ArcelorMittal is the largest steel manufacturer in North America, South America, and Europe.
AMTP Iasi is one of the two case studies of the ASTEP project.
This mill is part of the ArcelorMittal Tubular Products division which is composed of 15 mills strategically distributed all over Europe. In particular, AM Iasi is dedicated to the production of welded steel tubes for a wide range of applications. The main manufacturing process used at the plant is cold forming of the tubes, where a cut steel coil used as raw material is formed into a round shape in a continuous forming process for a subsequent welding operation in which both edges of the steel strip are joined together to form a circular tubular section.
Finally, the entire tube can be colour coated, both for aesthetic and corrosion purposes, with thin layers of epoxy, water-based or thermoplastic coatings. A preheating (220°C) of the tube is necessary for paint polymerization. For this purpose, an induction oven is currently required.
The idea is to avoid this induction oven by developing a SunDial technology (a new concept of solar heat concentrator for industrial processes and thermal energy storage devices) that will rotate according to the position of the sun to harness as much energy as possible.
ArcelorMittal has the XCarb initiative, which aims to bring together all of ArcelorMittal’s low-, low- and zero-carbon steelmaking activities and products, as well as broader initiatives and green innovation projects, into a single effort focused on making demonstrable progress towards carbon-neutral steel.
As the world’s leading steel company, ArcelorMittal has an important responsibility to innovate, implement and successfully navigate the path to a cleaner steel industry. Their path to carbon neutrality by 2050, having aligned with the Paris climate goals and the European Green Deal, committing to reduce European CO2 emissions by 35% by 2030 and to be carbon neutral by 2050, is well on track.
The successful completion of ASTEP will provide guidelines for the planning, installation, and operation of solar thermal systems. The collector can be adapted to different industrial processes that demand heat at different temperatures, so this technology would be extrapolated to other factories, reducing energy demand, and becoming greener.
Authors: Unai Aramburu and Nedelcu Romel (AMTP)