Contracts & Projects Tracker: Materials

EU plans to compensate for electricity price hikes due to its Emissions Trading Scheme will lead to closures in industries such as aluminium, copper and zinc, the EU Non-Ferrous Metals Association (Eurometaux) has warned. Under the EU proposals, industry would receive compensation for the production within its existing capacity and not only for historical production for most of the years 2005-11. This period includes the years of financial crisis. (Read more)

Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) has restarted the blast furnace at Redcar on Teesside, which it acquired from Tata Steel in a £290-million deal. The former owner mothballed the Teesside Cast Products facility just over two years ago following the loss of major long-term orders. SSI has invested around £700 million in the 3,600ktpa faciilty. It will employ up to 1,800 people at full capacity. (Read more)

Smurfit Kappa has saved nearly £70,000 by using ABB motion control products in a refurbishment project on a cardboard sheet stacking machine at its facility in Mold, North Wales. The stacker is designed to allow the continuous stacking and discharging of cardboard sheets. It consists of two hydraulic lift tables, each fed via five conveyor sections. (More details)

Sheffield Forgemasters has won a Euro2m euro order from Schuler Pressen GmbH to manufacture components for a screw press for making automotive parts. The 300-tonne table and 288-tonne headpiece is to be completed by Q3/13. Forgemasters said it is one of the few facilities in the UK with the physical capacity to finish machine the components and the only one in Europe able to produce castings of this size and weight.

HRS has supplied Gas Compressors with a multi-tube corrugated shell and tube heat exchanger for a compressor installation that maintains natural gas supply pressure to a gas turbine at the Saica Paper mills in Manchester. HRS said its unit achieves the required heat transfer to reduce the gas temperature from 90°C to 45°C with a very low pressure loss. SAICA started up its new recycled paper mill in Partington in January, marking the return of the paper industry to Trafford, Manchester. The £300m recycled paper mill - SAICA’s first in the UK and the first ’new’ containerboard paper mill in the UK for decades -will produce 400ktpa of recycled containerboard each year.

ANH Refractories Europe has secured a major new deal to supply products to the Middle East petchem market. The firm’s Bromborough, UK plant manufactures materials used in linings for furnaces, kilns and incinerators operating at high temperatures. The deal has been signed through ANH’s licenced partner BFIM, based in Saudi Arabia. As part of the deal major contracts have been secured with customers including SABIC.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. is to provide project management consulting (PMC) services for a new pipe rolling mill near Corpus Christi, Texas for Tianjin Pipe (Group) Corp. (TPCO). Jacobs did not disclose the contract value but estimated the total programme value at around $1bn. EPC work is expected to involve professional services, materials and/or labour from the US, Europe and China. The Texas plant is to be delivered with phased completions between 2012 and end of 2014.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has received a $50m contract from Teck Metals Ltd to design and supply a new sulfuric acid plant for its Trail operation located in British Columbia, Canada. The new acid plant is replacing two aging plants at the site and is expected to improve operating reliability and flexibility, reduce downtime and maintenance costs, and improve environmental performance. The contract includes the design of the complete sulfuric acid plant contact section, including catalytic DeNO(x) system, as well as supply of all equipment and the majority of materials. The plant includes Jacobs’ proprietary Chemetics equipment throughout, including stainless steel converter (with dual internal exchangers), radial flow gas-gas exchangers, acid coolers and distributors and piping.

Turkish paper manufacturer Kahramanmara? Ka??t Sanayi ve Ticaret A? has selected Honeywell Process Solutions’ Experion MX quality control system (QCS) and Experion Process Knowledge control system (PKS) for a new paper mill based in Kütahya, Turkey. The facility, which is due to be completed in May 2012, will produce de-inked newsprint, as well as printing and writing paper. The PKS system will support startup and maintenance, while the QCS will be used to monitor consistent paper quality using constant measurement of all critical variables.

Conductix-Wampfler UK has secured a ’six-figure’ contract to deliver a system to power machinery at a new Bridon factory on Tyneside, which will produce large, complex multi-strand ropes for offshore, mining and crane applications. The work will involve a conductor bar being placed underground in a 300m trench. It will be protected by a flexible cover capable of withstanding the weight of a 25t forklift. Another recent deal, saw the Salford-based firm installing power supply systems to forklifts at the Heinz storage and distribution warehouse in Wigan.

Groupe Michelin has made Rockwell Automation its preferred partner for supplying industrial automation and controls to all of its tyre plants worldwide. The four-year deal includes the supply of Rockwell products and services; undertaking complete turnkey projects; manufacturing electrical enclosures; and the extension of Rockwell training services, support and repair to all Michelin plants.

Metso is to supply an automation package to French supplier Allimand for the new paper machine to be erected in the new Miquel y Costas’ plant in la Pobla de Claramunt, Spain. Delivery will comprise Metso’s DNA automation system for machine, process and drive controls, Process and Quality Vision for web inspection and web break analysis and IQ quality control system including MD and CD quality controls with IQ Moisturizer. Commissioning is due by Q4/12.

ANH Refractories Europe is reporting a record increase in turnover from £4m to circa £7m in 2011, following contract wins in the Middle East and growth in UK and European markets. The Wirral, UK-based company manufactures materials used in linings for furnaces, kilns, incinerators and reactors operating at high temperatures. Its MD Peter Rooney noted major deals with oil and industrial firms in Saudi Arabia, growth in the petrochemicals sector and opportunities in the new energy generation and incineration markets, as well as the higher-value copper and aluminium industrial metals market.

North west England-based Industrial Purification Systems (IPS) has reported a surge in demand for its water filtration technology with orders of over £250k secured in the past two months alone. This includes orders from Tata Steel.

Suzano Papel e Celulose is investing $3-bn to establish a major pulp production unit at Imperatriz, Maranhão state in north east Brazil - a project that has provided major contracts for Metso and Siemens. (More on Process Engineering)

Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) has placed an order for a 40 tonne outrigger crane for the blast furnace at its Redcar, UK steel plant from Konecranes UK. The furnace is linked to a modern steel making facility, which has an annual steel slab production capacity of 3.5m tonnes. The outrigger crane will operate on a 12 metre span and is to have a 61mt lifting ability.

Pfaudler is to upgrade mixers for a major refiner of precious metals in South Africa, which is set to significantly increase the capacity of their process reactors. Working alongside its Robbins & Myers sister company Chemineer, Pfaudler’s process solution is designed to ensure optimum mixing of platinum group metal concentrates, which can severely damage vessels when not set up correctly. (More on Process Engineering)

Metso Paper has entered into a global license agreement with Autodesk, making the software available to users throughout the Metso group. The agreement incorporates a broad spectrum of Autodesk products, including its Inventor, Navisworks, AutoCAD Mechanical and AutoCAD Electrical software. Metso sites can now request additional software licenses at peak times, and get instant access to them. Metso sites only pay for what they use. Metso Mining and Construction Technology (MCT) segment is using Inventor software for product development, conceptual design and manufacturing, and anticipates usage will increase for more detailed design work. By collaborating with Metso Paper, Metso MCT can tap into the global license pool, driving further efficiencies in its usage of Inventor.

Linde Group is to manage the entire gas supply system for steel company Hebei Puyang Iron and Steel Ltd, in Wu’an, north China, and will invest around Euro120m in the project. Under a recent on-site agreement, Linde acquires the steelworks’ seven existing air separation units (ASUs) and pipeline network, will operate these and modernise them. It will also build a new ASU on site with a capacity of 30,000 normal cubic metres of oxygen per hour. Due on stream in 2014, the new ASU will partially replace less energy-efficient plants, and meet rising demand for gaseous oxygen at the steelworks. It will also produce surplus liquid gases for the regional market.

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