News & Press Releases

London, November 23, 2021

Recently, Chinese steel producer Henan Yaxin Steel Group Co., Ltd. (Henan Yaxin) has started up its eco-friendly minimill for flat products consisting of two EAF Quantum electric arc furnaces and an Arvedi ESP line at its Fujian Dingsheng plant. Tapping weight of each EAF unit is maximum 115 metric tons. This set-up allows for 85% CO₂ savings compared to integrated production route. The Arvedi ESP line has a design capacity of 2.5 million metric tons per year and a reproducible strip thicknesses down to 0.8 mm. This enables Henan Yaxin to produce high-quality, ultra-thin strip to enter new market segments with direct application products omitting cold rolling. Coils for the sales market were directly produced during first heat.

London, November 18, 2021

In September, Primetals Technologies received an order from Aperam Genk in Belgium to supply a new argon oxygen decarburization (AOD) production line and to upgrade the existing AOD 1 production line. The objectives of the project are to increase operational safety, to improve operating costs, and to further reduce environmental impacts via a dedusting system with provisions for heat recovery. Primetals Technologies will be responsible for mechanical equipment, electrics and automation as well as auxiliary equipment. The project will be carried out in a consortium with Austrian erection company SGS Industrial Services. Start-up is expected for mid-2023.

London, November 11, 2021

Primetals Technologies and SICON recently signed a cooperation agreement concerning the development of holistic solutions for the digitization of complete scrap yards. Primetals Technologies specializes, among other things, in optical scrap identification and the automation of production processes and logistics. SICON is a specialist in the processing, analysis and sorting of scrap. For the production of high quality steel grades, steel producers usually need solutions to all these issues, as well as a scrap composition matched to the end product. This "design scrap" allows a greater amount of scrap to be used in higher quality grades. This means that, when transforming a scrap yard into a digitalized and thus "smart" scrap yard, an integrated solution from Primetals Technologies and SICON saves a lot of work at the implementation stage and enables the processing of input materials for the production of high-quality end products.

London, October 29, 2021

Primetals Technologies has received the Final Acceptance Certificate (FAC) for its drives upgrade project with Algoma Steel, Inc. of Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. The hot strip mill’s master drives for the downcoiler were replaced with state-of-the art drives at Algoma Steel's direct strip production complex.

London, October 22, 2021

Primetals Technologies has obtained the final acceptance certificate (FAC) for a new type of continuous casting control on an Arvedi ESP casting and rolling line. The "LevCon Bender Anti-Bulging" process patented by Primetals Technologies was commissioned for the first time anywhere in the world. The mould level in the continuous caster is stabilized by means of a controlled oscillation in the distance between opposite rollers in the bending section. This new type of process reduces the "bulging" effect of the strand on the mould level at high speeds much more effectively than by simply controlling the mould level via the steel flow into the mould. For the first time ever, it is now possible to compensate mould level fluctuations with higher frequencies.