Danieli nets minimill orders in Mexico, New Zealand

Italy-based Danieli & C. S.p.A. has announced two orders placed in late November for recycled-content electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking equipment and technology in two different parts of the world.

Steel producer DeAcero has contracted with Danieli to equip a planned 1.5 million tons-per-year melt shop in Mexico, while in New Zealand a business unit of Australia’s BlueScope has ordered equipment from Danieli for its planned basic oxygen furnace-to-EAF conversion project.

In Mexico, steelmaker Deacero has ordered an array of EAF equipment from Danieli for a planned 1.5 million ton-per-year expansion project at its Ramos Arizpe campus. The same firm previously ordered five metal shredding plants from Danieli Centro Recycling to help feed its expanded EAF capacity.

Calling Deacero “the largest long-product Mexican steel producer,” Danieli says the steelmaker’s new purchase will become the fifth Danieli minimill operated by Deacero.

“The new minimill will be strategically installed at Ramos Arizpe’s existing facilities very close to the existing minimill,” Danieli says, noting that EAF plant is one of four previously supplied by Danieli.

The new order includes a 150-ton “Zero-Man-Around” EAF, which Danieli says is served by automatic raw material handling designed for additional endless scrap charging (ECS), and a twin secondary refining station.

The order also includes several pieces of equipment downstream of the melt shop, including a casting machine, a medium section mill, a reheating furnace and mill stands. Plant startup is targeted for the first quarter of 2026, according to Danieli.

The New Zealand Steel (NZS) business unit of BlueScope has selected a Danieli-patented Digimelter as part of its BOF-to-EAF conversion project taking place in Glenbrook, New Zealand, near Auckland.

Also purchased by NZS is a Danieli Tornado ECS and preheating system. Danieli says the Digimelter will provide NZS with “the lowest OpEx [operating expenses] thanks to the increased flexibility of the working points for different charge mixes and materials.”

While ECS scrap charging technology is part of the installation, Danieli says its Digimelter also is designed to operate with “significant amounts of hot metal, as well as the future utilization of HBI,” says the equipment provider.

For scrap charging, Danieli says its ECS Tornado technology “enhances the heat transfer to the scrap, optimizing the off-gas flow to ensure maximum pre-heating efficiency, which is particularly important in case of charge mix strategies with variable percentages of scrap.” The new equipment in New Zealand is targeted to be operational by 2026.