STEEL + TECHNOLOGY 01/2020 EXTRACT

16 | NEWS ROUND-UP
USA
Nucor Steel Gallatin commissions new pickling and galvanizing line
Pickling and galvanizing of the first coil
in September 2019, marked the production
start of the new pickling and galvanizing
line supplied by SMS group to
Nucor Steel Gallatin in Ghent, Kentucky.
SMS group had delivered the complete
line as a full-line supplier responsible for
the engineering, process technology, furnace
technology, pickling and galvanizing
technology, and electrical and automation
The first pickled and galvanized hot strip
coil produced at Nucor Steel Gallatin in
September 2019 (Picture: SMS group)
systems. The “heat-to-coat” technology
implemented in the line is characterized by
a compact, operator-friendly U-shape
design, featuring a turbulence pickling system,
a high-power inductive heating system,
FOEN ® galvanizing equipment and a
Drever after-pot cooling system.
The line is designed to produce 500,000
t/year of galvanized hot strip with a maximum
throughput rate of 180 t/h and a large
strip cross section of up to 6.35 mm thickness
and up to 1,854 mm width.
• SMS group
Nucor Steel Kankakee to install new caster and secondary metallurgy station
Danieli will supply a new 9-m-radius,
4-strand caster to Nucor Steel Kankakee’s
facility in Bourbonnais, Illinois.
The caster will be used to produce commercial
grades, low-carbon, peritectic
and medium-carbon grades. The maintenance-free
fast cast cube oscillator
with Hy-Power actuator will optimize
casting stability, and hence product quality,
while substantially improving caster
up-time by reducing maintenance activities.
The oscillator will be installed on a
retractable car, further increasing overall
plant availability by reducing downtime
during format changes. The casting
machine will be designed for future
implementation of submerged casting
capability in order to improve steel cleanliness.
The new stirring station will be installed
in line with the EAF tapping car. The use
of a hot metal crane will be minimized
thanks to an operator-friendly layout with
C-shape cars and automatic ladle lifting
system. Ferroalloys will be automatically
fed at the stirring station through a dedicated
material handling system designed
to be upgraded in the future in order to add
automatic tapping functions.
The new stirring station will be
equipped with an automatic stirring
lance, with motorized dispenser and
automatic sampling manipulator to
enhance safety of the operators. The
project includes new Level 1 and Level
2 automation with the Q-CAST process
supervisory system featuring real time
quality assessment, automatic cutting
optimization and a tundish-mixing steel
prediction system for metallic yield optimization.
• Danieli
Steel Dynamics completes rolling mill expansion
After the successful completion of the
rolling mill expansion by Danieli, the new
billet welder and spooler line at Steel
Dynamics, Columbia City, have been
producing spooled coils up to 5 t in endless
mode.
Among the main equipment supplied by
Danieli is a 70 m conveyor connecting the
existing medium section mill to the new
spooler line, a 3-MW induction furnace to
heat the stock coming from the existing
At Steel Dynamics, the new spooler line
connects to the medium section mill
(Picture: Danieli)
STEEL + TECHNOLOGY 2 (2020) No. 1