South Steel in Jizan, Saudi Arabia, has commissioned a minimill. The steelworks produces up to 1Mt/y of billet and the rolling mill up to 500kt/y of rebar. The plant satisfies high demands on efficiency, flexibility and productivity.
The electric arc furnace is supplied by SMS Concast and is equipped with eccentric bottom tapping (EBT) and a full platform. It is designed for 24 charges per day. A ladle furnace is supplied for secondary metallurgy treatment.
The normal charge to the EAF is 80% hot-briquetted iron (HBI) and 20% scrap but 100% HBI can also be charged if required.
Electrode control and process automation meet very high demands, achieving a homogeneous process with considerable flexibility and high productivity.
The continuous caster has five strands and can produce 1Mt/y of billets in sizes 130mm square and 150mm square. Half of the cast billets are sold on the regional market, the other half is further processed while still hot in the rebar mill.
The rolling mill from SMS Meer is equipped with a walking-beam furnace with several control zones: The ratio of fuel to air is monitored separately in each zone, enabling the fuel consumption to be significantly reduced. The furnace can be operated flexibly, irrespective of the production volume.
The fully automated rolling mill consists of 16 housingless stands followed downline by a finishing block with six stands. The compact design of the HL (HousingLess) roll stands and the employment of a finishing block ensure compliance with close tolerances. Thanks to the HSD® (High-Speed Delivery) system, final rolling speeds onto the cooling bed of up to 41m/s are possible. The plant can therefore reach a high production rate per hour even for small dimensions.
The South Steel minimill is regarded as a major milestone in setting up a steel cluster. The Jizan Economic City is one of six newly constructed cities with which the Kingdom with the aim of making the Saudi economy less dependent on the export of crude oil by 2030.