Displaying items by tag: UK

UK: Harsco has published its environmental report for 2019 - 20, a year in which it divested its industrial division, selling three subsidiaries, and acquired US-based hazardous and contaminated waste processing specialists Clean Earth and Stericycle Environmental Solutions, “creating a leading national hazardous waste management platform.” Globally, Harsco derived 80% of revenue over the twelve-month period that ended 30 June 2020 from environmental services, compared to 60% over the twelve months ending 30 June 2017. Chair and chief executive officer (CEO) Nicholas Grasberger said, “Advancing sustainability and being a more purpose-driven company will play an essential role in Harsco’s future.”

UK: Hanson supplied its Regen ground granulated blastfurnace slag (GGBS) product for use on part of the Thames Tideway Tunnel super sewer project in Wapping, London. The product was used to overcome difficult ground conditions. Around 5700t tonnes of Regen, supplied from its Purfleet grinding plant in Essex, was used with 3000t of Ketton cement to create a binder to stabilise soil so work to construct a combined sewer overflow could progress and provide a connection to the main east tunnel.

Costain, VINCI Construction Grands Projects and Bachy Soletanche worked with Hanson in laboratory trials to test the performance of the system and suitability of the selected mix design. Deep soil mixing, a technique that enhances the characteristics of weak soils by combining them with a cementitious binder, was chosen as the final stabilisation method.

The Thames Tideway sewer network expansion is due for completion in 2024 and is happening across 24 construction sites in London, spanning from Acton in West London to Beckton in the east of the city.

UK: Fairport Engineering has revealed details on its work on Hanson’s 1Mt/yr Purfleet ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) grinding plant. The plant includes two closed circuit ball mills and a vertical roller mill. Fairport Engineering worked on a project to improve the raw material intake facilities at the unit to replace a storage bunker with a new feed hopper and ramp. In the next phase the bunker is likely to be removed and replaced with a second feeding system.

The new system includes a reinforced concrete access ramp that will allow front-end loaders to deposit raw material into a 30t capacity Hardox lined hopper before being metered, at up to 200t/hr, by a vibrating feeder, onto an exiting conveyor belt that feeds the GGBS plant. The entire installation was completed in six weeks.

UK: Henrik Adam has been appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Tata Steel Europe. He succeeds Hans Fischer, who has decided to step down from the post. Fischer will continue as a non-executive director and will continue to advise TV Narendran, CEO and managing director of Tata Steel. Adam will also join the board of Tata Steel Europe and report to TV Narendran.

Adam joined Tata Steel Europe in 2011 as Chief Commercial Officer. Prior to this he held a wide range of roles at ThyssenKrupp including CEO of ThyssenKrupp Electrical Steel. He has also been a director of EEF (now called Make UK), the UK’s manufacturers’ organisation, and chairman of WorldAutoSteel, the automotive group of the World Steel Association. Born in Essen Germany, Adam is a mechanical engineer who started his career as a scientist in vehicle safety technologies.

UK: Ready-mix concrete (RMX) supplier Capital Concrete has dedicated two 60t silos at its London plants to supply Cemfree, a low carbon concrete made using ground blast furnace slag (GGBS) made by DB Group. It is the only RMX supplier in London supplying the product in this way.

“We’ve seen customer interest pick up recently, interest which is clearly linked to the growing importance of environmental considerations in construction build designs. Capital Concrete is now a leading supplier of Cemfree in the London area and we’re able to supply high volumes of this product anywhere in the London market,” said Luke Smith, the managing director of Capital Concrete.

Italy/UK: Ametek Land in the UK has collaborated with Italy’s Danieli on its automatic tapping system to increase operation safety and improve process control for steel plants. The Danieli Automatic Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) Tapping System product allows complete furnace tapping remotely from the main pulpit of a steel plant. The system starts furnace tilting in automatic mode, controlling the furnace position during the complete tapping process.

Embedded within the system are two thermal imaging systems from Ametek Land: its Slag Detection System (SDS-E), branded as Danieli’s Q-Slag, and a near-infrared (NIR) fixed thermal imager that is part of the Ladle Level Detection (LLD) system. The thermal imaging systems are used in conjunction with Danieli software to control steel flow in real time.

Q-Slag makes use of an SDS-E imager to detect the transition between steel and slag. It also quantifies the amount of slag that may pass into the ladle. That information is useful for fine-tuning alloys and lime additions for the secondary metallurgy. In parallel with Q-Slag, the LLD system controls when steel inside the teeming ladle has reached pre-set level positions. Back tilting can be done either in automatic mode (when the pre-conditions regarding steel level and weight are met) or by remote intervention of the EAF operator from the main pulpit.

Ametek Land says that its Slag Detection System can improve operator response times and steel consistency at the end of each tap. Those improvements typically result in up to a 25% reduction in slag depths, compared with traditional methods of stream monitoring.

Danieli designs plants and manufactures and installs machines for the metals industry covering the entire production cycle from raw ore to finished steel products. Ametek Land manufactures monitors and analysers for industrial infrared non-contact temperature measurement, combustion efficiency and environmental pollutant emissions.

UK: LKAB Minerals says it is aiming to complete its acquisition of Francis Flower on 3 December 2018. It added that the planning acquisition had also received clearance from the Austrian Competition Authority.

Spain/UK: Harsco’s Metals & Minerals division has won a multiyear contract with Spain’s Celsa Group. The agreement will span nine years with Celsa Barcelona and five years with its Cardiff operations. Under the deal, Harsco will provide Celsa Barcelona with on-site slag handling and scrap management services. The slag handling will include activities for under-furnace digging, ladle wrecking, and hot slag transport. In addition, Harsco’s scrap management experience will ensure the transport of scrap between the internal and external scrapyards, and the management of both sites. Celsa Cardiff will be provided with on-site metal recovery and meltshop services. No value for the deal has been disclosed.

UK: Sweden’s LKAB Minerals has signed a deal to buy Francis Flower. The acquisition is intended to bring a portfolio of sustainable products into LKAB Minerals’ portfolio. Implementation of the agreement is subject to Austrian merger clearance. Both parties are confident that the merger control process will be completed by the end of November 2018. No value for the agreement has been disclosed.

Francis Flower is a family owned business, and the main shareholder is the current chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), Adrian Willmott, who upon completion of the sale will resign his position in the business but remain available in a consultancy capacity during an integration phase. The company will be integrated into LKAB Minerals’ existing UK business under the leadership of Darren Wilson, who manages the UK and European business within LKAB Minerals.

Francis Flower recycles blast furnace slag from the steel industry for production of ground granulated blast furnace slag for use in cement production, among other offerings for industrial and agricultural use. It employs 130 people across four sites in the UK: Scunthorpe, Wicken, Gurney Slade and Runcorn.

LKAB Minerals in the UK has a similar size business across four sites and employs around 160 people. Its main operations are processing and marketing of minerals, primarily for the building, construction, polymer, coating, refractory and foundry industries.

“We have an ambition of growing the industrial minerals business significantly over time, to balance LKAB’s growing iron ore production,” said Leif Boström, Senior Vice President for the Special Products Division in LKAB and CEO of LKAB Minerals group. “This will strengthen LKAB Minerals’ offering to the building and construction industries.”

UK: Harsco’s Metals & Minerals division has renewed a multi-year services contract with British Steel. The US-headquartered company will provide slag management, briquetting, slab handling, coke crushing and other services at the Scunthorpe steel plant. Harsco has provided onsite steel plant services to British Steel for over 30 years.

“Our team has been working very closely with British Steel since the acquisition of the Scunthorpe Steel Works in June 2016 to develop an innovative partnership that brings benefits to both parties,” said Russ Mitchell, Harsco Metals & Minerals chief operating officer.