STEEL + TECHNOLOGY 04/2019 EXTRACT

60 | STEEL TECHNOLOGY
The new Level 1 and Level 2 systems for the billet caster of Gerdau Ouro Branco in
Brazil improve the quality, reduce maintenance efforts and operating costs (Picture:
Primetals Technologies)
Case example 2: automation
upgrades at Gerdau Ouro Branco
In late March, Primetals Technologies
received the Final Acceptance Certificates
(FACs) for automation upgrades
conducted on a third-party 6-strand billet
caster of Gerdau Ouro Branco in Minas
Gerais, Brazil. The caster project included
the upgrade of outdated Level 1 and
Level 2 systems, resulting in quality
improvements, reduced maintenance
requirements and operating cost savings.
The Level 2 system installed at a
6-strand billet caster encompass basic
functionalities like material tracking, heat
pacing, cutting schedule and process setpoint
generation as well as the implementation
of the Equipment Expert, which is
a preventive maintenance tool for the
caster equipment. Advanced process
models for the caster include the Dyna
Speed secondary cooling model, Quality
Expert Express Edition used for product
quality rating, a billet cut-length optimization
and the Intermix model for calculation
of the heat volume concentration and
incompatible strand portions along the
strand.
In the course of upgrading the billet
caster´s Level 1 system, Primetals Technologies
undertook the migration of an
obsolete third-party platform to the latest
state-of-the-art controllers, using a
special migration kit in order to reduce
risk and consequently shortening the
shutdown period. Existing frequency
converters were replaced by new components.
A new HMI (Human Machine
Interface) system, using a virtual server
concept was also supplied. In addition,
the existing low performance field networks
were replaced by Ethernet IP, and
the operation desks and panels were
modernized.
• Primetals Technologies, Linz, Austria
News brief
ArcelorMittal commissions Midrex to design demonstration plant for hydrogen steel
production
ArcelorMittal has commissioned Midrex
Technologies to design a demonstration
plant at its Hamburg site to produce
steel with hydrogen.
Both companies have signed a framework
collaboration agreement (FAC) to cooperate
on several projects, ranging from
research and development to the implementation
of new technologies. The FAC
will be governed by a number of project
development agreements, incorporating
the expertise of Midrex and ArcelorMittal.
The first project development agreement
is to demonstrate in Hamburg the largescale
production and use of direct reduced
iron (DRI) made with 100% hydrogen as
the reductant.
In the coming years, the demonstration
plant will produce about 100,000 t/year of
direct reduced iron – initially with grey
hydrogen sourced from natural gas. Conversion
to green hydrogen from renewable
energy sources will take place once available
in sufficient quantities and at an economical
cost. Energy for hydrogen production
could come from wind farms off the
coast of Northern Germany.
ArcelorMittal Hamburg already produces
steel using DRI technology. “With the
new, hydrogen-based DRI plant we are
now planning, we will raise steel production
to a completely new level, as part of
our Europe-wide ambition to be carbon
neutral by 2050,” says Dr. Uwe Braun,
CEO at ArcelorMittal Hamburg.
• ArcelorMittal
STEEL + TECHNOLOGY 1 (2019) No. 4