EuroWire May 2023

Corporate News

Rebar minimill ordered Highbar LLC has placed an order with SMS group for a new rebar minimill, which will be built on a site near Osceola, Arkansas, USA. The minimill will enable Highbar to produce rebar at a sustain- able scale and with environmental sustainability results. Highbar also agreed to continue its cooperation with SMS for a further two minimills in the future. Dave Stickler, Highbar’s CEO, said, “SMS has been and continues to be at the forefront of advancing the world’s steel industry in terms of operating efficiency, ever-increasing quality capabilities and environmental sustainability. I fully expect the SMS-supplied rebar minimill to build on the tremendous success my partners and I have had developing many of the finest scrap metal recycling and steel production facilities in the world while using SMS technology.” SMS group’s relationship with the founders of Highbar dates back almost three decades, with a number of successful projects being completed between the two partners. The new minimill will feature SMS group’s CMT® (continuous minimill technology), a low-emission and energy-efficient steelmaking system that supplies liquid steel to a high-speed caster to directly feed the rolling mill in a single, reliable process. Efficiency is increased by the SMS group’s Aura DC (advanced unit rectifier assembly) powered electric-arc furnace with all-charge continuous feeding system, and robotic solutions that improve labour efficiency.

SMS Concast will supply a high-speed single-strand caster, and the link to the rolling mill will be through an induction equalisation furnace provided by SMS Elotherm. The rebar mill will be equipped with fourteen housing-less stands and an eight-pass MEERdrive® high-speed finishing block. SMS group’s quenching and soft cooling TMbaR® thermo-processing systems will be incorporated into the rebar mill. The minimill will have industry 4.0 digital solutions and AI controlled processes to be future-ready to take advantage of digitalisation from start-up. It is designed so that natural gas is not required during the production process, achieving a low carbon footprint and up to 50 per cent reduction in emissions. Groundbreaking for the project is expected to take place in Q2 2023, with start-up planned for 22 months later. SMS group GmbH www.sms-group.com Highbar will produce rebar on the new minimill with up to 50 per cent lower carbon footprint

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May 2023