DANIELI MINIMILLS A WINNING CONCEPT SINCE 1964

Over the past 50 years the minimill route has proven to be one of the most competitive ways to produce steel, starting with a rated capacities of 60-150,000 tpy and now at rates of up to 3 Mtpy and more.

MIDA MIcromill DAnieli the breakthrough innovation in rebars production

The first Micromill plant started operation at Commercial Metals Co. (CMC) Arizona, USA, in Autumn 2009. The Micromill is based on the ECR Endless Casting Rolling process. Among its advanced processes and components, the MIDA plant features unique innovative characteristics, such as: > The Direct Casting & Rolling process (ECR), involving the direct connection of the continuous casting strand to the first rolling stand, with the endlessly-cast billet of indefinite length through an induction furnace for temperature equalization. The traditional reheating furnace and all associated facilities are therefore no longer necessary. > The Direct Rolling & Bundling system (DRB), the revolutionary innovation that enables bar cutting to commercial length directly at delivery side of the finishing mill and right before the bundle forming and tying station, making the traditional long-type cooling beds and cold cutto-length services no longer necessary. This low-cost mill concept finds ideal application for greenfield sites, but also for existing mills with excess liquid steel capacity.

MIDA main highlights: > Market-oriented plant, to cover regional or local market demand; > Product range focused on a single-type product; > Typical capacity of 250,000350,000 tpy; > Typical finished product range: 8 to 36-mm-dia straight or spooled rebars (equivalent round and square bars), with production campaigns dedicated to a large amount of a single product, resulting in minimized changes. > Ultra-compact arrangement: covered area approx 11,000-mq (less than half the space required by a traditional minimill of correspondent capacity) > Minimized investment > Reduced manning > Energy saving > Environmental friendly > Higher yields in melting and rolling > Reduced storage space when compared to traditional minimills. > Superb quality of the finished product, either in bundles or coils (thanks of the DRB or SPO systems) > Shorter construction time and fast ramp-up time > Faster return of investment.

COST ADVANTAGES

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> LOWER LABOR COST. > LOWER NATURAL GAS COST. > HIGHER YIELD DUE TO CONTINUOUS / CONTINUOUS PROCESS. > LOWER COST OF ALLOYS DUE TO USE OF QUENCHING SYSTEM. > LOWER COST OF INVENTORY.

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Scrap yard Fume dedusting plant Electric Arc Furnace Ladle furnace Meltshop maintenance area Continuous casting plant Induction furnace

8 16-stand rolling mill 9 QTB line 10 DRB-Direct Rolling & Bundling system 11 Finished product collecting services 12 Rolling mill maintenance area

Danieli Minimills
Danielis experience in minimills, EAF-based steelmaking and rolling facilities, dates back to the 1960s. The concept was -and still issuccessful, thanks to its flexibility, lean organization and low transportation costs relating to nearby sourcing for raw materials and distribution of the finished steel products. Around 80% of the minimills operating world-wide today have been supplied by Danieli, or operate with some Danieli equipment. In 2006 Danieli started supplying the first integrated minimills: DRI, EAF, CCM and rolling plants, all connected through a continuous process by a compact layout -to be applied where scrap is not available and/or gas is available at competitive costs.

Fully integrated services

In addition to innovative production processes and first-class equipment Danieli provides customers with fully integrated services which include turnkey plants, auxiliary plants, process control and basic automation, and continuous support. efficient production plant. The automation philosophy is built on different levels (L1 to L4) for each plant function, and physically integrated by means of the most modern networking technologies. The automation systems are made up of proven packages, optimized on the specific process, and tailored to meet specific customer needs.

Turnkey plants (LSTK)

Danieli has thorough capabilities to provide Customers with plants according to the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) formula for overall turnkey responsibility. Design, engineering, manufacturing, construction, startup, and commissioning activities are provided by our own divisions and companies that operate with own logistics, equipment, and tools, worldwide.

Customer service
Danieli Service provides interactive services to expedite solutions to technical problems: training services; metallurgical and process know-how packages; maintenance management systems; remote solutions for real-time support; original spare parts, equipment refurbishing, repairs and upgrades; on-site inspection and technical assistance. Thanks to this organization, and to the team-work established with the Customer, quality results and on-time installation are guaranteed.

Process control and basic automation

Danieli Automation assures the perfect integration of the different process units for a totally integrated,

Danieli milestones in minimill process

Danieli first minimill Danieli was pioneer in developing the minimill concept and installed its first minimill in Germany. 1964 Black box Direct charging technology for special steel conticast blooms, coupled with a surface quenching system to achieve operating flexibility and product quality, and to minimize energy consumption, handling and delivery time. 1990 ECR-Endless Casting Rolling Uninterrupted production from liquid steel to finished long products, including in-line heat treatments and inspection procedures leading to higher productivity, superior product quality and material yield. 2000 EWR-Endless Welding Rolling Uninterrupted production of straight bars, sections, and wire rod in by continuous on-line welding of billets at the reheating furnace delivery side. 2001 DRI-based integrated minimill Danieli started the construction of the first two integrated DRI-based minimill complexes for long and flat products, which is the most competitive production route where gas is available at low costs and/or scrap is not available. 2006 MIDA-Micromill Danieli The new generation of Danieli continuous casting-rolling, compact, micromills designed to serve a limited market (local or regional) and to be competitive even for small production capacities. 2009

Danieli Leadership Highlights:

> Vast experience, gained in an unsurpassable number of projects carried out successfully all over the world. > Top conticasting technology for casting speed/productivity, castable sections, castable grades, product quality. > Top rolling technology to produce profitably an extremely wide product mix in in a single mill. > Capability to provide plants on LSTK basis, with overall turnkey responsibility for design, engineering, manufacturing, construction, startup and commissioning activities, worldwide.

Direct reduction (up to 2 Mtpy per module) Reference best performance: 250 tph of highly-metallized and passivated product with controlled carbon content (from 1.5% to 4%). Cash-cost reduction in EAF steelmaking Reference best performance: 42 heats/day, energy consumption 350 kWh/t, oxygen consumption 38 Nm3/t. Twin-cathode DC FastArc EAF (up to 420 t) fed with 100% hot and cold DRI Reference best performance: active power > 160 MW, T-T-T time 45 min, energy consumption < 450 kWh/t, oxygen consumption < 40 Nm3/t. Secondary metallurgy Reference best performance: heat sizes up to 350 t; 90% S removal; 50% N removal; H content less 1 ppm. ECR Endless Casting Rolling system Reference best performance: average cash-cost savings of 40 Euro/t in specialty steels, and 20 Euro/t in commercial steel production. EWR Endless Welding Rolling process Reference best performance: average production cost save of 3.5-4.0 Euro/t.

FastCast billet, bloom, and beam blank casters Reference best performance: up to 90 tph per strand. PSP Profile Sizing Process process Reference best performance: production of H-beams up to 1,000 mm (flange height of up to 400 mm). Product size changes in just 20 minutes thanks to the SCC-Stand Core Concept stand. Spooled bar-in-coil Reference best performance: production costs savings of up to 18 Euro/t. Product range is 8 to 52-mm-dia plain bars. Operating speed is up to 35 mps. Up to 5-t ultra-compact coils. High-productivity, small-size straight bar production lines Reference best performance: over 120 tph of 10-mm-dia bar/rebar production. Speeds of up to 50 mps onto cooling bed. Ultra-high speed wire rod lines Reference best performance: over 125-mps regular production speed of down to 4.5-mm-dia (and up to 25 mm) special and commercial grades, with strict size tolerances, in up to 3-t coils.

Layout legend 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Incoming oxide storage area Direct Reduction Plant Product storage silos for hot charge Product storage open yard Product storage silos for cold charge Meltshop plant FastCast continuous casting machine Billet storage area 200 tph superflexible medium section mill 200 tph superflexible bar and wire rod mill Rolling mill Water Treatment Plant and compressed air plant Ferroalloy, lime and additives storage Electrical substation (plus electrical substation HV side) Air separation plant DR plant and Meltshop daily maintenance workshop, general warehouse and central maintenance workshop Fume dedusting plant Water Treatment Plant (Meltshop) Water Treatment Plant (DR plant) Future meltshop expansion (plus FastCast for blooms and beam blanks) Future rolling mill for heavy sections

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MINIDA MINImill DAnieli

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Layout of a typical multi-product, super-flexible, DRI-based minimill.

DANIELI YEAR 2010