Steel Times International October 2020

DRI FOR LOW-EMISSION STEELMAKING

FURNACES

STEEL MARKETS

IRON ORE

Dr. Joseph J Poveromo takes a global look at Direct Reduced Iron

The value of high quality copper cooling plates and tuyere coolers

Deloitte’s Dr. Andrew Zoryk takes a look at building and construction

Michael Schwartz takes a look at the Port of Port Hedland in Australia

Since 1866

www.steeltimesint.com October 2020 - Vol.44 No7

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL –October 2020 – Vol.44 No7

SARA©

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www.sms-group.com

17.02.20 10:29

CONTENTS – OCTOBER 2020

DRI FOR LOW-EMISSION STEELMAKING

FURNACES

STEEL MARKETS

IRON ORE

Dr. Joseph J Poveromo takes a global look at Direct Reduced Iron

The value of high quality copper cooling plates and tuyere coolers

Deloitte’s Dr. Andrew Zoryk takes a look at building and construction

Michael Schwartz takes a look at the Port of Port Hedland in Australia

Since 1866

www.steeltimesint.com October 2020 - Vol.44 No7

STEEL TIMES INTERNATIONAL –October 2020 – Vol.44 No7

SARA©

Total acid regeneration for small-scale acid waste streams.

A fully automated “all-in-one concept”

ULTRA-GREEN IRONMAKING STI Cover.indd 1

15/10/2020 14:03:02

EDITORIAL Editor Matthew Moggridge Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855151 matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com

Front cover photo courtesy of John Cockerill SARA® stands for cost effective and environmentally friendly total acid regeneration, dedicated to small-scale acid waste streams.

It is one of John Cockerill’s latest developments for which the company has received its first order from a leading Turkish wire and rope producer for the design, manufacturing and the complete supply.

The SARA®ARP is a fully automated all-in-one concept including standardised equipment and building supply considerably reducing investment costs.

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 round-up The latest global news.

8 Innovations The latest contracts and new products from international plant builders and suppliers.

15 USA update Tariffs still top of the agenda.

19 Latin America update How is Brazil performing?

22 Steel markets Building steel’s future.

Managing Director Tony Crinion tonycrinion@quartzltd.com Tel: +44 (0) 1737 855164 Chief Executive Officer Steve Diprose SUBSCRIPTION Elizabeth Barford Tel +44 (0) 1737 855028 Fax +44 (0) 1737 855034 Email subscriptions@quartzltd.com Steel Times International is published eight times a year and is available on subscription. Annual subscription: UK £195.00 Other countries: £270.00 2 years subscription: UK £350.00 Other countries: £485.00 ) Single copy (inc postage): £45.00 Email: steel@quartzltd.com

26 Iron ore Iron ore key to Oz port’s success.

29 Ironmaking Ultra-low CO2 ironmaking.

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35 Automation Safe steelmaking at BSW. Ironmaking 37 DRI for low-emission steel production.

40 COVID takes its toll.

42 Furnaces Avoiding blast furnace disasters.

44 Special & stainless steels The Getty Centre’s resilience.

47 Continuous casting Controlling surface equipment.

50 Perspectives Q&A: Condat ‘We have to stay optimistic’.

52 History Plymouth Ironworks - slow in modernising.

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Published by: Quartz Business Media Ltd, Quartz House, 20 Clarendon Road, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1QX, England.

Tel: +44 (0)1737 855000 Fax: +44 (0)1737 855034 www.steeltimesint.com Steel Times International (USPS No: 020-958) is published monthly except Feb, May, July, Dec by Quartz Business Media Ltd and distributed in the US by DSW,

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Printed in England by: Pensord, Tram Road, Pontlanfraith, Blackwood, Gwent NP12 2YA, UK ©Quartz Business Media Ltd 2020

ISSN0143-7798

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LEADER

Life-affirming positivity from the US steel industry

Matthew Moggridge Editor matthewmoggridge@quartzltd.com

October 2020

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I’ve always loved the American attitude.

Whenever I find myself stateside, away from the negativity and whinging of British people, it’s refreshing to note, and wallow, in the life-affirming positivity emanating from the Americans. America has its problems right now, and I’m sure there’s plenty of anxiety surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, which, sadly, has taken over 200,000 American lives, but still, despite such tragedy, the people exude a healthy optimism.

One thing I missed this year was AISTech 2020, which would have taken place in Cleveland, Ohio. The virus put paid to that (as it did for every live event organised throughout the world), but the guys at AIST won through and one of the key moments of the AISTech live event – the Town Hall Forum – went ahead virtually.

Sitting at home in my sun lounge I logged on and came face-to-face with the US steel industry’s big hitters: David Burritt, president and CEO of US Steel; Lourenco Goncalves, chairman and president of Cleveland-Cliffs; Mark Millet, president and CEO of Steel Dynamics Inc; Dan Needham, vice president and general manager of Nucor Steel; and Dave

Stickler, CEO of Big River Steel. Jon Delano, money and politics editor, KDKA-TV, was moderating and it felt good to be in front of these guys, none of whom were phased by the pandemic.

“This is all a bit unreal,” said Delano and he wasn’t wrong. “Steelmakers are confronting a new reality,” he added, and they are, we all are, but what was going through the minds of the big guys? Burritt spoke of making great strides forward; Needham said 2020 was the strangest year of all our lives, but spoke of opportunities going forward, Millet said he’d never been more excited for the industry. Stickler said the US steel industry is a healthy place for customers, suppliers and investors.

And when it comes to workforce safety, nothing was left to chance. Millet and Needham spoke of establishing COVID taskforces, Big River Steel ran throughout, giving employees ‘tremendous levels of confidence’. Burritt said the virus had ‘strengthened our resolve’ and went further: “If you’re going to have a heart attack, our first responders will save your life within three minutes.”

We all need positivity, more so now than ever before, so hats off to the Americans.

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• In an effort to protect its domestic steel industry and ensure that Germany is at the forefront of green steel development, ThyssenKrupp has announced plans to build the first direct reduction plant with an integrated melting unit, the latter being branded as ‘blast furnace 2.0’. The German steelmaker plans to use using existing infrastructure and save on costs. The plant will be operated with green hydrogen and green power and is viewed as an important step towards achieving European climate goals.

Source: ThyssenKrupp, 28 August 2020.

• South Korean steelmaker POSCO’s 2020 POSCO Forum took a close look at the fast-changing business environment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s chairman, Choi Jung-woo, commented: ‘I hope this forum serves as a place for us to realistically review the nature of our job while we fulfil the demands of our interest groups and their changing thoughts’.

Source: The Korea Herald, 1st September 2020.

NEWS ROUND-UP • Metininvest BV (the Netherlands) reduced capital investments by 35% between January 2020 and June 2020 when compared with the same period the previous year.

Source: Open4Business.com. ua, 9 September 2020.

• German steelmaker Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH has taken delivery of the world’s largest hightemperature electrolyser (HTE), which is designed to produce energy-efficient hydrogen. The equipment was delivered to Salzgitter by Sunfire GmbH, a company that develops and manufactures systems for renewable industry gas and fuel production.

Source: Salzgitter, 9 September 2020.

• Salzgitter has rejected the idea of an alliance with ThyssenKrupp. Heinz Joerg Fuhrmann said there was nothing quite like independence, but said he was interested in

• Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine has restarted a small blast furnace in Linz, Austria, that had been closed since March.

After being shutdown it was cleared of 100m3 of coke and generally maintained. It should be fully operational this month (October).

Source: Steel Orbis, 10th September 2020.

• There are reports that job cuts are on the cards for the world's biggest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, in Luxembourg following drops in demand from key end-user industries such as construction and automotive. Some 570 jobs are at risk, it is claimed, which represents 15% of the company’s workforce in Luxembourg. Positions at both management and industrial sites might well be under scrutiny.

Source: RTL Today, 10 September 2020.

• South Korean steel giant POSCO is one of three large businesses being urged by Amnesty International to sever ties with Myanma Economic Holdings, a company founded by the Myanmar military in the early 1990s. Last year it contributed $14 million to Myanmar’s state coffers.

Members of the military run the business and some of them have been directly responsible for human rights violations, including the persecution of Rohingya Muslims, according to a report published by Amnesty International.

Source: Nikkei Asia, 11 September 2020.

• Is it conceivable that ArcelorMittal might close its operations in South Africa?

Some analysts seem to think so. While the world’s biggest steelmaker had some good years in the country, things have deteriorated, it is claimed, prompting thoughts of a withdrawal.

Source: Financial Mail, 10 September 2020.

co-operating with the IG Metall union with a view to shifting the steel sector to renewable energy sources for blast furnaces.

Source: Steel Orbis, 9th September 2020.

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NEWS ROUND-UP • Two South Korean steelmakers – POSCO and SeAH Steel Corporation – are jointly supplying 12kt of stainless steel pipe for a Canadian liquefied gas project in Kitimat. SeAH Steel has secured orders for 60kt of welded carbon pipes.

The plan is for POSCO to manufacture semi-finished stainless steel plates that will be completed by SeAH and shipped to Canada. The deal is worth $100 million.

Source: Korean Investors, 11 September 2020.

• The Iranian steel industry appears to be on a roll. The Iranians produced over 6Mt of steel products over the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year, up 2% on figures for the same period last year.

Source: Tehran Times, 12 September 2020.

• ArcelorMittal will restart its halted electric arc furnace at Sestao in Spain before the end of September. The news means that all of the company’s Spanish units, stopped during the COVID-19 outbreak, are back in action for Q4. The Sestao plant produced 300kt/yr of hot-rolled coil and 160kt/yr of pickled and oiled coils. It is hoped that pre-pandemic production levels will return as demand recovers. Rolling mills in Lesaka and Sagunto are back in action and so is furnace A at the company’s Gijon works. Source: S&P Global, 14 September 2020.

• Greater visibility and increased productivity are claimed to be the main benefits of switching from a barcode to an RFID system at Gerdau’s Ouro Branco facility in Brazil. RFID inlays are replacing barcodes, but the latter will remain as a contingency, according to an online report. Employee safety and enhanced crane and forklift operations are the chief benefits of using RFID. Source: RFID Journal, 15 September 2020.

• Japanese steelmaker JFE Steel claims it will cut CO2 emissions by more than 20% by 2030. Plans based around using more scrap and more ferro-coke (a technology for improving the reduction rate of iron ore going into the blast furnace) are being considered. The company has linked up with the Japan Iron and Steel Federation, of which it is a member, to examine and develop new technologies and hopes to be carbon neutral by 2050. Source: Reuters, 15 September 2020.

• The US International Trade Commission (ITC) found today that revocation of the countervailing duty order against Turkey and the anti-dumping order against Mexico would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury to the domestic rebar industry within a reasonably foreseeable time. All five Commissioners voted in favour of the domestic industry. As a result, these orders will be continued for at least an additional five years.

Source: Steel Times International, 17 September 2020.

• Is COVID-19 threatening Tata Steel Europe's ability to continue operating? The steelmaker was showing a pre-tax loss of £875 million in the 12 months ending 31 March compared with a deficit of £146 million the previous year, according to accounts published at Companies House. Tata claims it has adequate resources to continue operations.

Source: Financial Times, 12 September 2020.

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• LIBERTY Steel Group and Shiftec, two members of the sustainable industry leader GFG Alliance, are partnering to deploy sensor technology with the potential to enhance safety and improve efficiency at industrial sites. Under the two-year project, Shiftec will test and pilot its Aquila system, which uses a system similar to GPS to track the precise position of people, equipment and vehicles around factories in real time.

The system reduces workplace accidents, enhances efficiency of movement and can allow for remote control operation of equipment if integrated with Shiftec’s high-speed, long-range network solution.

Source: Liberty Steel Group, 17 September 2020.

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• On 17 September, the European Commission published its revised target to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. According to the European Steel Association (EUROFER) while steelmakers in Europe are already hard at work developing new ways to produce carbon-lean steels, the EU needs to implement a set of concrete measures, as soon as possible, to ensure decarbonisation is achieved along with growth and sustainability.

Axel Eggert, director-general of EUROFER, commented: “The success of EU climate leadership does not rely on its level of ambition – already unrivalled by any other major global partner, but mainly on its ability to demonstrate that it is possible to combine environmental sustainability with economic growth and social acceptance”.

Source: EUROFER, 18 September 2020.

INDUSTRY NEWS

• As domestic steel consumption increases in India, exports from the country slow down. In August 2020 exports fell by 24.5% to just over 1Mt while domestic demand was up 7.7% to 6.08Mt. Back in March, India’s steel exports surged, according to a report by Argus Media, and China turned out to be India’s largest buyer.

Source: Argus Media, 18 September 2020.

• Peter Altmaier, Germany’s Economy Minister, says that the European Union will support steelworkers as steelmakers transform themselves into an environmentally-friendly industry. Speaking in front of EU trade ministers in Berlin recently, he stressed that steel (like the chemicals and raw materials industries) was a core competency that must be preserved. There has been talk of introducing a tax on imports produced in an environmentally unfriendly manner.

Source: MarketScreener, 21 September 2020.

• Indian steelmakers are supplying oxygen for COVID-19 patients. JSW Steel, SAIL and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) are said to be supplying state administrators where their plants are located. RINL supplied more than 4,000 tonnes of liquid oxygen to Andhra Pradesh, SAIL has been supplying up to 400 tonnes per day and JSW 110 tonnes per day from its Vijaynager plant to Karnataka, and 100 tonnes per day from Dolvi to Maharashtra (destined for Pune).

Source: Business-Standard. com, 18 September 2020.

Russian steelmaker MMK is using quadrocopters to receive incoming scrap metal at the external acceptance section of its Koprov shop, which is located in the centre for receiving scrap metal from MMK’s industrial site, as well as from other Russian and CIS cities. Quadrocopters (drones) allow specialists at the workshop and external acceptance site to obtain documentary proof of the presence of waste in scrap metal when unloading the latter from the vehicle.

Source: MMK, 22 September 2020.

As of 2019, 72% of the steel in the world came from the BFBOF route mostly processing iron ore, while only about 28% is produced via the electric process, therefore 90% of the CO2 generated for the production of steel came from plants based on the blast furnace-converter route.

Source: Tenova.

• Stainless steels are stable homogeneous alloys composed principally of iron, chromium (11% to 30%) and nickel (0 to 25%).

At Ovako, a Scandinavian, fully scrap-based steelmaker, the EAFs are powered by fossil-free electricity. Final heat treatment is also on its way to being fully electrified and uses fossil-free electricity.

The main challenge remaining is to eliminate CO2 emissions from the heating of steel before rolling.

Source: Ovako

• Russian steelmaker NLMK Group says it is committed to continue reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the period leading up to 2023, while simultaneously growing steel production. Its target-specific emission level will be 1.91 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of steel, compared to 1.98 tonnes in 2019* (a 3.5% reduction). Source; NLMK, 23 September 2020.

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AMAZING FACTS

Producing one ton of liquid steel through the DR-EAF route produces at least 50% less CO2 emissions than the conventional BF-BOF route.

Source: Tenova

• Nucor Corporation has lost nearly 70% of its market value since President Trump’s steel tariffs were imposed.

In mature markets (like North America) the available scrap covers about 50% of the total need of raw materials.

Source: Tenova.

• Coking coal accounts for more than 65% of the primary source of energy in a conventional iron and steel complex (BF – BOF route).

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• More than 95% of the world’s hydrogen is presently derived from natural gas and coal, causing 9 to 12 tonnes of CO2 emissions for every tonne of H2 produced.

• Structural steel in the USA has around a 46% market share in non-residential and multi-storey residential buildings.

Source: Deloitte.

• Buildings and infrastructure consumed an estimated 52% of produced steel in 2019.

Steel’s support of global construction helps fuel a market valued at around $11 trillion.

Source: Deloitte.

• In 2016, 96% of global hydrogen production was from fossil fuels; 48% from natural gas; 30% from oil, and 18% from coal.

Source: Midrex Technologies.

• The US is the world’s largest steel importer, importing 26.3Mt (metric tons) during 2019.

Source: United States International Trade Association.

• China was responsible for 43.7% of Brazilian pig iron exports this year against zero in the same period of the previous year.

Source: Steel Times International

• Within the European Union, buildings currently account for about 40% of overall energy consumption and produce around 36% of related greenhouse gas emissions.

Source: Deloitte.

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

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INNOVATIONS

New app for lift truck inspection process CheckApp is a digital tool that transforms the lift truck inspection process, says Konecranes. The app enables maintenance managers to see what their drivers see in real time and means they can quickly act on inspection findings. Managers gain a living archive of secure digital inspection reports which track daily truck condition.

Daily driver inspections are the anchor of a smart maintenance process, Konecranes claims.

In high-turnover operations, however, driver inspection notes are misplaced, or only reviewed at the end of a shift, or poorly integrated into the overall maintenance planning and information system. These lost checklists or unclear inspection notes can delay maintenance actions, and this in turn can limit uptime. A smart, fast, driver-to-maintenance department information “handoff” is essential for a lift truck fleet to run at high efficiency.

Konecranes claims that CheckApp is a user-friendly driver app that transforms the documentation and communication of inspection findings. The company claims it is an exceptional inspection tool because it guides the driver through the inspection process in a consistent way, leading to more complete and consistent findings. The app offers voice & video recording, pictures and a digital checklist so that drivers can quickly ‘show and tell’ about the condition of their trucks..

CheckApp communicates driver inspection findings immediately upon the inspection being completed, giving maintenance managers greater flexibility in planning. The App enables managers

to look at a digital picture or video clip sent by their driver and decide whether to address a particular issue at once, delay action until a mid-shift break, or postpone action until the shift’s end or a later date. Faster information can lead to better planning, better decision-making and higher uptime, claims Konecranes.

The archival nature of the tool means that driver feedback is stored as a living record of truck condition findings from the driver’s perspective.

Inspection findings are also broadly accessible.

Co-workers can follow updates through an online platform (yourKONECRANES.com), customer portal, or via notifications. The online platform stores inspection results together with all the other information and data related to specific lift trucks. According to Konecranes, users of the app gain a complete, real-time overview of their

whole fleet.

“Daily inspections are the foundation of good maintenance and, by far, the best way to ensure a longer lifecycle with fewer breakdowns and increased safety for both the driver and nearby personnel,” says Bertrand Marion, director, business development and digitalization at Konecranes Lift Trucks. “Digitalizing this process can boost both uptime and productivity. At the same time, it helps to lower maintenance costs, as issues are often detected sooner, before they become a problem. This mobile app offers much greater flexibility and easier action planning to maintenance managers.”

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

Ukrainian steelmaker revamps hot strip mill Ukrainian steelmaker Ilyich Iron and Steelworks of Mariupol (MMKI) has issued a Final Acceptance Certificate (FAC) for the revamp of its 1,700 mm hot strip mill (HSM 1700).

Ilyich Steel is a part of the Metinvest Group and one of the largest iron and steel works in Ukraine. The company produces a wide range of flat products made of carbon, low-alloyed and alloyed steel grades for various applications, including heavy plates for pipelines, shipbuilding, pressure vessels and the construction industry, and hot and cold rolled plates and coils. It is the largest producer of cold rolled galvanized sheets in Ukraine.

The project represents a key milestone in the long-term partnership between Metinvest and Primetals Technologies.

The revamp is claimed to further increase MMKI’s competitiveness by extending the product mix and range, improve quality, increase productivity and reduce production costs.

Production capacity will grow from 1.36Mt/ yr to 2.5mt/yr per year and a state-of-the-art October 2020

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automation system means that the plant is ready for Industry 4.0 technologies.

Austria-based Primetals Technologies was responsible for basic and detail engineering as well as the supply of core components for the

1,700 mm hot strip mill (HSM 1700) of Ilyich Steel in Ukraine. The hot strip mill was revamped by Primetals Technologies (Photo courtesy Metinvest)

hot strip mill, including the installation of a new reversing roughing mill with heavy edger, a new coilbox and an upgraded finishing mill. The scope of the contract included new motors and drives for the coilbox and finishing mill pinch roll descaler area as well as level 1 and level 2 automation systems for the roughing and finishing mill. The company also handled installation and commissioning of the mill.

According to Primetals, the revamped HSM 1700 is capable of processing larger slabs from the new Primetals Caster number four, which was commissioned in 2018 and offers thicknesses between 170mm and 250mm as well as producing hot strip with a width ranging from 900mm to 1,600mm and thicknesses between 1.2mm and 8.0mm. The maximum coil weight was increased from 15 to 27 metric tons.

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

15/10/2020 14:36:39

INNOVATIONS

Chinese steelmaker Qingdao Special I&S has awarded Italian plant builder Danieli with an order for a twin wire rod mill (lines #5 and #6).

The 1Mt/yr mill will produce tyre cord, bearing, spring and welding wire steels.

According to Danieli, the plant will be fitted out with all of Danieli’s latest wire rod technologies for rolling, on-line processing, and heat-treatment, including its LTR-Low Temperature Rolling process.

The mill outlet design includes two-pass followed by eight-pass pre-finishing blocks; DSC-Danieli Structure Control System, including water cooling lines and CCW-Controlled Cooling Conveyors; four-stand, high-speed TMB-twin module finishing blocks and vibration-free Oil Film Bearing (OFB) loop-laying heads.

The lines will produce finished wire rod products from 5mm to 7mm diameter coils weighing up 2,375kg at a finishing speed up to 112 mps (metres per second).

Danieli Automation will supply the automation and process control systems for the main equipment supplied.

The company has already supplied wire rod

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Qingdao orders new wire rod mill rolling mills to Qingdao in 2001, 2003 and 2013.

Start-up of the latest twin lines is scheduled for the beginning of 2021.

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

Tenova’s record-breaking EAF Tenova, an Italian plant builder billing itself as a leading specialist in innovative solutions for the metals and mining industries, is claiming that it has started up the most productive electric arc furnace (EAF) in history.

The equipment in question is a Tenova Consteel installed on 17 September at Acciaieria Arvedi in Cremona, Italy. The furnace has been designed to meet increased demand from a recently revamped continuous casting and rolling mill line at the plant.

The furnace has a 9.1m diameter shell and is continuously fed by a 4m wide Consteel slip-stick

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conveyor. It also features a state-of-the-art level 1 and 2 automation system.

Tenova claims that such output has never been achieved before by a single EAF anywhere in the world; the company claims it is possible because of the proprietary Consteel continuous charging and melting technology developed and complemented by Consteerrer, an electro-magnetic stirring system developed in conjunction with ABB. According to Tenova, this record-breaking melting unit replaces an existing Consteel furnace installed in 2008. The new furnace has a tapping size of 300 metric tons and is designed to reach

a power-on time of 37 minutes with a charge mix including up to 30% HBI and other scrap substitutes.

Silvio Reali, Tenova’s senior vice president, commented: “We are currently proceeding with a very quick ramp-up phase. After just a few days from the start-up, the furnace is already operating on three shifts and achieving high production rates and performances,” he said.

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

15/10/2020 14:36:53

INNOVATIONS

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CONDAT SA acquires Kemno of Italy Kemno, an Italian company that specialises in the production of neat and soluble coolants, has been acquired by CONDAT, a French company based in Lyon that formulates and produces a wide variety of lubricants for industrial customers and partners throughout their manufacturing process.

Family owned Kemno, based in Italy, is mainly active in the cold heading business, but also offers metal working fluids, maintenance oils and greases and quenching oils. According to CONDAT, Kemno’s lubricant range is well-known on the Italian market for its ability to increase the life of tools and decrease oil consumption.

CONDAT commented, “This acquisition shows bright promise and is based on solid common values between the two companies: customer satisfaction, performance and innovation.”

CONDAT believes that the acquisition will benefit both companies, first by giving Kemno a new means of expanding, backed by an international and stable group; and second, by allowing CONDAT to strengthen its diversification strategy in Italy, particularly in the fastener and machining industry. “Important synergies will be at work in this merger”, said CONDAT. To formalize the venture, the company has set up CONDAT Italia, a 100% subsidiary committed

to guarantee continuity and optimum quality of service locally. “With both ranges being complementary, Italian customers will, therefore, benefit from the largest choice of lubricants dedicated to their specific needs, whatever their field of application,” the company said.

Turn to page 50 to read CONDAT’s answers to our Perspectives Q&A feature.

For further information, log on to www.condat-lubricants.com or www.condat.fr

Turkish steelmaker opts for SMS group Turkish steelmaker Hascelik San. Ve Tic AS has purchased a state-of-the-art combined drawing line to expand its production range and capacity.

Based on the Schumag design, the CDL KZ-RP lllB/25 is claimed to offer optimized features and new developments ‘along the entire process line’, according to supplier SMS group.

The scope of supply for SMS group includes a new coil preparation unit with double coiler, a two-carriage drawing machine, a completely revised two-roll straightener, chamfering machine and the entire electrical and automation line.

Since March 2017, Hascelik has been part of Faydasicok Holdings, and Schumag, incidentally, merged with SMS group back in 2008.

The new equipment will enable the steelmaker to produce round bars from bar to bar and from coil to bar between 19mm and 42mm. It will also be able to produce hexagons, squares and other sections, SMS group claims.

The plant will be designed for a maximum drawing force of 250kN, a maximum speed of 80m/minute and a bar length of 2.5m to 6.5m.

The company has the capacity to produce drawn bars of up to 100mm, and peeled and ground bars of up to 160mm in diameter.

Naci Faydasicok, chairman of Hascelik, said the company opted for the SMS group combined drawing line because it was widely regarded as one of the world’s most powerful lines for the diameter range in question. “We bank on an inte-

grated systems supplier who not only just delivers the equipment, but also supports us in our work with their technical service,” he said.

Falk Roßeler, vice president, Bright Steel Plants and Finishing Lines at SMS group commented: “Hascelik will benefit from the increased quality, safety, maintainability and process transparency of the line, as SMS group has introduced significant improvements and further developments in each individual process step. Thanks to perfectly

harmonized interfaces, intelligent individual solutions have been merged into a consistent integrated system that provides a maximum degree of automation, productivity, product quality and safety.”

The new line will enable the Turkish steelmaker to increase productivity by around 10-20%.

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

www.steeltimesint.com

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15/10/2020 14:37:05

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INNOVATIONS

Primetals installs bloom caster Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine Steel Donawitz GmbH, a subsidiary of the Voestalpine Corporation, is the proud owner of a new four-strand continuous bloom caster, which went into operation at its Leoben steel plant in July.

The new caster, supplied by Primetals Technologies, is described as the most modern of its type in the world and has been designed for digitalization.

According to Primetals, fully automatic casting was possible right from the very start. The CC4 plant replaces the previous CC2 caster. In fourstrand operation, it is designed to produce 950kt (metric tons) per annum of the highest quality blooms.

Primetals was responsible for the basic and detailed engineering, supply and construction of the equipment, and also supervised the commissioning. The continuous caster produces round blooms with a diameter of 230mm as well as rectangular blooms with a cross-section of 270 x

360mm; it has also been designed so that it can produce a 440 x 330mm format.

The plant processes rail steels, case-hardening steels, free-cutting steels, steels for seamless tubes, heat-treated steels, spring steels, cold headed and cold extrusion steels, tyre cord steels, cold work steels, bearing steels and welding electrode steels.

The continuous bloom caster is equipped with a DynaFlex hydraulic mould oscillator and LevCon mold level control. The combination of the Dynacs 3D secondary cooling system and the fully automated DynaGap 3D roll-gap control with Dynamic Soft Reduction in the strand-guiding system ensures blooms are cast with consistently high quality, says Primetals.

The plant also has an online traversing strand stirrer with a traversing range controlled by Dynacs 3D. For loading and unloading the heat retaining boxes, a fully automatic crane has been planned with a connection to a production

planning system for stock keeping. The scope of delivery included special mechatronic packages and an integrated automation solution.

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

HBIS CGLs to increase productivity Chinese steelmaker HBIS Tangshan Iron and Steel Group Co (HBIS Tangsteel), has awarded Primetals Technologies with the final acceptance certificate for two continuous galvanizing lines (CGL) installed as part of the expansion of cold rolling mill no. 2 at its Tangshan plant in Hebei Province.

HBIS Tangsteel is part of the Hesteel Group, formerly Hebei Iron and Steel Group (HBIS). With an annual production of around 47Mt (metric tons) in 2018, it is one of the largest steel pro-

ducers in China.

CGLs 5 and 6 increase the production capacity for high-strength, coated metal sheets by 650kt (metric tons) per annum. The sheets are mainly used by the automotive industry.

The lines were erected in a new hall alongside the existing cold rolling mill, which had also been supplied by Primetals Technologies, and has been in production since the beginning of 2015.

A special aluminium-silicon coating technology package was implemented on one line.

Cold rolling mill no. 2 comprises a coupled tandem pickling line, a continuous annealing line and a galvanizing line. The mill has an annual capacity of 1.8Mt (metric tons) of high-strength cold strip, and also produces high-quality steels for the Chinese automotive industry. The two galvanizing lines are part of the second expansion stage to create production capacities for these high-quality steel grades. The lines process not only grades for vehicle body parts, but also aluminum-coated hot-forming steel.

Primetals Technologies was responsible for the engineering, manufacturing and supply of the mechanical, electrical and process technology equipment for the lines. CGL 5 has a capacity of some 250kt (metric tons) per annum. It processes cold strip in widths ranging from 850mm to 1,300mm, and thicknesses from 0.18mm to 1.5mm. CGL 6 can galvanize 400kt (metric tons) of cold strip per annum in widths ranging from 850mm to 1,600mm, and thicknesses from 0.5mm to 3mm. It offers the possibility of coating the cold strip with an aluminum-silicon alloy.

The entry and exit speeds of both lines amount to 250m/minute, while processing speeds reach 180m/minute. The new lines were integrated into the existing quality control system of the cold rolling mill plant. They were implemented on schedule with sequencing the start-up of GI and then Al-Si coatings productions within a 3-month period. Assembly and commissioning of the lines was supervised by Primetals Technologies.

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

www.steeltimesint.com

innovations.indd 4

15/10/2020 14:37:35

INNOVATIONS

13

Corrosion-resistant rebar from Ugitech Ugitech, part of the Swiss Steel Group, has developed a range of duplex stainless rebars with what it claims to be ‘exceptionally high corrosion resistance’. These special steels are said to offer mechanical properties that will protect building structures for decades.

In the construction industry, the requirements for reinforcement, anchoring and fastening are stringent. Rebars made of conventional reinforcing steel usually start to corrode after a few years.

Whether for multi-storey car parks, prefabricated concrete structures or constructions in the maritime sector, UGIGRIP® rebars are claimed to be suitable for many applications in various industries.

Bars and wire rods made of Ugitech stainless steel are said to have a high yield strength of over 500 N/mm² and meet the requirements of Eurocode 8, Class M, for earthquake-resistant constructions. They are claimed to offer improved fire resistance compared to conventional steel rebars and are, therefore, creep and stretch resistant – even at high temperatures. A low thermal conductivity of 15 W/(mK) prevents thermal bridges and minimises heat loss, says

Continuous annealing revamp for Tata Steel UK

Ugitech. The homogeneous steel surface and formation of the passive layer between the metal and the surrounding medium result in maximum corrosion resistance for UGIGRIP® rebars. According to Ugitech, extreme chloride loads – for example from de-icing salts or contact with seawater – cannot, therefore, harm these stainless reinforcing steels.

“Customers benefit from these new steel grades in several ways: They can dispense with corrosion protection measures, minimise maintenance costs and considerably extend the service life of structures. Furthermore, it is also possible to realise lighter constructions by saving on concrete and reducing the concrete cover,” Ugitech explained.

UGIGRIP® rebars are available in different qualities. In structures prone to corrosion, Ugitech recommends 1.4062, 1.4362 and 1.4462, all of which are available as a non-magnetic variant for buildings with special requirements – such as airports or hospitals.

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

British steelmaker Tata Steel UK has awarded Danieli Automation with the revamping of a continuous annealing processing line at its Trostre works in South Wales. It follows on from the revamping of hot-dip galvanizing line 6 at Tata’s Shotton Works, where commissioning is expected

by December 2020.

The revamping activities will include the replacement of all line automation, including a new Level 1 system based on the latest platform available in the market, new MCC cabinets and new DC converters for the existing strip transportation motors – more than 140 motors, with individual armature control.

The supply will include related on-site support for the revamp, considering the complete commissioning of the new equipment and supervision of erection activities provided by the customer.

The new automation system will be designed to comply with the principles of Industry 4.0, including safety logics provision for future expansion of the system.

The project is scheduled to go live before the end of 2021.

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

www.steeltimesint.com

innovations.indd 5

October 2020

15/10/2020 14:38:03

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16/10/20 08:32

USA UPDATE

15

Tariffs still top of the agenda Amid falling steel imports over the January to August period, President Trump moved to curb imports from Brazil and Mexico. By Manik Mehta* BASED on the Commerce Department’s latest Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that steel import permit applications for August 2020 reached1.39Mt (net tons), a 30.5% decline from the 2.0Mt (net tons) in July and a 48.4% decrease from the July final imports total of 2.7Mt (net tons). Import application tonnage for finished steel in August was 1.23Mt (all figures in this article are net tons), down 10.8% from the final import total of 1.38Mt in July. For the first eight months of 2020 (including August SIMA permits and July final imports), total and finished steel imports were 16.49Mt and 11.25Mt, down 20.3% and 26.6%, respectively, compared to figures for the previous year.

In the first eight months of 2020, the biggest foreign suppliers were South Korea (1.14Mt), down 24% from the same period last year); Japan (555kt, down 41%) and Germany (472kt, down 39%).

In the midst of the pandemic and the ongoing discussions on steel imports, the

Trump administration wants to curb steel imports from Brazil and Mexico, aimed at providing greater protection to the weak US steel industry and saving jobs.

However, some critics decry such intentions as politically motivated and aimed at getting votes in the steel belt with large constituents of workers and companies connected with the steel sector.

The US Trade Representative’s office announced a reduction in Brazil’s 2020 quota for semi-finished steel imports from 350kt metric tons to 60kt because of what it described as ‘recent deterioration in market conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic affecting domestic steel producers’.

Brazil agreed to the quota in 2018 in return for being exempted from President Trump’s 25% import tariffs Kevin under Section 232. The Dempsey, administration will review AISI’s interim the situation with Brazil in president December on that country’s 2021 quota for semi-

finished steel.

Mexico agreed with the USTR to establish a strict monitoring regime to take appropriate action when there was a surge in imports of steel pipe, mechanical steel tubing and semi-finished steel into the United States. Without providing specific details on how the monitoring regime would operate, the USTR said that Mexico would be allowed exemption from Section 232 steel tariffs. US trade experts are calling for a stricter monitoring regime for Mexico to prevent transshipment of steel pipes, tubing and semi-finished steel from China and other countries through Mexico to the US. The US would require Mexican exporters to obtain a government export permit before shipping the products.

Experts say the steel industry’s slump is due, largely, to the pandemic which has caused closure of automotive plants and other steel-consuming industries.

* USA correspondent www.steeltimesint.com

USA.indd 1

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16

USA UPDATE

Kevin Dempsey, AISI’s interim president, welcomed the measures to curb imports, particularly as weak demand due to Covid-19 had led to a 20% decline in raw steel output.

“So far in 2020, raw steel production is down 20% compared to the same period last year and steelmaking capacity utilization has only averaged approximately 66% this year so far, compared to nearly 81% during the same period last year. These difficult conditions make the industry even more vulnerable to surges in imports,” Dempsey said in a statement.

The US is the world’s largest steel importer, importing 26.3Mt (metric tons) during 2019, according to the US International Trade Administration.

Meanwhile, a federal trade court in July struck down a Presidential trade proclamation and partly curtailed the US President’s ability to impose tariffs under Section 232.

The court’s ruling was delivered in regard to the Trump administration’s March 2018 order, imposing 25% tariffs on steel imports and 10% tariffs on aluminium imports using national security Section 232 as justification. In August 2018, President Trump issued another proclamation that increased the levy on steel imports from Turkey to 50%. A Turkish company, Transpacific Steel, challenged the increase.

The US Court of International Trade ruled that the presidential proclamation, which doubled the tariffs on Turkey, was issued ‘in violation of the animating statute and constitutional guarantees’ and was, thus, ‘unlawful and void.’

Since the proclamation was issued more than 90 days after the Commerce Department’s January 2018 report on its Section 232 investigation to the White House, it was a violation; such presidential actions must occur, by law, within 90 days after submission of the report and findings.

However, the court observed that, ‘Section 232 does not ban the President from addressing concerns by focusing on particular exports, but the decision to increase tariffs on imported steel products from Turkey, and Turkey alone, without any justification, is arbitrary and irrational.”

In a separate development on tariffs, the October 2020

USA.indd 2

Trump administration re-imposed in August Section 232 tariffs on aluminium imports from Canada, though Canadian steel was exempted from the tariffs.

An executive vice president at the US Chamber of Commerce warned that these tariffs ‘will raise costs for American manufacturers, are opposed by most US aluminium producers, and draw retaliation against US exports – just as they did before.’

Indeed, Canada retaliated swiftly by announcing $2.7 billion in retaliatory tariffs on aluminium-related goods imported from the United States.

At the end of July, the House of Representatives passed an amendment supporting adequate funding of the US Department of Commerce for the next fiscal year beginning 1 October 2020. This agency is charged with approving tariffs and countervailing duties.

More specifically, it is the International Trade Administration’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance (E&C) that takes on those responsibilities. Apparently, congressional pressure motivated E&C to publish a proposed rule that would make it easier for the office to act against unrestrained imports, primarily of steel and aluminium, arriving in the US or unfairly subsidized by a foreign government.

Bahrain, Brazil, India and Turkey recently faced E&C action for alleged governmental subsidies.

Hydrogen steelmaking International steel researchers, including in the US, are closely following the progress made by Swedish company HYBRIT when it announced on 31 August that it had begun test operations at its pilot ‘fossil-free’ steel-

producing plant. The international steel community is interested to see if HYBRIT, owned by steelmaker SSAB, state-owned Vattenfall and miner LKAB, can provide the answer to the CO2 emissions of the steel industry. The cost factor is also of great interest to the steel industry which feels that replacing coking coal and coke will be expensive and uneconomical.

By substituting hydrogen and zerocarbon electricity for coking coal and other fossil fuels which are traditionally used to make steel, HYBRIT says it could have the first fossil-free steel on the market by 2026, although commercial production is expected to follow later.

Steel companies in the US and elsewhere are also testing methods to decarbonize steel which is expected to generate good demand.

New pipeline technologies ArcelorMittal Global R&D in East Chicago announced that it has developed new pipeline technologies, including the nation’s only bending machine.

The research laboratory uses the unique roll bending machine and ring expansion test to determine the strength of steel used in pipelines by the energy industry to transport natural gas, crude oil, petrol and other fuels.

Line pipe steel has to be strong enough to handle high internal pressures, especially for gas transmission, besides being resistant to brittle fracture.

Steel Success Strategies 2020 Steel associations and related organizations are staging virtual events. The ‘new normal’, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, makes it impractical to hold live events with participants appearing ‘in flesh and blood’, as one steel executive told me during a recent conversation.

The annual Steel Success Strategies (SSS), usually held in June in New York, will acquire a virtual avatar this year from October 26-28, 2020. According to the organizer, Fastmarkets, top executives of leading global steel companies will share their expertise in regional panels. � www.steeltimesint.com

15/10/2020 14:32:54

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The pandemic has caused many troubles for the global economy, and the steel industry hasn’t escaped unscathed. In these challenging times, steelmakers have faced many constraints, not only derived from public polices, but also due to difficulties that have emerged from the disorganisation of the value chain. For that reason, it is wise to analyse how the steel sector performed this year vis-à-vis the previous one, in order to highlight the possible impacts of COVID-19. By Germano Mendes de Paula*

LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

19

How is Brazil performing?

IN this article we pay attention to the international trade performance of the Brazilian steel value chain for two reasons: a) because the country is a relevant exporter of iron ore, pig iron and steel products; b) because the data has been updated: preliminary figures concerning international trade flows are typically released by the Economy Ministry before the fifth working day of the following month. International trade numbers are the first data to be published, which is particularly important for examining trends, even without external shock such as COVID-19.

Iron ore and pig iron Fig.1 shows Brazilian iron ore exports for 2019-2020, by month, according to data released by the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (Secex) and compiled by the Brazilian Steel Institute (IABr). It is observed that the two lines followed a relatively similar pattern, although it should be stressed that the performance in 2019 was strongly

influenced by Vale’s Brumadinho dam disaster, which occurred on 25 January 2019. Over the first eight months, Brazil exported 8.2% less iron ore in 2020 than in the previous year, which can be considered a relatively good outcome.

Due to the importance of the country in terms of global iron ore supply, the UBS Evidence Lab (a company independent of UBS Research) recently increased its shipment tracking frequency from monthly to daily and disclosed it on a weekly basis.

According to this source, over the period March-September 2020, the lowest export level was verified in the week ending 26 March 2020 (4.2Mt), while the highest one occurred on 9 August 2020 (8.5Mt), ending the series on 4 September 2020 (6.3Mt).

UBS Research concluded that, based on the last weekly shipments, Brazil is struggling to maintain its export strength.

Fig.2 demonstrates the evolution of pig iron exports for 2019 and 2020. It is quite clear that, except for January and May, the

country’s exports were higher in 2020 than in 2019. Year-to-Date (YTD), as of August, Brazilian exports were 45.4% bigger this year than last. In addition, business profitability was positively affected by the sharp devaluation of the domestic currency against the dollar (32%) observed in 2020.

It is important to stress that China was responsible for 43.7% of Brazilian pig iron exports this year, against zero in the same period of the previous year.

Steel Fig.3 pays attention to international shipments of Brazilian semis, which is Brazil’s most important steel product export. Not only was the trajectory in both years very similar, but in the first eight months the aggregate value in 2020 was only 0.5% lower than 2019. However, the prospective performance would be impacted by the fact that, in late August 2020, President Trump decided to diminish semis imports from Brazil to 60kt, down

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

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15/10/2020 14:31:29

20

LATIN AMERICA UPDATE

Fig 1. Brazilian exports or iron ore, 2019-2020 (Mt).

Fig 2. Brazilian exports of pig iron, 2019-2020 (kt).

Fig 3. Brazilian exports of steel semis, 2019-2020 (kt)

Source: Secex/IABr

Source: Secex/IABr

Source: Secex/IABr

Fig 4. Brazilian exports of flat steel products, 2019-2020

Fig 5. Brazilian imports of flat steel products, 2019-2020

Fig 6. Brazilian exports of long steel products, 2019-2020

(kt). Source: Secex/IABr

(kt). Source: Secex/IABr

(kt). Source: Secex/IABr

Fig 7. Brazilian imports of long steel products, 2019-2020

Fig 8. Brazilian indirect export of steel products, 2019-2020

Fig 9. Brazilian indirect import of steel products, 2019-2020

(kt). Source: Secex/IABr

(kt). Source: IABr

(kt). Source: IABr

from 350kt for the remainder of the calendar year 2020, although maintained the existing quotas for other steel products under Section 232.

Flat steel’s downward trend The evolution of flat steel exports is shown in Fig.4. There has been a remarkable downwards trend since March 2020.

Moreover, recent drops verified in the last three months did not seem to be associated with the impacts of COVID-19, as other economies are recovering, even though exports were 16.8% lower in 2020 YTD. On the other side of the spectrum, Fig.5 is dedicated to flat steel imports, which were predominately weaker in 2020. In aggregate terms, volume was 14.4% lower than 2019 and it should be remembered that automakers faced temporary shutdowns due to the pandemic.

Fig.6 demonstrates the trajectory of long steel exports, which were consistently poorer in 2020. For the eight first months of the year, the combined amount was 35.1% lower this year than in 2019. The October 2020

LA Update.indd 2

Fig 10. Brazilian steel value chain’s international trade performance, 2019-2020 (YTD %). Source: Secex/IABr

most important factor seems to be the relatively strong position of the domestic construction industry, which was only marginally affected by the pandemic. The problems observed in other Latin American countries, which received 59.3% of Brazilian long steel exports in 2019, might have contributed as a secondary feature.

Fig.7 Long steel exports decreased by 35.1% more than long steel imports (17.8%) Indirect steel trade IABr estimates indirect steel trade on a

monthly basis and this year it was quite disappointing because it was 32.7% worse than in 2019 (Fig.8). The two most important indirect steel exporters – automotive and machinery & equipment – had strong drops of 35.5% and 34.2%.

Meanwhile, indirect steel imports had a better outcome, as the aggregate amount was only 14.5% worse (Fig.9). As expected, automotive plummeted by 40.7% this year.

However, paradoxically, machinery and equipment decreased 10.9%. It is difficult to explain why the imports of machinery and equipment diminished by a fraction of the automotive sector, a very low investment rate when seen in context.

Conclusion Fig.10 demonstrates a YTD summary of the Brazilian steel value chain’s international trade performance. Except for pig iron exports, which have witnessed a remarkable gain of 45.4%, all other steel inputs and products experienced a diminution, varying from almost null (semis exports) to large numbers (longs and indirect exports). � www.steeltimesint.com

15/10/2020 14:31:43

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STEEL MARKETS

Building steel’s future

Growth in the construction industry in 2020 will drop by around 0.5% as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Emerging regions will have a faster rebound in 2021 than the more advanced economies, writes Dr. Andrew Zoryk*

THE impact of the steel industry on global GDP and economic development cannot be overstated, especially when you consider its critical role in buildings and infrastructure. Together these two sectors consumed an estimated 52% of produced material in 2019. Steel’s support of global construction helps fuel a market valued at around $11 trillion and is expected to grow to $14 trillion by 2025. An integral part of infrastructure, steel also helps to connect people to education and social opportunities as well as support health, safety, and security. This is all in addition to buildings and infrastructure’s important correlation with other steel consuming sectors.

Given steel’s role in the global economy, it is important to understand the forwardlooking factors influencing the sector as well as steel producers – particularly in light of the recent global COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, the global construction industry was forecast to rise by 3.6% in 2020, with estimated revenue of US$15 trillion by 2024. But despite

construction having continued to function (albeit at a much lower level of activity) during the first half of 2020, expected growth will be impacted as governments face the challenge of dealing with rising deficits, and residential and commercial projects are adversely affected by unemployment and negative GDP growth.

Beyond these macro-level trends, it is also valuable to have insights into the dynamics of the numerous construction companies that operate in this sector. There are significant regional variations in steel production, depending on the relative levels of steel intensity driven by the economic growth patterns of individual countries.

Indeed, demand in India and China is significantly higher and faster-growing than in more mature economies like Germany and the United Kingdom. Interestingly, of the top 100 listed construction companies, which generated total revenues of US$1,462 trillion in 2019, the top three Chinese companies represent more than 30% of that revenue. In contrast, Europe’s share is more diversified, with some 40

companies contributing to the Top 100.

Despite a backlog of construction projects, the pipeline is expected to be weak for the foreseeable future as a result of the current crisis. Early estimates indicate that growth in the construction industry in 2020 will drop to around 0.5%, with emerging regions expected to have a faster rebound in 2021 as compared to advanced economies.

Some possible consequences of this situation for construction companies may include: • A liquidity crisis for those with high levels of debt and low cash reserves, exacerbated by increased price competition for projects.

• Smaller businesses and subcontractors possibly failing rapidly, creating supply chain disturbances and bottlenecks.

• An increased focus on contract management, as business partners seek to renegotiate or even terminate existing contracts.

Since steel represents a significant share

* Supply Chain and Network Operations, Deloitte Consulting GmbH. October 2020

Zoryk steel.indd 1

www.steeltimesint.com

15/10/2020 14:40:21

STEEL MARKETS

of the material used in construction – for example, in the United States structural steel has around a 46% market share in non-residential and multi-storey residential buildings – such dynamics will in turn have a direct knock-on effect on the majority of steel producers.

However, these effects from the current COVID-19 environment may be mitigated by the recent trend of internationalization in construction. Over the past few years, to combat the increasingly complex and competitive environment in which construction companies operate in, there has been a clear trend towards expansion into international markets – a process led mainly by European companies, although Chinese and Korean firms have also recently made significant acquisitions. This is allowing companies to leverage their leadership in the infrastructure sector to achieve sustainable and profitable growth.

In turn, highly internationalized companies are able to reduce and diversify their risks since the impacts of the crisis on the construction industry have varied regionally.

Yet the results of the internationalization process have been mixed, and many www.steeltimesint.com

Zoryk steel.indd 2

players have found it difficult to adapt their business models to foreign markets.

In any case, the international presence of construction companies is expected to continue broadening in the coming years as supply of services exceeds construction demand in domestic markets.

Furthermore, profit margins in the construction business are traditionally lower than in other (interrelated) businesses operated by the larger construction companies, while operating risks are higher. As a result, most construction groups have diversified their portfolio to perform activities throughout the entire infrastructure cycle. This allows construction groups to increase synergies and harness

23

their competitive advantages and knowledge of the sector, resulting in higher profitability.

Beyond the immediate economic volatility currently experienced by the global economy, there are a number of underlying trends driving future demand for steel in the building and construction sector.

At the heart of many of these trends is progressive urbanization and the growth of so-called megacities that have a population of more than 10 million inhabitants. A recent example is the proposed greenfield Neom megacity development in Saudi Arabia, with a planned size 33 times that of New York City. In order to counter the potential negative effects of urbanization (high energy usage, safety and security, and environmental pollution, among others), there is an increasing focus on the development of smart buildings – that is, structures that use technology-driven processes to automatically control a building’s various operations and functions within an integrated management system.

These developments create a significant opportunity for steel producers to evolve their thinking of how steel materials can October 2020

15/10/2020 14:40:46

24

STEEL MARKETS

play a role in the buildings and cities of the future. It is no longer sufficient to think in isolation about the basic material requirements. The material must embrace full, end-to-end lifecycle thinking, starting with the architect’s vision and design thinking through to the end-of-life or perhaps re-purposing of a building many years in the future. From a functional viewpoint, it is necessary to understand how steel materials can play a role to support key requirements of a smart building, including: • Energy efficiency. As part of the continued focus on climate change globally, there is increasing demand that buildings are designed to have greater energy efficiency and lower emission levels during their operation. For example, within the EU, buildings currently account for about 40% of overall energy consumption and produce around 36% of related greenhouse emissions.

Steelmakers need to consider how steel materials can be leveraged as part of an overall energy concept. This extends to a consideration of the full lifecycle of ‘embodied carbon’ greenhouse gas emissions, i.e., the carbon dioxide equivalents from the manufacture and transport of steel materials (and other building materials) to the construction process and end-of-life and recycling of a building.

October 2020

Zoryk steel.indd 3

• Building certifications. These include green buildings certifications such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and health-related certifications, such as the WELL Building Standard, and Fitwel, where, again, the design of steel materials can play a positive role.

• Occupant experience. Health, comfort, and productivity of employees, visitors, and other occupants. Here again, as part of an overall building design, steel materials can be an important contributor, particularly when a building may at some future time be re-purposed, for example, from a residential to a commercial office focus while minimizing the need to rebuild.

• Operational improvements. This means better space utilization and easier asset management and maintenance. Steel framing structures support designs with almost any shape as well as the flexibility to provide interior spaces for cabling, plumbing, heating, ventilation, and fire protection systems that are easy to access for maintenance and repair.

Construction companies themselves are also moving towards standardization, modularization, and prefabrication of building and infrastructure components to drive efficiencies and minimize potential project schedule overruns.

Such modularization is expected to

improve the productivity and margins for contractors, while standardization is driving improvements in quality and shortening project schedules.

For steel producers, there are clearly parallels with the automotive sector that are driving innovation in the development of higher performance steels (for example, Advanced High Strength Steels). These steels address the need for greater strength, toughness, formability, and weldability. For construction steels, there has already been a number of developments in the area of high strength steels, which have greatly improved structural performance. Meeting requirements for corrosion resistance and fire resistance also plays a significant role, focusing on steel cleanliness, microstructure control, advanced thermo-mechanical controlled rolling processes, and innovative rolling technologies.

Such innovative developments are fundamental to supporting the future evolution of steel materials in building structures. Architects and designers are also playing a key role in challenging the steel industry to continue pushing the boundaries of steel properties and rolling technologies. In an industry where over capacity is likely to remain a dominant theme, those steelmakers that can offer the building and infrastructure sector higher value-added material solutions will likely have a significant competitive advantage. � www.steeltimesint.com

15/10/2020 14:42:00

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25/06/2020 13:21:05

26

IRON ORE

Iron ore key to Oz port’s success

Port Hedland is the second largest town in Western Australia’s Pilbara region; it owes its size and prosperity to its hosting the highest tonnage port in the whole of Australia. In turn, deep natural anchorages have proven ideal for transporting iron ore brought to it by rail from four key iron ore deposits. Michael Schwartz* reviews iron ore trade via Port Hedland in Western Australia

IN its report The economic significance of the Port of Port Hedland ACIL Allen Consulting has analysed the significance of iron ore for Port Hedland. At its most straightforward, Port Hedland and its supply chain pumped AUS$54.7 billion – or 20% of gross state product – into the economy of Western Australia in 2018-2019; furthermore, one in 12 jobs in the entire state is supported by Port Hedland.

All the key port users (BHP, Fortescue, Roy Hill, Atlas Iron, Rio Tinto, Sandfire Resources, Pilbara Minerals and Mineral Resources) contributed financial and production information for the report.

The Pilbara Ports Authority (PPA), which operates the Port of Port Hedland, also provided guidance.

Report commissioners Port Hedland Industries Council (PHIC) can also reveal that each job directly related to the Port of Port Hedland and its supply chain creates two full-time jobs in other parts of the local economy. A further bottom line – the financial – shows that Australia’s federal government receives $64 billion in tax revenue (PHIC was established to assist Port Hedland, port and town alike, achieve its maximum potential; it comprises the PPA, BHP, Fortescue, Roy Hill, Consolidated Minerals and Mineral Resources).

In purely financial terms, the direct and indirect output from Port Hedland is virtually identical: AUS$531.8 million

direct economic output and AUS$526.5 million indirect. Where direct and indirect differ substantially is in job creation. Of all jobs in the town of Port Hedland, 44% were dependent on iron ore and its related activities, broken down into 1,142 direct full-time-equivalent (FTE) posts but more than twice as many indirect FTEs at 2,440.

Port Hedland’s capacities Port Hedland has grown to become the world’s largest bulk export terminal, handling over 511Mt of trade and 6,147 vessel movements in 2018-19 (the PPA also runs the ports at Dampier and Ashburton).

Iron ore, roughly 99% of total trade in volume terms, is the primary commodity traded through the port.

Other commodities include manganese, salt, lithium (exported as spodumene concentrate) and copper concentrate.

China is the number one destination for Australia’s iron ore exports and accounted for 81% of Western Australia’s iron ore exports in 2018. Japan accounted for 8% and South Korea for 6%.

The sizes of ships coming into Port Hedland have increased significantly in recent years, with 45% of vessels now carrying more than 200,000 deadweight tonnage, compared to less than 10% in 2009. To accommodate this, there are 19 operational berths at the Port of Port Hedland. PPA operates four berths, BHP

eight, Fortescue Metals Group five and Roy Hill Infrastructure two. While PPA berths can host vessels ranging between 130m and 260m in length, the other berths range from 300m to 340m.

PPA’s annual throughput for the 2019/20 financial year was a record 717.2Mt, 19.9Mt or 3% up over the previous year.

Annual iron ore exports totalled 531.5Mt, an increase of 24.9Mt or 5% up from the previous year. A further success was the June 2020 monthly throughput at the Port of Port Hedland: 52.3Mt, the first time the port exceeded 50Mt throughput for the month. Iron ore accounted for 51.7Mt of this record figure.

Aboriginal involvement Steel Times International asked whether Port Hedland Industries Council (PHIC) integrated aboriginal personnel within its operations. The reply was positive, as each member of PHIC has its own specific policies in relation to indigenous employment and the use of indigenous contractors and/or businesses. Such policies are extensive and ensure that indigenous employees, contractors, and businesses share in the economic benefits that flow from the operations of PHIC members and the wider Port of Port Hedland supply chain.

PHIC CEO Kirsty Danby commented: “PHIC members and the resources sector more generally are committed to working

* Iron ore and mining correspondent October 2020

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IRON ORE

with and improving the lives of indigenous people. Each organisation has individual programmes, but generally they will include scholarships and traineeships for indigenous students and workers, development of indigenous businesses through joint ventures and programmes that target and nurture the development of individual workers and businesses.”

Corporate Social Responsibility PHIC also replied to questions relating to CSR, responding that the resources sector understands its role in ensuring that the economic and social benefits of its activities are realised where it operates so as to assist communities to flourish. In addition, PHIC members, working with local government and community stakeholders, have contributed to the Port Hedland community by investing in a range of educational, sporting, environmental, and social programmes; that investment and the contribution through rates and taxes means money for community infrastructure such as leisure centres, libraries and schools.

It contributed nearly AUS$500 million in

wages and salaries in Port Hedland. These jobs and the wages flowing from them provide security and stability for thousands of people employed directly by the port and its supply chain, indirectly in other occupations in the local community, and certainty for Port Hedland businesses, giving them the confidence to grow and prosper.

The future?

Estimates drawing on information supplied by the Industrial Council members and processed by ACIL Allen predict economic benefits rising an average AUS$2.6 billion/ year by 2028-2029, ie, AUS$26 billion would line the coffers of state and federal government.

The Western Australian Government announced in September 2019 that

27

shipping capacity at the Port of Port Hedland would be increased by nearly 7% as a result of port dredging, technology and innovation. This 7% increase represents 40Mt/yr, to a new total of 617Mt/yr.

While iron ore is not the only mineral handled through Port Hedland, the total of 524.9Mt for 2019-2020 is expected to rise to 547.5Mt by 2022-2023 before a minor fall to 545.2Mt/year for the remaining years to 2028-2029. Another mineral is spodumene concentrate for lithium. Here, annual production is predicted to accelerate from 180kt in 2019-2020 to 370kt in 2020-2021 and to a very substantial 1.5Mt in 2021-2022. Even after that, a rise over the subsequent seven years will mean an average 1.6Mt/yr. PHIC confirmed that the projected growth of lithium exports is not expected to have any material effect on port capacity.

The last words are again those of Kirsty Danby: “That the port supply chain is responsible for one in every 12 jobs in WA is extraordinary and a reflection of the importance of the port to the economic futures of the town, state and nation.” �

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COMPLETE or IN PARTS

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Additional Equipment installed in 2008 1st construction stage • • • • • • •

High-pressure descaler Hot plate leveler 2 walking-beam cooling beds 3 dividing shears Slitting shear 2 double-side trimming shears Plate finishing line

Revamp 2008/2011

• Finishing stand: New AC 8.000 kW Drive • CVC® plus, slipper-type spindles, • hydraulic adjustment systems • Roughing stands: New AC 8.000 kW Drive • Technological control systems (Level 1), process models (Level 2) for pass schedule calculation, profile and flatness control (PFC), pacing system and material tracking • Walking Beam Reheat Furnace (new one in 2008)

Revamp 2011

• Roughing stand: slipper-type spindles

Revamp 2008 - 2013 at Cost Of USD 130 Million Michael Bouland mbouland@hilcoglobal.com +31 (0)20 470 0989

29

IRONMAKING

Ultra-low CO2 ironmaking Mitigating CO2 emissions in the iron and steel industry will become even more critical in Western Europe as the cost of CO2 emissions increases over time. The best possibility for significantly reducing the CO2 footprint now and in the future is to use “green” hydrogen to produce DRI/HBI, which then can be used as feedstock for steelmaking. Unfortunately, hydrogen is not currently available at sufficient scale and low enough cost for rapid adoption. This article discusses the status of the transition from a Carbon Economy to a Hydrogen Economy: the challenges, the developmental activities, and the solutions available for iron and steelmaking. By Dr. Vincent Chevrier* Moving Toward a Hydrogen Economy The Hydrogen Economy is a proposed system of delivering energy using hydrogen in place of hydrocarbon fuels. Proponents of a world-scale Hydrogen Economy argue that hydrogen can be an environmentally cleaner source of energy to end-users without the release of pollutants, such as particulate matter or carbon dioxide (i.e., greenhouse gases [GHG]).

The steel industry, especially traditional blast furnace (BF) ironmaking, is among the largest source of GHG – in the range of 7-9% of total emissions – because of its significant reliance on coal. About 75% of the world’s iron is made in BFs and refined in a basic oxygen furnace (BOF). BF/BOF emissions can be 1.6-2.0 kg CO2/kg steel depending on the technologies used.

Issues to Overcome The biggest obstacle towards a rapid shift to hydrogen relates to GHG emissions from power generation since hydrogen generation requires a lot of electric power.

Renewable energy, such as wind, solar, geothermal or hydro have steadily increased market share worldwide, but most of the energy sources today still come from hydrocarbon sources (petroleum, coal, and natural gas) - and nuclear power plants in some countries. To reduce CO2 in steelmaking with hydrogen, it is critical that the electricity needed to electrolyze water is from non-CO2 emitting sources. Therefore, a transformation of the steel industry starts with a transformation of the power

industry: less GHG and more tolerance to supply-demand fluctuations.

There are also specific issues about hydrogen that need to be resolved for it to become a major energy carrier. For instance, hydrogen has a high energy density by weight, but a low energy density by volume when not compressed or liquefied. Thus, the cost of infrastructure for storing and transporting hydrogen can be a major obstacle in its development. Other related issues, such hydrogen purity, material compatibility, and concerns for safety will have to be overcome for the Hydrogen

Economy to take off.

Finally, cost and availability of green hydrogen are currently one of the main limitations for widespread use.

Current Hydrogen Usage and Generation There are two major uses for hydrogen today: to produce ammonia (NH3) for use in fertilizer, and to convert heavy petroleum sources into lighter fractions suitable for use as fuels (hydrocracking).

In 2016, 96% of the global hydrogen production was from fossil fuels; 48% from

* PhD, General manager, business development, Midrex Technologies www.steeltimesint.com

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IRONMAKING

Fig 1. Improving economics of renewable H2 (Department of Energy H2 @ Scale FCTO Webinar- July 28, 2016)

natural gas, 30% from oil, and 18% from coal. Most of this ‘grey’ or ‘blue’ hydrogen is generated and consumed on the same site. The vast majority of this hydrogen is produced in a steam methane reformer (SMR) using natural gas as the feedstock.

Large-scale hydrogen production utilizing steam reformers does not provide a solution for greatly reducing CO2 emissions because it relies on natural gas and still has significant CO2 emissions. Capture from SMR is feasible, but the CO2 needs to be sequestered and/or used.

Green Hydrogen Another technology for H2 production is electrolysis, which uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Water electrolysis accounted for 4% of the global hydrogen production. However, there are three problems for its rapid deployment and adoption: 1) in most countries, electricity is generated primarily with fossil fuels, 2) technologies for hydrogen generation from water are not at sufficient scale, and 3) the cost of hydrogen is significantly higher than hydrogen from steam reforming. Scale and cost will improve over time as demand for green hydrogen grows.

The transportation sector is leading the way in hydrogen technology development.

Use of hydrogen in commercial vehicles, such as buses, drayage trucks or forklifts is rapidly increasing. Hydrogen-fueled cars are being demonstrated in select www.steeltimesint.com

Midrex.indd 2

31

locations. However, centralized production of hydrogen would require the construction of a costly distribution infrastructure.

And conversely, distributed hydrogen generation (such as at the fueling station) does not benefit from scaling effects.

The technological challenge of providing safe, energy-dense & economical storage of hydrogen at distribution stations and inside vehicles must also be overcome.

These topics are being investigated by the transportation sector but will be universally applied.

Industrial use of hydrogen, such as for producing iron, offers the advantage of a fixed location and very large demand.

Hydrogen can be generated on-site or supplied over-the-fence with significantly lower infrastructure cost per volume of gas.

Steel mills also have the ability to integrate hydrogen generation with other utilities on site, such as steam and other gases like oxygen.

There are several technologies at various levels of technical readiness to produce hydrogen from water. The most mature is alkaline electrolysis; proton exchange membrane (PEM) is in the commercialization stage and solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) in demonstration stage. Large scale hydrogen generation is of prime interest for industrial users, but the size is still a fraction of what is needed. However, there are larger capacity electrolyzers in development: Air Liquide announced in February 2019 the construction of a 20MW PEM in Canada from hydropower; Air Products is investing in ammonia production via alkaline electrolysis in Saudi Arabia, powered by 4GW of wind and solar.

Fig 2. MIDREX NG standard flowsheet

October 2020

19/10/2020 06:17:46

32

IRONMAKING

Fig 3. MIDREX NG with Hydrogen Addition: more than 30% natural gas displacement

of scale like most industrial equipment.

Reduction in capital costs must come from efficiencies in manufacturing and raw material selection. On the other hand, this linear scale up involves significantly less technical risks.

The majority of the operational cost associated with electrolysis is the cost of electricity. Fig.1 shows the vision of the economics: using $0.01/kWh electricity, the cost of hydrogen is about the same as from a steam reformer (see second bar from left), even though the capacity factor is only 40% (from intermittent renewable power source). Renewable electricity is not currently available at this price over long periods, but may be in the future with technology advancement, large installations and reduction in fabrication costs. At times when supplies far exceed demand, cheap electricity can be supplied intermittently and used to produce hydrogen.

Reduction of the capital cost of hydrogen generation (from $400/kW to $100/kW as in Fig 1) is another requirement to achieve parity with fossil-made hydrogen.

While increasing plant size will decrease production cost, scaling up electrolyzers does not lead to significant economies October 2020

Midrex.indd 3

Ironmaking Using Hydrogen Using hydrogen to make iron is not a new idea. Over the last 50 years, direct reduction technologies like the MIDREX® Process and Tenova HYL Energiron use a majority of hydrogen in the reducing gas. The MIDREX Process paired with an EAF has the lowest CO2 emissions of any commercially proven steelmaking route using virgin iron ore at 1.1 – 1.2 kg CO2/kg steel. By adding a CO2 removal system, the MIDREX Process can lower CO2 emissions even further to around 1 /3 of the emissions from the BF/BOF route.

Yet, there is even more room for lower emissions through the use of hydrogen as a fuel and chemical reactant. The ultimate method for drastically reducing the steel industry’s CO2 footprint is the use of green hydrogen produced from renewable energy for DRI production in a MIDREX Shaft Furnace, known as MIDREX H2™, in either new or existing plants. A major obstacle to implementing hydrogen direct reduction ironmaking is the difficulty of producing

Fig 4a. MIDREX H2 with hydrogen supplied over-the-fence

Fig 4b. MIDREX H2 with integrated hydrogen generation

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19/10/2020 06:18:06

IRONMAKING

33

Issues Facing Hydrogen Ironmaking There are a few issues to consider for making DRI with hydrogen; the first is temperature. With such a large amount of hydrogen, the energy balance of the shaft furnace is affected by the absence of the exothermic carbon monoxide reduction (reaction 2 in Fig 6) to balance the endothermic reduction (reaction 1). Thus, it is necessary to add energy to the shaft

Fig 5. MIDREX Plant Owned and Operated by ArcelorMittal in Hamburg, Germany

enough hydrogen at a low enough low cost without a large CO2 footprint. Still, this idea may be closer than many realize as the idea of the Hydrogen Economy gains traction and support.

The standard MIDREX NG flowsheet, MIDREX NG with partial substitution of hydrogen, and 100% hydrogen MIDREX H2 provide a staged transition to the Hydrogen Economy.

• MIDREX NG (Fig 2) is well-proven and can cut CO2 emissions by half or more immediately and without technology risks.

The product of this plant (CDRI, HDRI or HBI) can be used in the EAF or BF/BOF in existing melt shops with few or no modifications.

• MIDREX NG with hydrogen addition (Fig 3) can displace some natural gas in an existing MIDREX NG plant. The MIDREX NG flowsheet can accommodate up to 30% substitution by hydrogen without modification of equipment. The maximum hydrogen addition without flowsheet modification depends on a number of factors including the desired carbon level in the DRI. The MIDREX Plant is flexible enough to allow changes in energy source over time to accommodate the likely fluctuations (daily or seasonal) in hydrogen availability. The hydrogen can be generated on-site or provided over-the-fence.

• MIDREX H2 is similar to MIDREX NG except the hydrogen input gas is generated externally to the process (see Fig 4a) or www.steeltimesint.com

Midrex.indd 4

Fig 6. Direct Reduction Ironmaking Reactions

furnace to carry heat in the burden. Midrex has several options available to control the shaft furnace heat balance.

The second issue is the resulting DRI carbon content; the DRI will have 0% carbon. The majority of DRI is used in EAFs, and EAF steelmaking practice generally employs carbon addition either in metallic charge materials or as pure carbon. Part of the carbon is needed to complete the metallization of the DRI, and the majority is burned with injected oxygen to create a significant amount of heat, thus reducing electricity consumption and enabling faster melting. Most EAF steelmakers prefer to use DRI with 1.5-3% carbon, integrated within the process (Fig 4b).

Thus, there is no need for the reformer; only a gas heater is needed to heat the gas to the required temperature. With this process, CO2 emissions could be reduced up to 80% vs. the BF/BOF steelmaking route.

In September 2019, ArcelorMittal announced an agreement with Midrex to design a demonstration plant at its Hamburg site to produce steel with hydrogen (Fig 5). The plant will be the world’s first direct reduction plant on an industrial scale powered by 100% hydrogen.

A 3-Step Transition for Iron & Steel Production Since the BF/BOF process is unlikely to meet the target CO2 reductions, steelmakers – especially European steelmakers – face a daunting challenge in transitioning to (near) carbon-neutral ironmaking. As a possible answer, Midrex introduced modifications of the MIDREX Process that use some or all hydrogen as the reducing gas (see Figs 3 and 4a/4b) to allow a 3-stage transition to the Hydrogen Economy: Step 1: build a MIDREX NG Plant and take immediate advantage of the October 2020

19/10/2020 06:18:12

34

HBI is here to stay!

For 40 years, Köppern briquetting machines have played a key role throughout the world in the production of HBI for DRI processes.

And HBI is still in demand, as demonstrated by the new HBI plants equipped with Köppern roller presses at LEBGOK (Russia) and Voestalpine (USA) and the upcoming installation at CLIFFS (USA). » » » »

State of the art technology Experts in process technology High plant availability Long-lasting equipment

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Midrex.indd 5

IRONMAKING

reductions in CO2 emissions.

Step 2: Add up to 30% hydrogen as it becomes available.

Step 3: Modify the MIDREX NG Plant to the MIDREX H2 flowsheet and take full advantage of 100% hydrogen when it becomes widely available and cost effective.

This approach offers the ability to ‘buy time’ while minimizing technology risks, as the intermediate step of hydrogen addition requires few modifications to an existing plant and can be preengineered in a new plant.

Conclusion Iron and steelmaking are large contributors to the emission of greenhouse gases, notably CO2. The industry is facing increasing pressure to de-carbonize. Hydrogen ironmaking is a real possibility for future (near) carbon-free steelmaking, but there are significant uncertainties about the availability of hydrogen in sufficient volumes and at a competitive cost.

The best possibility for reducing the steel industry’s CO2 footprint is the use of hydrogen as an energy source and reductant for iron ore in the MIDREX Process. The MIDREX Process paired with an electric arc furnace (EAF) has one of the lowest CO2 emissions of any steelmaking route: reduction of CO2 emissions by 50% over BF/BOF is achievable and well proven. Although the hydrogen comes from natural gas (“blue” hydrogen), the process can accept “green” hydrogen produced from water electrolysis, which will further reduce CO2 emissions.

Ultimately, the use of hydrogen in the MIDREX Process – known as MIDREX H2 – holds great promise to be developed and realized in either new or existing DRI plants. Investments for the future can be made today with a MIDREX Plant, knowing that it is adaptable to the hydrogen economy. � References 1) H2@scale website (https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/h2scale) www.steeltimesint.com

19/10/2020 06:18:31

AUTOMATION

35

Safer steelmaking at BSW The journey towards a safe steel plant operation at Badische Group is based on decades of operational experience and a continuous and never-ending improvement process. By Peter van der Velden* and Danny Schreiber**

EBT balcony flap in operation THM - in operation

EBT monitoring tasting phase

Sand filling EBT-flap - in operation

semi automatic

Fig 1. Different EBT safety modules

Fig 2. EBT balcony flap

THE continuous improvement process at Badische Group is based on a stepby-step implementation experience and persistent advancement. Such a procedure in a highly productive steel mill requires perfect project planning and execution since troubleshooting and ‘trial and error’ implementations cannot be accepted for the following reasons: • Trouble shooting during production can create a very dangerous working environment and cannot be accepted for safety reasons.

• Production losses during implementation are accepted only to a very limited extent.

Of course, every new development will have some teething problems and room for fine-tuning and adjustments, but the general design and operation must have a solid and reliable base from a mechanical

and a process-related perspective.

The Badische Group, therefore, is convinced that, ‘The moving direction is more important than the travel speed’ and this is reflected in the company’s day-to-day philosophy.

To take one step after another in the right direction, the Badische Group follows the modular approach to improve safety, productivity and automation. In this context, one focus is on automating different applications. Even though everybody talks about automation and Industry 4.0, liquid steel production with an EAF is a different challenge. For that reason, it is mandatory for the Badische Group to first apply reliable tools for automation and then develop a well-known process, transfer that process to the existing production system, and finally into automation.

So, as a first step, individual single production-related processes are executed

‘autonomously’ by ‘single-button operation’, activated and monitored by an experienced operator.

There are various modules making up Badische Group’s ‘The Future is Manless’ concept. All of them are individually developed, but work well together towards this future vision, including hardware and software tools within the electric steelmaking process.

One group of tools reflects the idea of safer EBT (Eccentric Bottom Tapping) – a package of different individual modules avoiding manual operation in the EAF tapping area – applicable for the EBT, but also spout or centric bottom tapping (Fig 1).

The very beginning of the journey towards safer EBT started in 2016 with the water-cooled and hydraulically driven EBT Balcony flap (Fig 2). The system helped a lot to reduce risks for the operators during

* Vice president of sales, BSE. ** Assistant manager, production, BSW www.steeltimesint.com

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36

AUTOMATION

Year

Tot No. of heats

Tot. No. of incidents

Description / Area code

Tot. min. delay per year

2013

22678

1287

EBT flap “cleaning”

920

2014

18683

1046

EBT flap “cleaning”

784

2015

21242

384

EBT flap “cleaning”

179

2016

22395

41

EBT flap “cleaning”

29

2017

21168

72

EBT flap “cleaning”

76

2018 June

10202

46

EBT flap “cleaning”

72

Fig 3. Yearly delay recording of EBT flap operation before and after installation of the EBT balcony flap

oxygen lance.

The interaction of the individual modules realizes another step towards the ultimate goal of almost 100% safety at the EBT and is part of the safe EAF plant. It addresses it, once more, with a smart ‘one-button’ automation of previously human tasks.

It is worth mentioning standardization of EAF turnaround on the EBT side: In general, this is not only helpful for safe manufacturing and efficient maintenance processes, but also for economic reasons, such as plant productivity.

The THM implements (Fig 4): - Optimal work safety.

- Standardization of the tap clearing and cleaning process.

Fig 5. Visual inspection of tap hole channel with camera module.

Fig 4. THM in working position

tap hole preparation, reducing working time at the balcony panel and physical stress for the operator. On request of the operator, the EBT balcony panel opens automatically at the push of a button.

Another very welcome aspect was the reduction of delays and interruptions caused by previous designs. Accordingly, productivity could be increased as well.

After a few months of successful operation, the system was installed at Badische Group’s second EAF at Badische Stahl Werke (BSW) (Fig 3).

In 2017, the next modular stage was realized by installation of the EBT balcony flap together with the automatic sand feeding system with one of our customers in South America. The modules interact by opening the EBT panel, inspecting the tap hole using a camera system, filling sand, re-inspecting and closing the EBT panel – all October 2020

BSE.indd 2

together as an autonomous package. The system is activated by the furnace operator after tapping. The modules execute the task up to a certain point at which human experience has to interact by taking the decision: tap hole free ‘enough’– start sand filling. This means that no artificial intelligence has to decide ‘yet’. It’s the human factor in the steel mill that decides and brings the mill to high performance.

However, the dangerous and physical work is executed by reliable tools.

The next module on the way towards a safer EBT and manless operation was developed in 2018, manufactured in 2019 and commissioned in January this year at BSW’s EAF No. 2: The Tap Hole Manipulator (THM) is a proactive safety device that ensures a clean tap hole, proper sand filling and avoiding danger and delays created by an emergency tap hole opening with an

- Material savings through more careful and efficient cleaning.

During the annual shutdown 2020, Badische will supplement the safer EBT modules with next generation EBT tap hole camera for visual inspection (Fig 5), and also with a fully automated sandfilling hopper. First trials have already been performed successfully.

The new standard will be an automated manless EBT turnaround without any physical operator accessing the EBT panels, monitored from a safe working place and executed by individual autonomously working modules.

Badische is convinced that the best place for a steel maker is not in a danger zone – but instead in a place where we can make best use of the human talent in a safe way.

The future is safe if potentially harmful tasks are manless. BSE’s modules for a safer EBT can be implemented at any time either on a step-by-step basis or as an holistic package. �

www.steeltimesint.com

15/10/2020 14:45:05

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IRONMAKING

DRI for low-emission steel production The topic of direct reduction ironmaking (DRI) has attracted much attention recently, especially in relation to the goal of reducing CO2 emissions in iron and steel production. By Dr. Joseph J. Poveromo* DRI is defined as the reduction of iron oxide to metallic iron without melting. Unreduced ore compounds remain as undesirable oxides. The iron oxide feedstock (Fe2O3) exits in the same form as it entered (pellets in, pellets out; lumps in, lumps out). Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) refers to DRI that has been hot (1200°F, 650°C) briquetted to a high density pillow-shaped briquette, mainly to facilitate safe shipping and handling for merchant DRI production. DRI/ HBI is mainly used as a primary metallic feedstock in electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking in scrap-deficient regions such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and as supplementary feed material in scrap-rich regions such as North America and Europe. HBI is also used selectively in blast furnaces and pneumatic steelmaking (BOF, LD) furnaces.

DRI PROCESS FUNDAMENTALS – The reduction process itself proceeds in stepwise fashion: Fe2O3 + 3 CO = 2 Fe + 3CO2 2 Fe2O3 + 3 H2 = 2 Fe + 3H2O (Fe2O3 > Fe3O4 > FeO > Fe)

also be produced from coke oven gas, coal gasification, and Corex smelting top gases, as well as by self-reforming within the shaft.

DRI process developers are now exploring switching to using H2 as the reductant, as part of the CO2 emissions reduction effort.

The use of H2 is straightforward; the major

Prompt

pig hot

DRI/HBI

Scrap

iron

metal

Fe

98.0

94.5

93.0

Metallization, %

100

100

95

Metallic Fe

98.0

94.5

88.6

FeO

0

0

6.6

Carbon

0

4.5

1.5

Acidic gangue

1.0

1.0

2.2

Basic gangue, other

1.0

0

1.1

barrier is the current high cost of H2 gas; accordingly much research effort is being aimed at developing more economical methods of H2 gas production.

Ore-based metallics DRI/HBI is one form of what are considered ore-based metallics (OBMs) that are used in EAFs. The other popular OBM is merchant pig iron, as produced in blast furnaces that produce hot metal, molten iron in liquid form, above 1370°C. Pig iron is simply solid hot metal. A comparison of the metallics charged to an EAF follows. It is clear that DRI/HBI is the disadvantaged relative to both scrap and pig iron with respect to total Fe, metallization, metallic Fe, and gangue levels; however DRI/HBI offers more potential for reduced CO2 emissions. Table 1.

Table 1.

Reductant:

coal-based

gas-based

Vessel:

Iron Ore:

Rotary

Rotary

Fluid

Shaft

Fluid

Kiln

Hearth

Bed

Furnace

Bed

lump ore

fines

fines

pellets,

fines

fines

Midrex

FINMET

Flash Smelter

HyL

Iron Carbide

Primetals

fines

lump ore

For shaft furnace DRI processes, the above reducing gases, CO and H2, are most commonly produced from reforming (catalytic or steam) natural gas, but can

Process

SL/RN

Inmetco

Circofer

DRC Fastmet

others

Circored

Table 2. Direct Reduced Iron (DRI/HBI) processes

* Raw Materials & Ironmaking Global Consulting, Bethlehem, PA 18017, Tel: +1 (610) 442 3527 Email: joe.poveromo@rawmaterialsiron.com www.steeltimesint.com

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IRONMAKING

Item

Consumption

Unit cost

Cost/ton DRI

Pellet Nat Gas Electricity Oxygen

1.45 tons

$ 140

203.00

10 MMBTU

4

40.00

110 kwH

0.05

5.50

15 nM3

0.1

1.50

Other

10.00

Total

260.00

Table 3. DRI ECONOMICS - The cash cost of shaft furnace DRI production

DRI processes We will discuss processes to produce DRI or HBI with the aid of Table 2: All processes that have attained commercial status are shown in bold.

Worldwide DRI/HBI production is dominated (nearly 75%) by the gas-based shaft furnace processes (MIDREX, Energiron HyL and Pered) using mainly pellets. For regions with low-cost, local coal and iron ore, such as India and South Africa, the smaller scale coal-based DRI processes (using mainly rotary kilns) play a major role. Fines-based processes attracted much attention decades ago, but have not established themselves; only the Orinoco Iron FINMET plant remains in operation.

However, the Outotec Circored plant was based on using H2 as the reductant and so this process may be revisited. The latest attempt at fines-based processing is at the Donawitz plant of Voest Stahl in Austria where Primetals is now building a pilot plant. A commercial plant would produce 250Kt/yr of DRI fines that could be charged directly into an adjacent EAF or could be briquetted to produce HBI. H2 gas will be the reductant. The rotary hearth processes listed above mainly process steel plant waste oxides to produce lower grade DRI that is best consumed in blast furnaces or in special steel melting furnaces; these will not be discussed further.

Charging of Iron Ore • screening and coating (with limestone, dolomite, bauxite or cement) of pellets, lump ore.

Reduction in Shaft Furnace • bustle gas introduced at about 1000 C sometimes oxygen addition.

Handling Product DRI: • Cold DRI, Hot DRI (hot discharge, hot conveyor, or transfer vessel) or HBI. It is clear from Table 3 that iron ore (pellet) costs have dominated the cost profile since the dramatic rise in iron ore costs at the start of the ‘China boom’ circa 2004. Before that time, natural gas costs were a key determinant in decisions to locate DRI plants. Nevertheless, when natural gas prices increase to the $7 – $10/ MMBTU range, DRI production looks far less attractive. (Fig 1) DRI iron bearing raw materials Raw materials quality is important because in direct reduction processes the only chemical change is the removal of oxygen from ore while the remaining constituents stay with the DRI product, but increase in

concentration (about 1.5 times) due to the removal of oxygen. This affects the process economics of subsequent EAF melting vessels. By contrast, smelting reduction processes (including the blast furnace) provide the formation of a refining slag that captures much of the iron ore gangue. The key chemistry requirements for DR grade pellets are: • Fe > 67 %; • acidic gangue (SiO2+Al2O3+TiO2) preferably below 2%, but acceptable below 3% • low levels of steelmaking impurities: P, Mn, S • residuals ( Cu + Ni + Cr + Mo + Sn ) should be lower than in prime scrap; these are the key residuals monitored in the scrap supply and the major reason for using DRI/ HBI or pig iron in EAF production as noted below: • Ore-based metallics such as pig iron, HBI and DRI are used mainly in EAF flatrolled operations at 20% to 40% of the metallic charge, along with scrap.

• Ore-based metallics are used more selectively in EAF operations producing steel for SBQ, rail, wire rod, tubular and plate operations at smaller (5% to 15%) percentages of the metallic mix.

• EAF operations producing rebar and other structural products (beams) operate mainly with 100% scrap charges.

We speak mainly about DR grade pellets, as DR grade lump ores are limited in both quality and availability. The quality of lump ores chemically does not match that of leading merchant DR grade pellets, whereas

Shaft furnace DRI process Our focus is on the gas-based shaft furnace DRI/HBI processes; a typical flow sheet (Source: Midrex) is shown below. The process includes these steps: Generation of Hot Reducing Gas • reforming natural gas (catalytic reforming for the Midrex Process; steam reforming for HyL III) • in situ reforming – (Energiron HyL ZR Process) • gasifying coal; coke oven gas (commercialized in India)

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Fig 1

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IRONMAKING

the inherent physical and metallurgical limitations of lump ore – sizing, fines and reducibility – limit their value-in-use. Lump ores of reasonable quality are used mainly locally in countries such as India, Venezuela and South Africa with some exports of superior physical quality lump ore from South Africa.

DR grade pellets produced from local iron ores are consumed in countries such as Venezuela, India, Russia, Mexico and Canada, thus providing these DRI producers with a strong competitive advantage.

DR grade pellets are also produced and consumed in some MENA countries – Bahrain, Oman and Algeria – but using imported pellet feed, mainly from Brazil, as well as Chile, Ukraine and Canada; thus reducing the competitive advantage of such pellet production.

DRI producers elsewhere in the MENA region, along with those in Argentina, Trinidad, USA and SE Asia, are totally reliant upon the seaborne trade, (estimated at 46Mt in 2019) of DR grade pellets. This trade is dominated by Brazil: VALE (> 50 %) and Samarco (until the 2015 tailings dam shutdown), Sweden (LKAB), Canada (IOC and AMMC), and Bahrain Steel. Other suppliers are in Chile, Russia and Ukraine.

Global DRI/HBI production: (courtesy of Midrex Stats) for 2019: 108.1Mt, distributed (all in Mt), Table 4.

Product shipments include those within countries; the cross border trade in 2019 was about 10Mt with Russia being the leading exporter at about 30%, followed by Trinidad (shipping captive Nucor DRI) with other countries (USA, Bahrain, Malaysia, Venezuela, Libya, Iran) playing smaller roles. Western Europe is the leading import region followed by the USA and China.

The total shipments of 19.6Mt imply that the remaining 88.5Mt was consumed on-site or at adjacent EAF steelmaking operations. The DRI/EAF steelmaking route has continued to grow in the MENA region and India, but not so much elsewhere up until now. This year we see announcements of DRI/EAF projects in Russia, China and Bolivia. Although not located on EAF plant sites, the DRI plants of Nucor in Trinidad and Louisiana are captive suppliers to a number of Nucor EAF plants in the USA. The sharp drop in gas prices starting around 2009 (due to the Marcellus shale development) had led to a resurgence in USA gas-based DRI production. The first was the Nucor Louisiana project, a 2.5Mt/yr DRI plant that www.steeltimesint.com

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started up in late 2014, followed by the Voest Stahl HBI project where a 2Mt/yr plant started up in late 2016. The Cliffs Toledo HBI plant, rated at 1.8Mt/yr, will start up later this year. Other projects are being studied in the USA and Canada.

DRI and low CO2 steel production The major current interest in DRI/EAF steelmaking relates to the global effort to reduce CO2 emissions in steel production.

The impact of different process routes on CO2 emissions is well illustrated below (Source: Dr. P. Chris Pistorius, Carnegie Mellon University, Centre for Iron & Steel Research). The DRI/EAF route offers about a 60 % reduction in CO2, when electrical power comes from renewable sources.

In Fig 2 we note that the HYBRIT route (H2-based DRI/EAF) offers carbon-free steel production possibilities. The HYBRIT (Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology) project in the Scandinavian countries includes these key elements: • Fossil-free production of pellets by LKAB in Sweden.

• Using electrolysis to produce H2 from water.

• Shaft furnace direct reduction (DRI) of iron ore pellets by H2 gas.

• Melting of DRI and scrap in an electric arc furnace (EAF).

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Obviously, the above approach relies upon significant consumption of fossilfree electricity (available in Sweden from hydropower) as well as technical success in the economic production of H2 by electrolysis. SSAB plans to switch its BF/ BOF steel plants in Sweden and Finland to HYBRIT DRI/EAF steel production starting in 2025-2030 pending completion of the experimental programme.

Another effort to incrementally approach CO2 reduction involves charging HBI to blast furnaces. Voest Stahl is already shipping HBI from its plant in Texas to its blast furnaces in Austria and project that the use of HBI at 100kg/tonne reduces the coke rate by 25kg/tonne and can reduce the BF/BOF CO2 emissions by about 90-93%.

Other European steel producers have plans that include DRI production for a low CO2 future: • SALCOS – this is the effort by Salzgitter Steel to gradually replace BF/ BOF steel production by DRI/EAF steel production.

• ArcelorMittal – is establishing a pilot plant to produce H2 for trials of DRI production of carbon-free DRI in their existing ArcelorMittal Hamburg DRI/EAF. steel plant. �

MENA

50.1 (including Iran, 28.5; Saudi Arabia, 5.8)

Asia

34.3 (mainly India, 33.7 and Malaysia, 0.6)

NAFTA

10.6 .(Mexico, 6.0; USA, 3.2; Canada, 1.4)

Russia

8.0

South America

3.8 (Mexico, 6.0; Trinidad, 1.7; Argentina, 1.1; Venezuela, 1.0)

Other

1.2 (S. Africa, 0.7; Germany, 0.5)

Product type:

cold DRI, 87.1; hot DRI, 11.3; HBI, 9.7

Product shipments:

cold DRI, 11.3 and HBI, 8.3; water 11.0, land, 8.6

Table 4. Global DRI/HBI production

Fig 2.

The Continuum of Possibilities

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IRONMAKING

COVID takes its toll

GLOBAL production of metallurgical coke will reach an estimated 684.1Mt in 2020 according to research undertaken by Smithers.

Smithers’ tracking of this market and its close correlation to regional metal production has found that the impact of economic disruption caused by the global Covid-19 pandemic will see a drop in met coke production. The Future of Met Coke to 2025 from Smithers forecasts a year-on-year decrease at -0.7% by volume for the next five years. This will see global production reach 661.4Mt in 2025.

Coke pricing will also be severely impacted by an economic downturn. The per tonne price will slowly recover across the five-year period, but will still remain below prices seen in 2018 and 2019.

For 2020-2025 the effect of anticipated reductions in hot metal production and coke consumption on the met coke trade will be more pronounced than during the 2008 global recession, and there are two reasons for this: • Those countries and companies that rely on outside sources of coke to fill their incremental needs will reduce or, in many cases, eliminate sources of outside coke.

• Inventories of coke accumulated in 2020 (and 2021) will reduce, or in some cases eliminate, the need for outside coke sources in 2021 and even into 2022.

The market demand With the integrated steel sector of the global steel industry being the main market for met coke, it can be expected that met coke demand will remain influenced by:

• Global steel production • The portion of global steel production from the integrated (blast furnace) route • Any changes to the integrated route whereby hot metal is produced by processes other than the blast furnace that do not require coke • The overall efficiency of blast furnace operations.

As less efficient BF operations are phased out, met coke demand drops and the level of injection increases at the blast furnace tuyeres as such injectants directly replace met coke.

Market challenges As with many other markets, met coke is expected to face many challenges over the next five years, which will contribute to the year-on-year decrease predicted by Smithers.

• There will be static steel consumption and production in the developed regions – North America, Europe, CIS and developed Asia – with some potential decline in Europe, due to competitive pressure from imports and regulatory constraints related to CO2 emissions.

• Steel producers will continue to structurally reduce coke deficits. These activities include building heat-recovery coke batteries, especially in the US, or by-product coke batteries; rebuilding coke batteries; expanding or installing blast furnace coal injection facilities; improving blast furnace raw materials and equipment; and using intra-company transfers of coke supplies

• Globally the blast furnace sector will take a greater share of the global steel market, although the alternative electric arc furnace sector will be of increasing importance in North America and Europe.

• Pig iron and steel growth will level off in China, and decline at a gradual rate.

What happens in China can define the world market, as it accounts for around 50% of global coke and pig iron production • Within China there will be some growth in the use of EAFs, but blast furnace (BF) and basic oxygen furnace (BOF) steel production will remain the main technology. Chinese production of pig iron is forecast to fall at a faster rate. The decrease in consumption will be greater as scrap consumption in the BOF process will increase, given an expected sharp growth in the reservoir of obsolete domestic scrap • There will be a geographic shift in steel consumption and production to the developing economies in India, Southeast Asia, and South America. This includes greenfield projects in Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines; and to a lesser extent India, and Brazil.

The impact of the Chinese market The coking coal market was upset by a shift in the role of China from being a net coal exporter (and thus driving coal prices down) to being a net coal importer after 2004, thus tightening the coal market. High coal prices have attracted many new entrants, including the reopening of shutdown mines, but the quality and mining costs of some new entrants can be an issue.

Although China has huge coking coal

* Commissioning Editor, Smithers October 2020

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The world met coke market is expected to reach 661.4Mt in 2025 as the industry responds to Covid-19 disruption, according to a report from Smithers. By Eve De Clerk*

World coke production by region, 1990–2016. Source: Smithers

resources, the very rapid expansion of steel and coke production has not been matched by the required increase of safe, large-scale coal production, so China’s net coal imports will increase in the future.

The Chinese commodities boom led to some dramatic increases in coking coal prices, including an unprecedented 200% rise around 2003 that led to structural changes in coking coal costs. Since coal represents a significant fraction of the cost of coke, this had a dramatic impact on the production costs of coke. This refers to coke costs in China, but the impact would be similar elsewhere.

Environmental implication The coke oven has been under severe environmental threat for some time.

The engineering companies and steel producers concerned with slot oven coke production have responded with a variety of developments related to coal charging, coke pushing, coke oven door and coke quenching as well as developments in the coke oven by-product area such as www.steeltimesint.com

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coke oven gas desulfurization. It is clear that these developments, combined with dedicated preventive maintenance programmes, have enabled coke oven operators to maintain compliance.

In North America, however, the only new coke batteries to be assured of environmental approval are the heatrecovery type. Slot oven batteries may be rebuilt with appropriate environmental upgrades. However, steel and coke companies will continue to abandon coke operations in ageing steel plants that themselves face uncertain economic futures.

Outside of North America, however, in particular Japan and Western Europe, CO2 emission reduction efforts are being taken very seriously. The efforts in Europe have a short time horizon as carbon taxes are already in place and will be increasingly higher in future years. The CO2 issue has been of concern, with projections suggesting that the global iron and steel industry account for 7% of global anthropogenic and 31% of industrial CO2 emissions.

Covid-19 As we have seen countlessly in the wake of the global pandemic, the met coke industry has been forced to close as stayat-home orders and quarantine rules have been enforced. The slowdown in the steel industry was most pronounced in the USA where it was easier to identify those blast furnaces still operating in May 2020.

Hot metal and steel production was also reduced sharply in Brazil where the response to the pandemic was slow.

In Europe, many blast furnaces were also shut down with restart dates still uncertain.

By contrast, hot metal and steel production was less adversely affected in China and developed Asia.

However, the global economic slowdown is expected to have a knock-on effect of reducing both consumer spending and investment (industrial and commercial) such that those regions heavily dependent upon the exports of both steel and steelcontaining products (Asia and parts of Europe) will find the need to reduce steel output. ďż˝ October 2020

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FURNACES

Avoiding blast furnace disasters The power and value of high-quality copper cooling plates and tuyere coolers cannot be underestimated, according to Heunggon Kim*. Cooling plate-related blast furnace disasters caused by poor practice, such as impregnation, are avoidable and simply shouldn’t happen, he says

THE copper cooling plate is coming back as the main technology for a blast furnace coolant. Posco has relined five blast furnaces with cooling plates since it started the Kwangyang BF1 (6000m3 inner volume) in 2013 with 2,508 cooling plates. One additional cooling plate blast furnace, the Kwangyang BF3 (5500m3 inner volume) will be relined with 2,250 cooling plates this year.

Posco is highly satisfied with its current cooling plate blast furnaces. Moreover, other blast furnaces around the world have been opting for cooling plates in recent years.

Around the year 2000 the copper stave cooler started to become one of the most promising cooling panel technologies in the global blast furnace industry. Notably, a serious prior disaster with numerous cooling plates leaking at Kwangyang led Posco to abandon the technology in favour of the copper stave.

Disasters When the first disaster occurred at the Kwangyang BF3 in 1990, I was working at Posco Kwangyang’s blast furnace.

At first we found several cooling plates leaking. We stopped the blowing operation to replace the leaking plates, but this was only the beginning of the disaster. We ended up having to replace many over the next several years.

I clearly remember my first encounter with a leaking cooling plate. When we took out the leaking plate and pressure tested, there were coloured bubbles on the surface.

We brushed the bubbles off with a gloved finger and soon afterwards similar bubbles reappeared. We took several leaking cooling plates for welding repair, but once pre-heated, the leaking started again with numerous bubbles observed all over the surface.

Impregnation sealant caused leaks Months later we began to realise what was happening: All of these leaked coolers had been impregnated with sealants. It was not only plate coolers. We confirmed several leaked tuyere coolers were impregnated too. A tuyere cooler is located even further inside the blast furnace compared to a cooling plate. We were shocked to notice these problems.

To learn more about ‘Impregnation’ we turned to the Metals Handbook (Foundry Melting Of Copper Alloy EX. 482, 8th Edition). The following is an excerpt: “There are two types of impregnants used for sealing castings – polyester resins and sodium silicate. Because of their low viscosity and surface tension, polyesterresin sealants have excellent penetration, filling minute porous areas readily during the impregnation cycle. Also, they are recommended for corrosion-resistance applications, because they offer excellent resistance to aqueous atmospheres,

petroleum products, glyols, alcohols, mild acids, and certain salts. Sodium silicate sealant has less corrosion resistance than the polyester resins (partly because sodium silicates are water soluble) and, therefore, it is unsatisfactory for some applications. The curing and service temperature should be kept below 212°F to prevent the water from evaporating, which breaks up the silicate deposited in the pores.”

I was wondering whether the impregnant sealer had been upgraded to withstand higher temperatures, but when we conferred with an impregnant sealer supplier at GIFA last May, the supplier confirmed that no sealant could survive temperatures around 300°C heating.

It is obvious that no sealing ingredient could, therefore, be effective as the coolers get heated up to 300°C. By the way, 300°C is a kind of standard heating temperature to inspect the soundness of repair welding for the copper coolers.

A European engineering company

* Senior director, POSCO Plantec. Email: hongkg@poscoplantec.co.kr October 2020

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commissioned Posco’s four blast furnaces at Kwangyang with cooling plates, tuyeres, and tuyere coolers. The commissioning operation ran from 1987 to 1992 at a rate of almost one furnace every year. While Posco’s Kwangyang blast furnaces had been experiencing major problems since 1990, Posco Pohang’s four cooling plate blast furnaces did not have issues during their operation between 1973 and 2010. All the cooling plates in Pohang’s furnaces were from Japan and Korea (70% from Japan, 30% from Korea) and were much smaller when compared with Kwangyang’s.

Let’s use reliable cooling plates Many years later I became one of the people responsible for building the cooling plate blast furnace for the new Kwangyang BF1 (6000m3) between 2012 and 2013.

This time Posco decided to use a cooling plate for the new reline furnace because the copper stave was not performing as well as expected.

All of us were firmly determined to have a truly reliable cooling plate blast furnace.

When we carefully reviewed the inspection specifications of many major engineering companies and cooling plate vendors, there were not many differences in terms of radiographic test standards, electrical conductivity, and dimensional allowances. In radiographic tests, the range goes between 200~300mm from nose or whole area with class2 ~ class3 for the acceptance.

The radiographic test is one of the most important factors when evaluating the cast cooling plate quality by showing the entire cast structure for every cast plate. It is very important to have the inspections and classifications carried out by the most experienced and qualified radiographic specialists. We, therefore, assigned the work to one of the most reliable NDT (nondestructive test) specialists in Korea.

The other specifications, such as chemical composition limit, electrical conductivity and dimensional tolerance, seemed quite agreeable to us.

Still, we wondered why there was no method to effectively test against the impregnation sealants, which most customers clearly forbid. Only one blast furnace company required a 150°C steam heating test to detect impregnation sealants, but the temperature is too low to be effective.

As a result of our investigations, we www.steeltimesint.com

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concluded that although impregnation sealing can be done at minimal expense, it can also result in extremely serious harm, including causing leaks in any part of a blast furnace that operates at high temperatures.

300°C heating test When we experienced the serious plate cooler leaking disaster at Kwangyang, we were very concerned that there could possibly be an explosion. For this reason we strictly forbid any impregnation sealing by our cooling plate vendor and we require 300°C sampling heating tests for every batch. We imposed the same testing standard for tuyere coolers.

The 300°C heating test of cooling plates can be done by oxygen torch. During these tests, the heated cooling plate should be dipped into a tank of cold water vertically to minimise any risk of distortion as illustrated in Fig 1.

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copper stave blast furnace, but the cooling plate blast furnace has been improving its efficiency and its credibility with wider and smoother cooling plate surfaces combined with significantly upgraded refractory in recent implementations.

No vendor guarantee covers operational loss. We need higher quality cooling plates. In the current environment, the last thing the cooling plate blast furnace industry needs is to have any more disasters related to leaked cooling plate failure, especially failures caused by impregnation, a deliberate and ineffective shortcut taken by vendors.

Remember, no vendor guarantee covers blast furnace operational loss caused by cooling plates. Vendor guarantees only cover replacement of failed cooler elements free-of-charge.

As a whole any cooling plate blast furnace contains far more than 1,000 individual plates (some contain approximately 2,500). It is almost impossible to replace hundreds of failed cooling plates in a short period of time if things go wrong.

Whereas a copper stave comes from a rolled structure, most cooling plates are cast. Usually, castings are not free of defects such as gas holes, shrinkage and dimensional inconsistency. Nonetheless, the cooling plate has many other merits compared to rolled staves derived from cast structure, such as a more ideal cooling water flow channel with perishable cores inherent only with castings.

Fig 1.

It is recommended that the 300°C heating test is done with a finished cooling plate. For a tuyere cooler, the final machining is required after the 300°C heating test.

A 300°C heating test of one out of every 50 cooling plates might be good enough to detect impregnation. If any violations are found, the test ratio should go up exponentially.

This 300°C heating test also detects poor welding repair by the vendor. As we specified, any repair welding should be approved in advance and is to be tested after welding so that we can be very sure there will be no violation.

In global terms, cooling plate blast furnaces still represent a minor portion of operating blast furnaces compared to the

Wear resistant The cooling plate in the furnace is much more wear-resistant compared to rolled staves because it is protected by a harder graphite layer-by-layer. The cooling plate is easier to replace in the BF compared with a stave cooler in commissioning.

We, as a customer, truly wish that cooling plate suppliers will develop higher quality casting to meet our inspection standard.

Cooling plates and copper staves, as well as iron staves, have to be used in iron making at blast furnace facilities, at least until some other revolutionary refining technology is developed.

Evolution in quality, productivity and cost comes from fair competition, always.

It is my sincere wish that in the future there won’t be any further cooling plate blast furnace disasters due to such a poor practice as impregnation. � October 2020

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SPECIAL & STAINLESS STEELS

The Getty Centre’s resilience Perched high on a hill above Los Angeles, the Getty Centre holds some of the world’s greatest artwork.

Just as impressive as the artwork is the pioneering resilience and sustainability of the architecture on this monumental site. Rough-cut travertine stone sets the theme on the outside, both as wall cladding and pavement. Supporting and anchoring the heavy stone façade, molybdenum-containing Type 316 stainless steel has an invisible but critical role. By Nicole Kinsman*

California, management of the trust looked for a suitable site that would be more accessible from Los Angeles. The trust also wanted to consolidate all its entities at the same location.

They found a large, rugged piece of land, at the top of a hill in the Santa

Monica Mountains, with stunning views of both Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. The Pritzker Prize winning architect, Richard Meier, was chosen to design the campus in 1984. Thirteen years later, in 1997, the Getty Centre opened to the public. The project was so innovative

© istockphoto.com/raisbeckfoto

JOHN PAUL GETTY was once the richest private citizen in the world and an avid collector of arts and antiques. After his death in 1976, his entire property was turned over to the Getty trust. When the museum outgrew its original location at Getty’s former residence in Malibu,

* Editor-in-Chief, MolyReview October 2020

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Visitors to the Getty Center enjoy panoramic views of Los Angeles.

and focused on sustainability that it became the first existing facility in the US to be awarded a US Green Building Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certificate in 2005.

Picturesque as it is, the Getty’s coastal location is subject to both wildfires and earthquakes. In fact, southern California is one of the most seismically active places in the world. The likely impact of such natural disasters, and also of atmospheric corrosion near the sea, must be considered in the construction of the area’s buildings. At the Getty Centre, Type 316 austenitic stainless steel helps to address all three issues in a variety of applications. For example, austenitic stainless steels in general are very ductile and tough, so they absorb energy from an earthquake or other impacts exceptionally well without breaking. The 2% molybdenum in Type 316 stainless steel adds high temperature strength in fires and corrosion resistance in chloride-containing coastal environments. Therefore, this alloy contributes to a design that is as durable and resilient as it is sustainable. Indeed, over 20 years after it has been installed, the stainless steel shows no signs of corrosion or degradation and looks as good as it did the first day.

that house the museum, performance spaces, a cafeteria, and buildings for the different entities of the Trust dedicated to administration, research, conservation, and grant programmes. Inside and out of the undulating, sun-bleached buildings, visitors are immersed in countless forms of beauty: artwork, city and ocean views, sprawling gardens, music, fine food, and world-class architecture.

To reduce its visual impact on the city and neighborhood, half of the Getty Centre was built below ground. ‘Hiding’ a large part of the complex, combined with gardens and an organic, light-toned colour, helps the Centre blend in with the surrounding Santa Monica hills. These features also minimize heat absorption. Used in combination with louvered sunscreens and heat venting louvers, they reduce energy consumption.

Set in stone The various buildings on the site all have different shapes and heights, but they are visually connected by large blocks of cleft travertine. The stone blocks are used as cladding on the retaining walls as well as the lower parts of the buildings and as pavers.

After a lengthy search for a stone that had the right colour and was neither too soft nor to hard, the architect chose a travertine from a centuries-old quarry in Italy. Meier and the quarry owner worked for a year to develop a guillotine technique to split the hard limestone, creating the desired rough-hewn surface. As the position of the sun changes throughout the day, the stone’s colour tone and vibrancy changes subtly with it. All in all, some 110,000 square metres or 375,000 pieces of travertine are installed in the walls and pavements. That translated to the delivery of two containers of stone every day for two years, or roughly 14,500 tons.

Seismic stainless steel The design of the travertine exterior walls is based on an open joint panel system, instead of the usual technique of sealing the joints with mortar, which requires maintenance and picks up dirt over time.

The open joint panel system allows water to drain behind the outer skin, protecting the surface from streaking and ensuring that the building looks as good tomorrow as today. Each individual stone piece is anchored by two invisible Type 316 stainless steel or steel frame walls, and two stainless steel pins at the bottom, which connect the stones to one another, providing stabilization. The top clips are attached using either stainless steel expansion bolts or screws depending on the structural basis.

To protect the steel frame walls from the elements, a Type 316 stainless steel water and air barrier was installed behind the stone façade and the air gap. Similarly, the flashing that directs water outward from the walls and buildings was made from the same material. Thanks to this alloy’s good corrosion resistance, even in coastal atmospheres, the stone façade will not suffer staining from corrosion run-off.

The architect’s vision required that the stone pieces of the façade look uniform and are precisely aligned. To achieve this effect for the varying contours throughout the building complex, the contractor had to adjust the width and thickness of the custom clips depending on the dimensions of the stones and their positions. More than 250 different clip designs were made to create the unified look. The draftsmen spent over three years creating in excess of 2,500 architectural drawings for the stonework alone. There are some 380,000 stainless steel stone anchors in the entire project. This method allows any stone to be individually removed and repaired, if necessary.

Differing installation methods for walls, facades and ceilings require a variety of special fasteners.

One thing they have in common: stainless steel meets the high requirements for building safety.

A monumental project The US$1.3-billion construction covers nearly 10 hectares on a 45-hectare site and took over 14 years to plan and build.

The complex contains public buildings

© Nicole Kinsman

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SPECIAL & STAINLESS STEELS

The travertine stone is attached to the concrete wall with Type 316 stainless steel stone anchors.

The clip and pin system was designed to resist seismic events. It went well beyond the requirements of the California seismic code at the time of construction. In fact, the system’s effectiveness was proven before the building was even completed.

The Northridge earthquake occurred in January 1994 while the project was under construction, and many of the stones were already in place. No damage occurred then or during subsequent seismic events. The Type 316 anchoring system provides several advantages in seismic design, particularly its corrosion resistance, strength and the ability to absorb far more energy during cyclic loading than other steels. Combined with the open joint system, it allows the stones to move independently in a seismic event without cracking.

Fire resistance The stone cladding and crushed stone roofs were specifically selected for their fire-resistance; indeed, the whole complex was designed with fire resistance in mind.

This is crucial considering wildfires in Southern California have intensified in recent decades. For example, in December of 2017, a fire came within a few hundred metres of the priceless Getty collection.

Fortunately, the complex’s fire-resistance measures were successful. As the fire approached, the sprinkler system soaked the soil surrounding the buildings with over 4.5 million litres of water, deployed from its massive underground water storage tanks, stopping the fire in its tracks.

The sprinkler system makes extensive use of stainless steel for both its corrosion resistance and its fire resistance.

Stainless steel has very good fire strength performance characteristics. And molybdenum additions increase its stiffness

retention well above that of carbon steel when exposed to forest fire conditions.

Therefore, the stainless steel anchoring system behind the stone at the Getty helps guard against fires as well as earthquakes; it ensures that the fire-resistant travertine will remain securely in place even during a wildfire. Together, the fire resistance measures at the Getty Centre help ensure Van Gogh’s Irises and other works of art will not go up in smoke.

In most architectural applications, stainless steel shines, both literally and

metaphorically. Glimpses of this are visible in the form of the beautifully crafted stainless steel handrails, windows and architectural hardware, juxtaposed against the rugged organic stonework of the Getty Centre. But the real star here is invisible, behind the façade, holding it all together.

The molybdenum-containing Type 316 stainless steel clips and pins, air and water barrier and flashing, will keep the façade clean, safe and secure in the earthquake and fire prone environment of coastal Los Angeles, for as long as the stone lasts. �

Type 316 stainless steel handrails and door frames; more than 20 years after inauguration they look as good as new, despite the aggressive marine environment.

© Nicole Kinsman

© Nicole Kinsman

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CONTINUOUS CASTING

Controlling surface entrapment Replacing aluminium as the de-oxidant of high carbon blooms and minimising its presence in ferroalloys used, along with a change from blended mould powder to granular on casting reduced the occurrence of non-metallic inclusion defects on the surface of cast blooms by 50%. By S Roy1, K Patwari2, A Ganvir1, RK Singh1, A Paul1, KK Keshari1, N Sen1, V Dhawan3 METALLURGICAL analysis revealed that the origins of non-metallic inclusion (NMI) surface defects were mainly from three sources, a) Al2O3 entrapment b) submerged entry nozzle (SEN) refractory material contamination and c) the mould powder.

Implementation of technical measures including modifying the deoxidation practice during steelmaking, use of improved quality SEN refractory and the introduction of granulated mould powder resulted in a reduction of steel defects in the cast blooms.

The Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) produces finished rolled products from high carbon continuous casted blooms at Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), through the BOF-LF-RHCC route. After final rolling and before dispatch, the products are subjected to various inspections for internal as well as surface defects. It was sometimes found that the defects related to non-metallic inclusions (NMI) entrapment on the surface of the bloom were the majority among steel-related defects.

Surface entrapments of NMI in the solidified strand from continuous casting can occur from deoxidation products (eg Al2O3) and mould slag or other exogenous oxides such as refractories[1,2,3]. These NMI are formed when solid particles floating on the surface of the metal are trapped by the solidifying shell[3]. However, liquid inclusions can also be entrapped by incorrect positioning of the submerged entry nozzle (SEN)[4]. Although the principal source of inclusions is the deoxidation products, inclusions can also arise from (a) damaged SENs[5] and slag rims and (b) from exchange reactions between the metal and the

tundish refractory[6] and the caster mould powder[7, 8] The ability of the powder to dissolve nonmetallic inclusions will also play a significant role in the reduction of the number of entrapments. There are three distinct stages leading to the dissolution of the NMI; (i) the flotation of the particle (ii) its emersion through the metal/slag interface and (iii) its dissolution in the slag. Perkins[9] developed formulae to predict both the amount and the rate of oxide inclusions pick-up and the calculated values were found to be in good agreement with plant data. Riboud and co-workers[10,11] studied the interfacial properties involved in the emersion of the

inclusion through the metal/slag interface and concluded that the contact angle between metal and slag was the key factor in the process. Riboud et al[10,11] pointed out that the presence of solidified metal particles in the inclusion cluster could adversely affect the flotation and emersion processes and could cause the entrapment of the cluster by the shell. The effect of the chemical composition on the ability of the slag to dissolve inclusions has been discussed in several investigations[11,12,13,14].

It was concluded[14] that oxide inclusion dissolution was promoted by (i) an increase in fluoride content with NaF > LiF > CaF2, (ii) the replacement of Na2O by Li2O (iii)

Fig 1. Appearance of non-metallic inclusion surface entrapment

1 R&D Centre for Iron and Steel, Steel Authority of India Ltd, Ranchi-834002, India e-mail s_roy@sail-rdcis.com 2 Rourkela Steel Plant, SAIL Rourkela; 3 Bhilai Steel Plant, SAIL Bhilai www.steeltimesint.com

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CONTINUOUS CASTING

Although unmelted (carbon-containing) powder was one possible source of entrapments, it was thought that material from damaged SENs and tundish stopper

a decrease in Al2O3 content and (iv) an increase in basicity. Scheel[15] has shown that the maximum inclusions pick-up occurred in the region close to the SEN.

2a

2b

2c

2d Fig 2. (a) SEM image of sample 3 NMI x50 (b) SEM image at x50 of area for EDS analysis (c) EDS spectra (d) Elemental analysis

3a

3b

3c

3d Fig 3. (a) SEM image of sample 10 x40 (b) SEM image of area for EDS analysis x40 (c) EDS spectra (d) Elemental analysis

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rods were a more probable source of agglomerate. It was suggested that this resulted from the accumulation of the inclusions at the SEN and that part of the SEN was ripped away with the agglomerate when it was freed by an increase in pressure. These views were substantiated by the detection of ZrO2 in the entrapment.

The surface entrapment is also predominant in case of greater mould level fluctuations.

An automatic mould level controller is a tool to reduce such high fluctuations resulting in a fall in surface entrapments.

In the current work, it was envisaged to identify the genesis of these steel-related defects in high carbon blooms and suggest technological measures to control them.

A detailed metallurgical analysis of the defective samples with the help of Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometry (EDS) were performed to find the genesis of the steel defects. A trial plan was also envisaged with modified steelmaking practice to control inclusion generation and to introduce granular mould powder in place of blended powder to improve operational efficacy in terms of uniform melting of mould powder and to establish its potential in terms of reducing steel defects.

Plant trial To investigate the root cause of the defect, 15 samples with NMI defects were collected from the plant for analysis. The optical appearances of the defect of selected samples are shown in Fig 1.

These samples were cut and sectioned without damaging the surface so that it remained in ‘as received’ condition. For selected samples, both the surface and cross-section of the defect was studied in the SEM. The samples were first cleaned ultrasonically with acetone to remove any external impurities that may have arisen during sample preparation, then mounted and placed in the SEM vacuum chamber for morphological study and determination of elemental composition of the entrapped NMI by EDS. As a measure to reduce surface entrapments, trials using granular mould powder were conducted. An evaluation was made in terms of operational parameters including powder melting, flux spreadability, belt formation and specific consumption. The final inspection in terms of entrapments was then evaluated.

From the elemental analysis it was www.steeltimesint.com

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CONTINUOUS CASTING

with blended powder as had been the previous practice. Also, that the deoxidation practice should no longer use aluminium powder and that all ferro-alloy additions should have a low aluminium content.

Implementation of these measures lowered NMI-related rejection to 0.64% compared to 1.24% earlier in the finished high carbon bloom products. �

4a

4b

4c

Acknowledgement The authors of the paper are grateful to the management of RDCIS, SAIL and BSP Bhilai for their encouragement and constant support throughout the work carried out.

References 1. Kenneth C Mills, ‘The performance of casting powders and their effect on surface quality’, Steelmaking Conference Proceedings, 1991 p 121 2. RJ Gray, ‘Behaviour of mould fluxes during continuous casting’. Report EUR 9495 EN, ECSC

4d

Contract 7210 CAl811, 1985.

4 (a) SEM analysis of sample 15 cross-section x40 (b) SEM Image indicating area for EDS analysis (c) EDS spectra

3. P V Riboud, Continuous casting slags IRSID Report

(d) Elemental analysis

PCM-RFP 378, 1984.

4. P Dauby et aI., Iron and Steelmaking 1986, 28-36.

5. R Jauch, P. Valentin, Investigation between the

found that most of the NMIs sampled had a significant presence of aluminium and oxygen. Oxygen was present in copious amounts indicating these elements are present as oxides. Such alumina entrapment was found in seven of the 15 samples.

SEM images and EDS analysis of selected samples are shown in Figs 2, 3 & 4.

The elemental analysis shown in Fig 2 shows aluminium and oxygen in the defect region indicating entrapment of deoxidation product. The analysis shown in Fig 3 shows zirconium and oxygen in the defect region, and that in Fig 4 shows mainly alumina along with a small amount of sodium.

The high amount of alumina can come from two sources: from aluminium used as a steel de-oxidiser or from the SEN refractory. In two samples, as indicated in Fig 3, Zr is found which can only come from the SEN refractory. Three samples had trace amounts of Na – as in Fig 4 – which may arise from entrapped mould slag during casting. Based on the metallurgical analysis of these 15 defective samples, the broad observations of NMI defects are: – Alumina occurs in the majority of cases; – There is zirconia with alumina in two cases; – There is a small amount of Na in three www.steeltimesint.com

Kumars.indd 3

samples.

The literature records alumina deposits inside the SEN which agglomerates on the SEN wall. This agglomerate can be dislodged during casting, along with SEN refractory, which is subsequently entrapped in the liquid steel. The source of this alumina agglomerate may be from using aluminium metal as the deoxidant of the steel or the result of a damaged SEN. In case of a damaged SEN, the presence of Zr2O will also be observed. Thus, the origin of the NMI entrapment may be from three sources, a) Al used as deoxidizer b) the SEN refractory materials and c) the mould slag.

Plant operating parameters were, therefore, modified by selecting ferro-alloys with a lower aluminium content and totally avoiding aluminium as a deoxidiser.

The plant trials using granular mould powder showed that the melting rate and spreadability, of granular powder was normal. Belt formation was found to be satisfactory during metal mould level fluctuations and during changes of operation, such as a SEN or tundish change.

Following these modifications, the number of rejections decreased during the trial period compared to the monthly average.

It was recommended that granular mould powder should be employed as it reduced NMI by absorbing more alumina compared

surface quality and the mould powder used in continuous casting. Report EUR 12219 DE ECSC Contract 721 O-CAl137.

6. R D’Haeyer, ‘Development of new mould powder for continuous casting’. Report EUR 10326, EN ECSC Contract 7210-CN209, 1987.

7. E . Lainez, G La Raudo, J J Oitia, J C Busturia, ‘Optimisation of mould powders in billet casting’.

ECSC Contract 726 CA 9321990.

8. N A McPherson, S L Melntosh, Ironmaking and Steelmaking, 1987, 19.

9. A Perkins, ‘Continuous casting - Casting and Solidification’. Report EUR 9086, ECXSC Contract 7210 CA.807, 1987.

10. P V Riboud , ‘Study of the role of mould powder on continuous casting’, Report EUR 6216 , Vol. II ECSC Contract’ 621 0-50, 1979.

11. PV Riboud, Y. Roux, LD Lucas, H, Gale Fachber, Huttenprax, Meta IIweitverarb. 19(10) 1981 , 859.

12. H Lilterscheld, ‘Investigation of the effect of powder composition on continuous casting’. Report EUR 8569 Vol III , ECSC Res Contract 7210, CN112, 1.984.

13. H Mass, ‘Current knowledge of the requirements properties and performance of continuous casting powders’,. Report EUR 8569, ECSC Res Contract 7210 CN1121984.

14. T J H Billany, K C Mills ‘Mould flux performance during continuous casting’. Final Report ECSC Contract 7210 CN820. Dec 1988.

15. R Scheel, W. Korte, Metall ‘ Plant and Techand.

1987 (6) 22-33.

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PERSPECTIVES Q&A: CONDAT

‘We have to stay optimistic’ Development efforts in the marketplace over recent years have enabled CONDAT the reduce the impact of the global pandemic on its business activities. The company has been busy changing the way it works and relying upon online platforms to communicate with its customers, says Franck Dufresne* 1. How are things going at CONDAT? It could be worst. The development efforts of our worldwide network allow us to reduce the impact of the pandemic.

As with most of the activities in the world, the health situation obliges us to work differently by using the means of communication at our disposal (webinar, online training, information on professional networks etc.), to stay in touch with customers.

The reduction of sales trips generates an ‘effective’ time saving allowing us to work more on the background and to take a step back from various topics (communication, strategy, products…). Changing our way of working in a very short time keeps me busy!

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

We have to stay optimistic. It’s just a bad time that we all hope to be as short as possible, but we all know that due to population growth forecasted worldwide, this will consequently increase the needs of steel for building construction, infrastructure and transport in the future.

CONDAT is still targeting this market as a priority for its range of industrial lubricants.

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

CONDAT business is mainly oriented on the hot procesess of the steel industry: steel making plants and hot rolling lines.

We supply fire-resistant fluids and heavy loads greases that answer the constraints and demands of major actors in this field.

Indeed, among our fire-resistant hydraulic fluids range, CONDAT D is certified FM approved, biodegradable and non-toxic and our greases are specially formulated to withstand water and temperature, they enable a decrease in lubricants

consumption and recycling costs; these characteristics are mostly demanded by our customers. In every product development we try to introduce our CSR policy, linked to non-toxicity, biodegradability, or consumption reduction.

6. Where do you stand on the aluminium versus steel argument?

There will always be demand and setaside markets for both products. The steel industry has invested a lot in R&D in recent years to produce thinner, lighter and more resistant steel alloy finished products. I think that there is room for each technology.

7. Is aluminium ‘greener’ than steel?

I think both are equivalent in terms of environmental impact. Both have invested in making their processes greener. For many years, Condat has understood the need to protect the environment and can help both industries become greener with its Condat D fire-resistant fluid, a biodegradable and non-toxic product.

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

The EMEASEA area is for sure the biggest part of our market for the steel sector, but as we have production subsidiaries in the USA, Brazil and China, we invest a lot of time, training and product development on the four continents to be able to achieve the same successes.

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

Directly or not (through distributors) we are working with all main actors in this application field, such as Arcelor Mittal, Posco, Tata Steel, Riva Group. We are also in contact with the main states companies that administrate steel plants like in the Middle East for example.

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?

The climate must be a major concern for everyone, and also for every industry, worldwide. At Condat, we have taken this into consideration. The commitments we made within the framework of our CSR policy, contribute to sustainable development. We are also engaged in the UN GLOBAL COMPACT [a non-binding pact to encourage businesses worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies]. ECOVADIS has certified us as a Silver level business. With 65/100 points, this places us among the top 25% of bestrated global companies and among the top 6% of companies within our business sector.

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

* Steel industry business developer October 2020

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PERSPECTIVES Q&A: CONDAT

The current period gives legitimacy to 4.0 and accelerates the process. Our methods of communication must change because face-to-face has become more difficult and will be less and less used. Digitalisation and data exchange will be used for better management of resources, energy and, for sure, to remain competitive. Digitalisation processes will increase the traceability of the product.

10. Are steelmakers looking to companies like CONDAT to offer them digital manufacturing solutions?

CONDAT is studying some opportunities.

Imagine if we could follow our lubricant remotely with an integrated sensor, to inform customers live and to help them anticipate maintenance operations.

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

Digital manufacturing has already been applied to the manufacturing process, quality control and process chain, but could also be used for online control of fluids and effluents (air, water, oil, emulsions) and for sure will be used on predictive maintenance.

12. Where does CONDAT lead the field?

CONDAT is active on maintenance lubricants. We focus on technical applications where we can propose added values regarding safety for people and equipment, longevity and protection of the machines, optimized maintenance costs, and respect for workers and the environment with biodegradable and nontoxic lubricants.

We are one of the main actors on fireresistant fluids and technical greases for continuous casting and hot rolling lines.

13. How do you view CONDAT’s development over the short-tomedium term?

The performance of our lubricants and the gratefulness of our customers and OEM, make us very optimistic. The important growth we have experienced confirm that we are moving in the right direction.

14. How would you solve global overcapacity?

Like for a lot of different things, we saw in the past that it is naturally auto regulated

by itself. The market is going also to adjust and adapt by producing less but with better quality.

15. What is CONDAT’s experience of the Chinese steel industry?

Condat has a subsidiary in Shanghai to serve the local market. I have visited several Chinese steel plants and it is true that most are built with European technology. China is moving fast and now you can find local equipment producers. We are working with some of them, but in some cases, environmental and safety parameters are not always aligned with our requirements.

The same applies to lubricants (fire-resistant fluids for example). But everybody knows that the adaptation capacity of this country is high, and they will progress quickly.

16. Which breakthrough technologies will have a revolutionary impact and will it be something that is ‘one

size fits all’ or a number of different technologies?

All the technologies that will drive an economical/environmental gain like, for example, EAF low electrical consumption.

Regarding our activities, the longer life in use and the ‘greener’ lubricant is the future. One main change will come from data management, which will improve all the production chain and help reduce the environmental impact through better management of lubricant consumption and a pollution reduction.

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

Our product fulfilled 100% of the

51

requirement of the primary production sector as it is here that you find temperature, heavy loads, water and fire risk. In this area our products demonstrate that they are totally aligned with the needs of primary steelmakers. For example, our Condat Millennium grease can reduce lubricant consumption by 40% compared to other technologies.

Just like most innovative equipment (electric arc furnace, ladle furnace or continuous casting line) the main concern is reducing energy consumption.

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

At Condat, we share our expertise for 30 years in the steel industry and are recognized by all the main actors and OEMs thanks to a dedicated technical sale team.

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

We are really optimistic. The main challenge will be linked to competitiveness, costs reduction, safety and environmental impact.

20. What keeps you awake at night?

Sometimes the solution to a problem arises in the middle of the night.

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

I would ensure that all steelmaking plants and hot rolling lines used Condat lubricants.

In this way, every company could realise the benefit of using Condat in their equipment.

My 24 years working at Condat have allowed me to acquire certainties. I never say our products are the best. They are simply the best suited! � October 2020

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HISTORY

JOHN Guest, an ironmaster from Broseley, Staffordshire, arrived in Merthyr in 1763 with Isaac Wilkinson – the Cumbrian ironmaster who had been one of the founding shareholders of Dowlais, but had since left that company. They leased land to the south of Merthyr, owned by the Earl of Plymouth, hence the naming of the company, and they each held 10% of the shares. Businessmen with iron interests in Shropshire dominated the remaining holdings along with a local businessman, Thomas Watkins.

The company got off to a slow start. The end of the Seven Year War (1756-1763) between England and France, which had demanded many guns and shot, reduced demand for iron, and problems with the land’s existing tenants aggravated matters.

In 1765, Anthony Bacon, a Cumbrian who had established an iron and armaments trading business in London and had a desire to cast his own guns, leased 4,000 acres (1620 hectares) south of the Plymouth works to build the Cyfarthfa forge and later furnaces. In 1766 he took shares in Plymouth which at the time supplied much of the iron to build Cyfarthfa and sent most of its pig iron to the Cyfarthfa refining forge which, in 1784, becoming the first licensee of Court’s puddling process.

John Guest left the company in 1767 to become manager of the Dowlais ironworks.

Bacon constructed a road in 1771 along the Taff valley to Tongwynlaise, four miles north of Cardiff, to aid movement of the products of the two works.

In 1779, Thomas Watkins became bankrupt and the works was put up for sale.

Plymouth continued under the control of Bacon. As output rose, the four Merthyr companies built the Glamorganshire Canal, which opened in 1800.

Bacon retired in 1783 and Richard Hill took control of the business.

In 1788 Plymouth produced 1,113 ton/yr output gradually rising to 2,232 tons/yr by 1796. In 1795 the first furnace was blown out for relining after a campaign of five years and nine months. A second furnace was added in 1800 and a third in1802.

Until Plymouth’s own forge opened at Pentrebach in 1803, almost all output was

Examples illustrating the ductility of Welsh wrought iron

Plymouth Ironworks – slow in modernising Continuing the story of Merthyr Tydfil’s four major ironworks, the Plymouth Works was the second to be established in 1763, four years after Dowlais. By Tim Smith* sent to the Cyfarthfa forge. Pentrebach produced 100 tons/week of bar iron.

Plymouth was slow in modernising. It continued to use water power long after it became obsolete and had to expand into three separate works stretching over three miles to diversify its water supply; Plymouth (later Pentrebach) Forge (1803) and Dyffryn furnaces (1819) were connected by the Merthyr Tramroad.

In 1805, Plymouth’s three furnaces made 5,789 tons.

Hill died in 1806 and was succeeded by his sons Anthony and Richard, with Anthony running the works. In 1810, four furnaces were in operation. Output reached 160 tons/wk by 1812. In 1814 he patented the production of cinder pig iron, charging one part cinder (bloomery and/or forging slag) with three parts ironstone to the furnace. A fourth furnace was added at Plymouth in 1815.

Plymouth’s Dyffryn furnace to the south was opened with one furnace in 1819 and two more added in 1824 with a steam blowing engine increasing output to 5,460 tons at Dyffryn, totalling 12,000 tons/yr from the two sites. Four of five furnaces were in operation in 1856 each averaging 120tons/week, and five in 1857, four on cold blast and one on hot blast. Five furnaces were recorded in 1861, but the works was out of use soon after this. The

Plymouth Company then sank a coal pit on the site.

Pentrebach forge had four forges, two rail mills, two merchant mills and a small bar mill. All were hydro-powered. Output was 1,000 tons a week of wrought iron.

The works had closed by 1919.

After two dry summers in 1843 and 1844 steam power was finally introduced to the original Plymouth site – nearly 50 years after Dowlais had installed the first steam engine in Merthyr. Output rose from 13kt in 1840 to over 35kt in 1846.

Plymouth continued to use cold blast in its furnace whereas other works had adopted hot blast thus making considerable savings in coke consumption. However, cold blast iron was considered the superior product. In 1859, Brunel chose Plymouth’s iron to make the cables for his ship, the Great Eastern, then the world’s largest ship.

On the death of Anthony Hill in 1862, Richard Fothergill, owner of Aberdare Ironworks, took control. Plymouth had 11 furnaces, 10 in blast. By 1870, seven of 10 furnaces were in use, five in cold blast.

Iron production lasted until 1875, the furnaces closing due to competition from the newly established Bessemer steelmaking converter and also a prolonged strike of the company’s coal workers.

Plymouth owned six collieries averaging 1,500 tons per day in 1870. �

* Consulting editor, Steel Times International October 2020

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