News & Press Releases

London, October 03, 2019

Turkish steelmaker Çolakoğlu Metalurji A.S. (Çolakoğlu) has placed an order with Primetals Technologies to upgrade an existing VD(Vacuum Degassing) plant in its Dilovası meltshop to a VOD (Vacuum Oxygen Decarburization) plant. With a heat size of 295 metric tons, the VOD plant will be the largest worldwide. The aim of the modernization project is to enable the production of special steels, like IF grades, ULC grades or stainless steels. This will help Çolakoğlu to broaden its product range and enter additional markets. The VOD plant is expected to be operational in March 2020.

London, September 30, 2019

Primetals Technologies has received the final acceptance certificate (FAC) from China's Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. (Baosteel) for the modernization of a more than 20 year old DC twin electric arc furnace at its Shanghai plant. The project involved redesigning both the upper and lower vessels and installing new anodes with increased durability. Improved power efficiency reduces production costs and raw materials can be used more flexibly. It is therefore now possible to operate the electric arc furnace with a hot metal content of up to 90 percent.

London, September 25, 2019

To service greater China market demand for high-quality stainless steel products, Walsin Yantai Stainless Steel Co. Ltd. has contracted with Primetals Technologies to design and manufacture a new stainless steel combination mill to convert billets from an existing plant into finished products with precision tolerance and surface quality. In-line-processing will lower production costs.  Start-up is expected in late 2020.

London, September 18, 2019

For the first time in over 50 years of cooperation, Primetals Technologies and Tata Steel Europe have commissioned a Level 2 system for a continuous caster completely online. In mid-July 2019, the new system from Primetals Technologies successfully replaced the existing automation on continuous caster CC21 of Tata Steel Europe in IJmuiden, the Netherlands. At the same time, Primetals Technologies is constructing continuous caster CC23 for Tata Steel Europe in IJmuiden, which will also be equipped with the Level 2 system.

London, September 04, 2019

In late March, Primetals Technologies received the Final Acceptance Certificates (FACs) for automation upgrades conducted on a third-party 6-strand billet caster and two blast furnaces 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. Blast furnaces #1 and #2 were outfitted with a new level 2 process optimization system with a short payback period of several months.