SECO/WARWICK Group signed an agreement with Sweden’s GreenIron H2 AB for the delivery of a series of furnaces for fossil-free metal production from ore, residuals and waste recycling. The furnaces ordered by GreenIron will be used to recycle oxidized metals without emissions. They will directly contribute to CO₂ emission reduction. Each furnace has the capacity to reduce emissions by 56,000 metric tons/year, according to GreenIron.

Magnetic Specialties Inc. shipped and commissioned two power supplies used in a continuous brazing furnace by a tool manufacturing company. The new power supplies, rated 125 kW and 100 kW, were designed as direct replacements for a pair of existing, obsolete power supplies that continuously failed. The brazing furnace has silicon-carbide heating elements, which increase in resistance as they age. To compensate for this, the output transformers feature a tapped secondary winding. These taps are connected to a rotary tap switch for easy tap changing. As the elements age, the tool manufacturer can select a higher output voltage range via the tap switch. They will use the metering feedback to know when the tap needs to be changed.

General Motors Co. (GM) will invest $760 million at its Toledo, Ohio, propulsion manufacturing operations to prepare the facility for production of drive units that will be used in future Ultium-based battery electric trucks, including the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV and GMC Hummer EVs. Toledo Propulsion Systems will be GM’s first U.S. powertrain or propulsion-related manufacturing facility transformed for EV-related production. Once the plant is converted, it will produce GM’s family of EV drive units, which convert electric power from the battery pack to mechanical motion at the wheels. GM’s EV drive units will cover front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive propulsion combinations.

L&L Special Furnace Company Inc. shipped a large high-temperature box furnace to a Midwest plant starting production on ceramic matrix parts that will be used in military and aerospace applications. The furnace, which has been commissioned, has an effective work zone of 32 inches wide x 30 inches high x 50 inches deep and is capable of reaching temperatures up to 3100°F (1700°C) under partial atmospheric pressure. There is also a vacuum pump to help remove oxygen prior to beginning the thermal cycle.

Registration is open for IHEA’s Fundamentals of Industrial Process Heating online learning course, which begins October 24 and runs for six weeks. Throughout the online course, students learn safe, efficient operation of industrial heating equipment, how to reduce energy consumption and ways to improve the bottom line. The curriculum includes the basics of heat transfer, fuels and combustion, energy use, furnace design, refractories, automatic control, and atmospheres as applied to industrial process heating.

Mexican steel producer TA 2000 S.A. de C.V. (TYASA) signed a contract with Primetals Technologies for a new twin-ladle furnace. The equipment will be installed at TYASA’s Ixtaczoquitlán site in the southeastern part of Mexico. TYASA started producing coils at the Ixtaczoquitlán a few years ago. This resulted in a need for additional capacity at the secondary metallurgy stage in the melt shop. Adding a new twin-ladle furnace will resolve this issue and increase performance. Installation of the 100-ton furnace will be executed with just minor impact on production. The integration of the twin-ladle furnace into the existing dedusting and water-treatment systems will be possible with no more than small modifications. Start-up is scheduled for July 2023.

In pursuing a shared ambition to reduce carbon emissions from iron and steel production, JSW Steel signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with SMS group to explore multiple solutions and research-and-development projects to reduce carbon emissions in its ironmaking and steelmaking operations in India. Germany’s SMS group will support JSW Steel in improving its operational efficiency and environmental performance. The MOU also sets out an agenda for discussions about future areas of cooperation. Through this partnership, both businesses will be able to jointly look for ways of lowering carbon emissions and manufacturing green steel.

Zekelman Industries is nearing completion of its facility constructed to produce a range of galvanized tubular products for the electrical, fence, solar tracker and solar foundation markets. Located just west of Chicago in Rochelle, Ill., it includes four in-line galvanizing tube mills with capacity to exceed 300,000 tons annually and an automated hot-dip galvanizing line capable of production in excess of 100,000 tons annually. The facility will support Wheatland Tube, Western Tube and Picoma customers. Full operations are set to commence in January of 2023. Zekelman Industries plans to hire 150 employees by December 2022.

ThermTech partnered with Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems to significantly increase its normalizing, annealing, stress relieving, tempering and neutral hardening capacity through the acquisition of three new furnaces. These furnaces are now fully operational at ThermTech’s Waukesha, Wis., facility and represent over $1 million in investments. A direct-fired box austenitizing furnace has dual load zones of 60 inches wide x 60 inches long x 60 inches high, an AMS2750 Class 5-certified operating range of 1400-2200°F and a load capacity of 15,000 pounds. As a complement to this furnace, the company acquired a large batch tempering furnace that has an AMS2750 Class 2-compliant working zone of 140 inches long x 60 inches deep x 60 inches high with a certified operating range of 300-1350°F. ThermTech also increased the throughput of its batch integral-quench furnace line with an additional tempering furnace, which is AMS2750 Class 2-compliant from 300-1350°F.  

SECO/WARWICK received an order from Aalberts Surface Technologies for two vacuum furnaces to be delivered to the group’s TEY plant in Spain. One of the furnaces ordered is the largest from SECO/WARWICK’s portfolio: a horizontal retort furnace for high-efficiency tempering with vacuum purging. The retort furnace will increase the processing capacity of Aalberts’ hardening plant for tempering processes. The other furnace ordered, a Vector with a useful working space of 23.5 x 23.5 x 35.5 inches (600 x 600 x 900 mm), will increase the efficiency of the hardening plant.