The last months of 2017 and beginning of 2018 saw new EPS production lines begin operation, while orders were placed for additional systems that will bring worldwide EPS capacity to 4 million tonnes per year. A summary of the new capacity is provided below. To see all EPS installations visit the EPS web site.
NEW EPS PRODUCTION LINES ENTER OPERATION
The two-cell EPS Coil Line at the new Talleres y Aceros (TYASA) steel mill in Mexico completed commissioning in October 2017. This line can descale up to 350,000 tonnes annually, most of which is Castrip – produced on-site and poured from the world’s first Simetal EAF Quantum electric arc furnace.
Metall Profil entered operation just last month in Russia. This line has a capacity of 400,000 tonnes annually and descales product which is first cold reduced. After EPS processing, much of the product goes to different coil coating processes.
Xinyu Bishui Steel Strip Company, Ltd. of China is completing startup of their three-cell EPS Generation 3 Coil Line. This line features the first EPS Cells built by TMW-Jingu, our joint venture company in China. ‘Bishui’ uses acid pickling in their existing plants, but for this new toll processing facility, which also performs cold reduction, they wanted the economic and environmental benefits of EPS. This EPS line has a capacity of 550,000 tonnes annually.
The Xinyu Bishui EPS Coil Line in Final Stage of Startup
NEW EPS PRODUCTION LINE ORDERS
Kama Trade Tatarstan, LLC. is a Russian service center that serves the automotive, railroad, bridge and crane construction and shipbuilding industries. It has opened a new service center focused on EPS processed sheet and plate from 3 to 25mm thick. Their single-cell EPS sheet line, capable of 150,000 tonnes annually, is expected to be operational January 2019.
The Todoaceros Service Center division of Spain’s Network Steel Resources ordered a single Generation 3 EPS Cell which will be integrated into an existing coil processing line manufactured by Red Bud Industries. The line is unique in that the EPS processed material can be produced in either coil form or in sheet form by activating a downstream flying shear. The EPS cell, with capacity for 240,000 tonnes per year, is scheduled for operation in March 2019.
AND CLOSER TO HOME . . .
One year ago we started up the first Generation 3 EPS Cell in our EPS Coil Line at the TMW Technology Center in Red Bud, IL. Since then, hundreds of visitors from steel mills, processors and manufacturers have witnessed this line successfully descale many ‘hard-to-pickle’ grades that confound acid picklers. Recent examples include:
- martensitic AHSS,
- 6150, 4140, Ck75m2,
- grain oriented electrical steel,
- high nickel content alloy steel
We’ve also ‘recovered’ coils by processing them to remove surface issues (like onion skin), including one coil that was accidentally copper plated. And, of course, we have pickled thousands of tons per month of low carbon, high carbon, and HSLA used in every fabrication and manufacturing process you can name.
The EPS Coil Line at TMW is the Answer for ‘Hard-to-Pickle” Steels
If you would like to schedule trial coils or a visit to watch our EPS Generation 3 Coil Line in operation, please contact Chris Liefer at 618 282-4200 ext. 103 or chris.liefer@thematerialworks.com.
Castrip is a registered trademark of Castrip LLC.