United Steel Co. (SULB) placed an order in March with SMS Meer and SMS Concast for the design and supply of a turnkey minimill plant for beams and sections in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The integrated complex in Hidd comprises a 120-tonne electric arc furnace (EAF), a ladle furnace, a bloom and beam-blank casting plant, and a heavy section mill. The project, to be carried out in conjunction with Samsung Engineering, is scheduled for completion by 2012.
SMS Concast is to supply a state-of-the-art melt shop with an annual capacity of 850,000 tonnes. It comprises the EAF for the charging of direct-reduced iron, the ladle furnace, and a three-strand caster for various near-net-size bloom and beam blanks. The scope also includes the material transport system and a high-performance dedusting system.
The civil works and erection as well as integration facilities will be provided and coordinated by Samsung Engineering.
SMS Meer is to supply the heavy section mill including mill stands with hydraulic roll adjustment and a roller straightener with double-supported rollers with hydraulic adjustment. The mill has an initial capacity of 600,000 tonnes per year and is designed for high flexibility in terms of product mix and sizes. The whole line is suited for quick program changing within 20 minutes.
Together with Foulath’s existing pelletizing plant in Hidd, which will be further extended, and the DRI plant ordered from Kobe/Midrex, SULB will operate a fully integrated steel complex from pelletizing through to the finished rolled products. In total, the project has an order volume of 1.2 billion Euros.
SULB plans to meet around 15% of the demand for steel beams and sections in the whole Middle Eastern region that are currently imported.
“We feel honored to have been selected by SULB and its shareholders, Foulath and Yamato Kogyo, for this important project,” said Dr. Joachim Schönbeck, President and CEO of SMS Meer. “Together with our sister company, SMS Concast, we shall be delivering a genuine benchmark project for our customer. Together with the existing pelletizing plants, this will be one of the most efficient production sites in the whole Gulf States region.”
“As the pioneer and leading supplier of continuous casting technology, SMS Concast is pleased to have the opportunity to provide its latest melting and casting technology for this outstanding project,” said Jacques F. Zuber, President and CEO of SMS Concast. “We regard the award of the contract as a significant recognition of our competence in one of the key markets in our sector.”
SMS Meer (Germany) and SMS Concast (Switzerland) are companies of the SMS group, which is, under the roof of the holding SMS GmbH, a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry. It consists of two business areas: SMS Siemag and SMS Meer. In 2009, some 9000 employees worldwide generated a turnover of more than EUR 3.8 billion.