China’s state-controlled Maanshan Iron and Steel has been investing in upgrading production facilities and has awarded ‘Fives’ responsibility to revamp a continuous galvanizing line (CGL) to produce new quality coated products.
The existing CGL No.1 at the Masteel unit in the Anhui province of China is capable of producing 350,000 tonnes per year of zinc coated products. Once revamped, the line will be able to deliver the corrosion-resistant ZnAlMg (Zinc – Aluminum – Magnesium) coated steel sheets required in the home appliances and construction industries.
Fives have expertise in designing and supply processing lines to produce multi-coated galvanized high-end products, as well as color-coated products on a single line. Moreover, Fives and Masteel have a partnership for over 15 years as the steel mills’ three continuous galvanizing lines and a continuous annealing line have been equipped with Fives’ furnaces. Apart from this, early this year, Fives was selected by Masteel to design and tune its proprietary thermal optimization solution for a continuous annealing line (CAL) and a hot dip continuous galvanizing line (CGL No.3) to maximize performance.
In the ongoing upgradation of galvanizing line, Fives will be responsible for coordinating and managing the revamping project. The scope also includes the design and supply of a Stein horizontal furnace, as well as modifications of the after-pot cooling tower and a post-treatment section which will be equipped with a new hot air dryer and air coolers.
The project faces a double challenge: integration of the new furnace with a heat recovery system into the existing line and design of the specific equipment to meet new coating requirements. Fives will use a modular concept furnace to minimize the production stoppage and will provide a dedicated team for a start-up and a production ramp-up to reach quickly high-quality grades of new coated products.
The project will be also supervised by Fives’ subsidiary in Shanghai, China, which will be responsible for the manufacturing of the furnace local portion and supply of its electrical and automation parts. The first coil is scheduled to be produced by the end of 2020.
Masteel is China’s ninth-largest steel producer and has planned a modest 1.4% increase in crude steel output in 2019 (19.9 MnT against 19.6 MnT in 2018), as it expects the steel demand to be lower this year on the back of weaker economic and real estate sector growth and a complex global trading environment. A continued impulse to increase production capacity in violation of laws, the resurgence of sub-standard steel products and the lingering pressure from the rapid release of capacity from compliant companies were listed by Maanshan as some of the risks to its market performance this year.
As a part of China’s plan to promote consolidation in the steel sector, China Baowu Steel Group, the world’s second-largest steel producer will acquire a majority stake in Magang Group Holding Co Ltd. China has said it wants to put 60% of its national steel capacity in the hands of its top 10 producers by 2020 to boost efficiency. Apart from consolidating the sector, China has shut small, polluting and inefficient mills to address a years-long steel glut.
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