Nucor Starts Construction of Brandenburg Plate Mill in Kentucky
As technology supplier for the plate Steckel mill and meltshop, Danieli will start dispatching the technological equipment by end of November. The first shipment will consist of the large-size tilting platform and lower shells -in a single-piece- of the electric arc furnace produced at the specialized Danieli Thailand workshop. The Nucor Steel Brandenburg meltshop consists of full-platform design EAF with an EBT tapping system, equipped with all modern mechatronic devices to improve the performance and the safety, such as Q-Melt and Zero Man Turn Around. Secondary metallurgy equipment includes a twin-station LMF and a twin-station VTD equipped with mechanical pumps. Both units will feature the latest automation and process models to ensure precise chemistry and temperature control, whilst minimizing transformation costs.
For this project, SMS group is supplying a single-strand caster for ultra wide and ultrathick slabs. It will produce slabs with thicknesses of between 200 and 305 millimeters and widths of up to 3,150 millimeters. This means that Nucor will be operating one of the world's largest continuous casting plants. The vertical bending caster will be equipped with a host of quality-defining technological features, all of which meet Nucor's high standards. In addition, a customized strand guide, an ultra-fast cooling section, and a secondary cutting line will be supplied along with whole reheating system for slabs and blooms
Danieli’s plate/Steckel mill will consist of two stands: a roughing mill and a finishing/Steckel mill, also able to roll plates starting from 36” ingots. The complete design of the mill will allow the production of thermo-mechanical rolled plates and API grades, as well as high hardness wear-resistant plates up to a final plate width of 165.4” and coils up to a rolled width of 125”. Subsequent to the plate/Steckel mill, an EVO 5 hot leveler designed for two different types of cassettes, and a plate finishing and shearing line for the handling and cutting of 250-ft mother plates, will be installed.
SMS group's scope of supply for the new heavy plate complex also includes a heat treatment facility for heavy plate with a thickness of up to 356 millimeters, and a continuous heat treatment facility with MultiFlex-Quench for heavy plates that are 4.8 to 102 millimeters thick and up to 4,267 millimeters wide
Final products will be plates and heavy plates in a thickness range of 3/16” up to 14” and coils from 3/16” up to 1.25”. When operational, the new plate mill will be capable of producing 97% of plate products demanded in the US market. The first plate is expected to be rolled in 2022.
Recently, Nucor awarded Danieli the additional orders to supply heavy-duty technological cranes, four for the meltshop and more for the plate mill, as well as the raw material handling for the same complex.