Unitex Group operates in several businesses, among which are the sourcing of cotton, logistical services in varied sectors covering LPG and cylinder manufacturing, petroleum and steel industries. As stated by the group, Unitex Steel Mills Ltd. aims to be “the most automated advanced merchant mill along with electric steel manufacturing facility” For this reason, Unitex Steel Mills Ltd. contracted Danieli to supply a one-million-tpy minimill, including both the meltshop and a super-flexible merchant rolling mill. The plant will be located in the Feni District of Chittagong, in the Eastern region of Bangladesh. The contract includes engineering, manufacturing, procurement, supply and on-site services for a complete minimill, includ-ing auxiliary plants for fumes and water treatment, and electrical and automation systems, to guarantee continuous and reliable production. The plant is provided with the latest, highly efficient and environmentally friendly, 100-ton Danieli Digimelter ECS system for continuous scrap charging and preheating. The furnace power feeding technology is the breakthrough Q-One, the Danieli-patented solution to control the arc furnace with low electrical energy and electrodes consumption and negligible impact on the electrical grid. The specific technologies applied on the EAF, will lead the steelmaking facility to extremely low emissions and environmental impact, according to the Green Steel production technology vision Moreover, the Q-One-equipped furnace means having provision for directly feeding the Digimelter with energy produced by renewable sources in the future, with further improvements in CO, reduction, along with lower power demand from the grid. The 100-ton ladle furnace will be positioned in line with the melter and equipped with a ladle lifting system that makes it possible to avoid ladle car exchange and teeming

crane handling. The four-strand, 9-m-radius FastCastTm machine will fea-ture high-precision FastCast Cube.'” oscillator, Danieli ECO Power Mould for exceptional strand productivity and mould electromagnetic stirrer supplied by Danieli Rotelec. The caster will produce a large variety of low- and medium-carbon grades at high-productivity rates, without jeopardizing final product quality. Cast billets can be hot-charged directly to a 150-tph, walking-beam-type reheat-ing furnace that will be prefabricated and refractory-lined at Danieli Centro Combustion’s workshop, to reduce relevant site erection times and costs.

Rolling mill and finishing facilities

The 18-stand continuous mill will be equipped with the latest-generation housingless stands, in H, V and convertible HN arrangement. To enhance the productivity and reduce OpEx, small-dimension deformed rounds will be produced with a multi-slit process (up to six strands). The bar-finishing facilities will feature a 90-m-long cooling bed equipped with a water-spray extra-cooling system, start-and-stop-type, in-line straightening, cut-to-length services, and two, 12-m-long, single-head magnetic stackers, plus bundling and collect-ing facilities. The final product range includes quenched rebars, smooth rounds, equal angles and channels. Primary, secondary and auxiliaries meltshop fumes will be treated by the fume-treatment plant equipped with a pulse-jet bag filter, hairpin cooler, and two main fans, for a total suction capacity of approx. 1.4M m3/h. All cooling water circulating in the minimill will be processed in a new water- treatment plant, whose design will make it possible to minimize the quantity of incoming and discharged water. Its footprint will be minimized thanks to DanFilters, with relevant savings for civil works and erection activities. Make-up treatment of raw water also will be provided.

Process control

Danieli Automation will supply all electrical equipment, including power distribution, as well as the Level 1 and 2 automation and process control systems. As a comprehensive supplier with know-how covering all technological aspects, Danieli will ensure quality throughout the whole process, and no coordination between differ-ent technological suppliers will be re-quired. For this reason, Danieli is the ideal partner to fulfil Unitex Group’s target to build the most advanced minimill, to play a leading role in the Far East long-product market. Plant startup is scheduled for Q4 2024.

Edited by Sergio Galasso
Manager, Sales, Danieli Plant Engineering