Primetals Technologies to modernize rebar rolling line for KWTSteel in Kuwait

• Rebars to be produced according to international standards
• Inline quenching system cuts costs for alloying elements
• Hot shearing with high throughput

United Steel Industrial Company (KWTSteel), a Kuwaiti steel producer, has awarded Primetals Technologies an order to modernize its rebar rolling mill in the Shuaiba Industrial Area, Kuwait. Under the project the rolling mill will be equipped with an inline quenching system (PQS, Pomini Quenching System) and a new hot dividing shear with a higher capacity. The quenching system will produce the required material properties largely without the need for expensive alloying elements. This will improve KWTSteel’s access to export markets. The modernized rolling mill is scheduled to go on stream late 2015.

KWTSteel was founded in 1996 and is in private ownership. The rolling line was supplied in 1999 by the then VAI and is designed as a compact-cassette rolling mill. It currently has an annual rebar production capacity of 650,000 metric tons, ranging in diameter from eight to 40 millimeters. Diameters of eight and ten millimeters are rolled in three-slit mode, bars with a diameter of twelve millimeters in two-slit mode. The mill processes carbon steels.

At the heart of the modernization work is a Pomini Quenching Systems (PQS) installed between the last stand of the finishing mill and the hot dividing shear ahead of the cooling bed. The PQS enables rebars to be produced with increased yield strength and good weldability properties. This means that expensive alloying elements, such as niobium and vanadium, can be largely eliminated from the steel production. Bars treated in this way have a fine-grain perlitic core and a hard martensitic surface. Primetals Technologies will also supply a new, high-capacity hot dividing shear and a new entry table for the cooling bed, which is equipped with magnetic brakes for quenched bars and those beneath the Curie temperature.

Primetals Technologies is responsible for designing and engineering the entire process equipment. The scope of supply includes the lubrication system, a water treatment plant, medium and low-voltage transformers, the low-voltage distribution system, as well as motors and drives. The project also includes the basic automation (level 1) system for the new parts of the plant and its integration into the existing process automation (level 2). Primetals Technologies will also assist KWTSteel with the construction and commissioning of the modernized rolling line.

Pomini Quenching System (PQS) for multi-slit operation from Primetals Technologies. The quenching system produces the required material properties largely without the need for expensive alloying elements.

Primetals Technologies, Limited, headquartered in Frimley, Camberley, United Kingdom, is a worldwide leading engineering, plant-building and lifecycle partner for the metals industry. The company offers a complete technology, product and service portfolio that includes the integrated electrics, automation and environmental solutions. This covers every step of the iron and steel production chain that extends from the raw materials to the finished product – in addition to the latest rolling solutions for the nonferrous metals sector. Primetals Technologies is a joint venture of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Siemens. Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery (MHMM) - an MHI consolidated group company with equity participation by Hitachi, Ltd. and IHI Corporation - holds a 51% stake and Siemens a 49% stake in the company. The company employs around 9,000 employees worldwide.

Based on Primetals Technologies information