Final acceptance granted for new pickling and galvanizing line with unique “heat-to-coat” technology

In December 2020, after a successful commissioning phase that proved the line’s efficiency, Nucor Steel Gallatin granted SMS group the final acceptance certificate (FAC) for the new “heat-to-coat” pickling and galvanizing line in Ghent, Kentucky, U.S.A. The line was fully supplied by SMS group, including engineering, process technology, furnace technology, pickling and galvanizing technology as well as electrical and automation systems.

The line is designed to produce 500,000 tons of pickled and galvanized hot rolled steel strip per year. With a maximum capacity of 180 tons per hour and a large strip cross section (up to 6.35 millimeter thickness and up to 1,854 millimeter width) the line sets a new standard in hot strip galvanizing. During the commissioning phase in the last year already 70 percent of the designed capacity could be reached. Due to this promising production result, Nucor is capable of exceeding the designed capacity in 2021.

The “heat-to-coat” technology for hot strip galvanizing is characterized by the compact and operator-friendly U-shape design, the turbulence pickling system, the high-power inductive heating system, the FOEN^® galvanizing equipment and the Drever after-pot cooling system. There is a broad area of applications for the coated hot strip, especially in construction, transportation and in the automotive industry with the option to substitute galvanized cold strip with hot strip.

SMS group is a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry. It has some 14,000 employees who generate worldwide sales of more than EUR 2.9 billion. The sole owner of the holding company SMS GmbH is the Familie Weiss Foundation.