS ONE We are stronger

Two powerful companies in the metals industry have forged together. Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery and Siemens VAI Metals Technologies have united to become the new global force in metals technologies.

Creating the future of metals as one. primetals.com

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01.09.15 09:28

200 YEARS OF FUTURE! The CMI Group proudly celebrates its bicentennial

Innovative technologies for the metals industry

Cold rolling § Strip processing § Chemical processes § Thermal processes Mechanical equipment § Automation § Extractive metallurgy DESIGN

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ENGINEERING

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COMMISSIONING

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TECHNICAL

A S S I S TA N C E

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TRAINING

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AFTER-SALES

CMI Group, two centuries of engineering in the service of the industry Cockerill Maintenance & Ingénierie: a long history, inextricably linked to that of the industrial revolution…

In 1817, the British businessman John Cockerill begins his industrial activity in Wallonia by supplying weaving looms to the wool industry. He rapidly diversifies his activities: blast furnaces, industrial boilers, warships…

Passionate about steam machinery, in 1835 Cockerill builds the first working steam locomotive to run on the European continent.

power plants, rolling mills and steel processing lines, reheating and heat treatment furnaces, boilers for thermo-solar power plants...

From the outset, the ‘Cockerill factories’ have been anticipating trends and playing a determining role in worldwide technological advances.

The tone was set. This thirst for innovation has driven the generations of engineers who, for the past two centuries, have been introducing new processes bearing the Cockerill brand onto the market: engine designed by Rudolf Diesel, guns, boat engines, water tube boilers, locomotives, heat recovery steam generators for electric

John Cockerill also laid the foundations of the international vocation of CMI today. A great industrial explorer, he made many visits abroad, always on the lookout for new technologies and new projects. His conquering spirit has thrived through the decades. Thus, in 1890, the ‘Cockerill company’ was involved in the construction of the first major Chinese steelmaking complex, located at Hanyang, designing equipment and assisting the client in raising capital, assembling the installations and training the local workers.

1 In the 19th century, a team from the ‘Établissements Cockerill’ at Seraing (Belgium) receives Viceroy Hung-Chang from the Chinese province of Zhili.

1 In the 21st century, the teams from the CMI Group perpetuate the John Cockerill tradition, sparing no effort to meet the expectations of their clients.

Today, with the benefit of this centuries old understanding of industrial processes, and driven by the conquering and innovative spirit of its founder, the CMI Group continues to design, install, modernize and maintain equipment across the whole world, and to provide its clients and partners with valueadded services and its expertise in international project management.

Technological, international, robust This technology driven group places numerous beneficial assets at the disposal of its client industries: a unique combination of engineering and maintenance expertise, a vast geographic and technological scope, and an ability to innovate in accordance with the operational needs of its customers.

CMI has never stopped enlarging its geographical reach and its portfolio of technologies. The Group today counts operational units in Africa, Brazil, China, Europe, India, New Caledonia, Russia and the United States. In all, some 4 600 members of staff within the Group constitute a pool of talent commensurate with CMI ambitions. With the benefit of this organization, CMI today serves an ever more diversified client base. Whatever their specific needs, in CMI they find a partner of choice, whether as an EPCM services provider across all technologies, for solutions involving reducing the ecological footprint of industrial processes, for specialized services or for the Group’s dynamism in terms of innovation.

www.cmigroupe.com 175422-ann-CMI Metals-200 ans+redaction-A4.indd 1

29/03/17 17:36