Steelmaker to install $200 million gas supply system at its scrap-fed mill in Huger, South Carolina.
Nucor Corp., based in Charlotte, North Carolina, says it will invest $200 million over the next five years in what it calls mill modernization projects at its scrap-fed electric arc furnace Nucor Steel Berkeley (EAF) steel mill in Huger, South Carolina.
A portion of the capital investment will include the construction of a new air separation unit (ASU) to supply industrial gases for the mill's steelmaking operations, Nucor says.
When complete, the ASU will be operated by UIG LLC, a Nucor subsidiary that focuses on industrial gas supply. Nucor Steel Berkeley currently is supplied with industrial gases under a long-term supply agreement. The anticipated project will allow Nucor, through UIG, to produce and supply all the gases needed for the mill from the new Nucor-owned facility “now and into the future,” the steel producer says.
"Nucor acquired UIG in 2019 so that we would have the capability to build and operate our own air separation units, giving us an alternative to long-term service contracts with outside providers,” says Mike Lee, vice president at Nucor Steel Berkeley. “We are proud of our company’s long-time partnership with the State of South Carolina, and we are excited to continue to invest in the state where Nucor first began operating nearly 60 years ago.”
The State of South Carolina provided the ASU project with a grant issued by its Department of Commerce Coordinating Council for Economic Development, as well as a grant from the state’s utility provider, Santee Cooper. Nucor and Berkeley County, South Carolina, also entered into a fee-in-lieu of tax agreement.
Nucor Steel Berkeley, which has about 1,000 employees, produces up to 3.5 million tons of flat-rolled sheet and structural steel per year used by companies in the agriculture, automotive and appliance, construction, energy, oil and gas, heavy equipment, infrastructure and transportation sectors.
Auction firm says "late-model rolling stock and waste hauling equipment" on offer at Ohio and Pennsylvania sites.
Tiger Group, a California-based auctioneer, is overseeing the Sept. 8 liquidation of equipment that had been used by Buckeye Water Services, a former fracking services and waste hauling company with locations in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The auctioneer says the sale features tractor trucks, dump trucks, vacuum trucks and trailers, as well as construction equipment and more than 100 roll-off boxes for commercial waste hauling.
Tiger Group says, “The liquidation is noteworthy for its well-maintained, late-model rolling stock. Construction equipment and more than 100 20- and 30-yard roll-off boxes for waste removal are also available.”
Bidding for the online auction opens Thursday, Sept. 1, at 10:30 a.m. and closes Thursday, Sept. 8, at 10:30 a.m.
“In addition to specialized rolling stock and construction equipment, former Buckeye assets of more general utility, such as pickups, winch and service trucks, SUVs, a Caterpillar skid steer and a lowboy trailer by Entyre, are also available,” says Chad Farrell, managing director at Tiger.
The Ohio location in New Concord is near Columbus while the Hickory, Pennsylvania, site is near Pittsburgh. Buckeye Water Services had provided specialized services to the oil and gas industry for more than 50 years and had what Tiger calls “substantial waste hauling operations.”
Trucks and trucking equipment on offer include some from Mack, Peterbilt and Kenworth with model years ranging from 2018 to 2022. Several pickup trucks and a GMC service truck also are being auctioned, as well as roll-off trailers made by Michigan-based Benlee.
According to Tiger, “The assets can be inspected by appointment on Wednesday, Sept. 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Hickory and New Concord locations.”
Photos of the equipment can be found here, and inquiries can be sent to auctions@tigergroup.com or made by phone at (805) 497-4999.
ABC data summary shows significant open positions in U.S. construction sector.
The construction industry had 375,000 job openings in July, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis of data compiled by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics for its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).
“Economywide job openings bounced back in July and remain more than 60 percent above prepandemic levels,” ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu says. “According to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, the share of contractors who expect to increase their staffing levels over the next half year remains elevated but has declined in recent months. As long as the supply of labor remains inadequate to meet the demand for workers, the industry will continue to experience upward wage pressures.”
JOLTS defines a job opening as any unfilled position for which an employer is actively recruiting. Industry job openings increased by 22,000 this July and are up 38,000 from the same time last year. ABC also says construction workers quit their jobs at a faster rate than they were laid off or discharged for the 17th consecutive month in July.
Pointing to another concern, Basu says, “Though we may have collectively experienced peak inflation, it is poised to remain unusually elevated for months to come. Many factors will keep prices high, including energy crises in Europe and China as well as a dearth of available skilled workers. Today’s JOLTS release is receiving considerable attention because many hoped that job openings would decrease for the second consecutive month in July. That did not come to pass.”
Arizona-based company offering steel offroad tires for heavy equipment.
Phoenix-based company Global Air Cylinder Wheels (GACW) says it has raised more than $5 million to help bring to market its Air Suspension Wheel technology and product line. GACW says its steel off-the-road (OTR) tires for heavy equipment have “the potential to completely revolutionize the tire industry by featuring technology that offers a cleaner, cost-effective, stronger and safer alternative” to rubber tires.
Encouraged by the results of a previous $3.3 million campaign, GACW has relaunched its StartEngine campaign to raise additional funds. The company calls its Air Suspension Wheel (ASW) “a patented airless mechanical design constructed primarily of steel with in-wheel suspension.”
The ASW combines an inner steel hub with an outer steel drum that is connected by eight or 12 nitrogen-filled air cylinders and four to six oil-filled dampers that provide suspension and damping. On the outer drum, individually bolt-on steel or polyurethane treads are fitted. The treads can be replaced without removing the wheel, replacing what GACW calls “a time-consuming process that takes up to eight hours with OTR rubber tires.”
Overall, GACW says it has raised more than $5 million from investors so far and the company’s valuation has increased from $27 million to $40 million since May 2022.
“The ASW is so much more than just another wheel,” says Dr. Zoltan Kemeny, president and CEO of GACW. “As opposed to the traditional pneumatic tire providing suspension outside the rim, the ASW suspension is located inside the wheel. Essentially, our wheels become part of the vehicle’s overall suspension system. Our wheels are an effective and viable option to rubber tires. They are cost-efficient, safer, and are better for the environment [for] those industries that rely heavily on tires.”
The ASW technology has been granted eight patents with 52 more pending, GACW says, adding that it has received multiple initial purchase orders and expects to be “fully commercialized within two years,” with initial adoption by mining fleets.
The company foresees GACW orders to soon be received for mining truck and mine site loader wheels. While starting with the largest OTR vehicles, the company says ASW technology could be adopted by smaller scale OTR equipment users or even buses, bicycles and wheelchairs.
GAWC says it is launching operational tests with a drum crusher for three months starting in September at an open pit mine location in Chile, and with a CAT 994 front-end loader for three months starting in October at an open pit mine location in Australia.
“At this point, our plan is to expand our distribution network and really start taking the OTR industry by storm,” Kemeny says. “GACW’s focus is catering to the demand from miners seeking viable tire solutions, and it is a substantial market for us. However, the ASW technology can be applied to all verticals where traditional rubber tires are used, and this market is immense. Our wheels are gaining the traction we need to thrust us into the main market.”
Kemeny says the global OTR tire market is estimated to reach $30 billion in 2022. The overall global tire market is anticipated to reach $322 billion by 2022 .
In terms of ASW benefits compared with rubber tires, GACW cites problems with “overheating tires or dangerous explosions that can be associated with conventional tires.”
Kemeny adds, “Many industries operate under status quo, resistant to change. Companies that are reluctant to innovate will not survive. Those companies that do adopt new technologies and embrace innovation will prosper. Tire use and its negative environmental impact will change inevitably. Governments are starting to mandate change on tire disposal [recycling], and this is already accelerating our technology’s adaptation into the market.”
Rubber tires account for the mining industry’s largest expense after payroll, claims GACW. The company cites “rapid wear and tear caused by impacts, rock cuts, and extreme and uneven loading” as meaning the lifespan of an expensive mining tire is relatively short.
“By contrast, the ASW is durable and designed to have the same lifespan as the vehicle itself, (approximately 10 to 15 years), meaning fewer replacement costs and less time spent swapping out damaged tires,” GACW says.
“One 13,000-pound OTR mining tire can cost over $75,000 and only lasts six to nine months; that is a large expense for a product that does not last,” Kemeny says.
Two excavators from Doosan are now deployed at a C&D recycling facility in Spain.
The Mediterranean Institute of Ecological Studies (IMEE), which operates a recyclable materials processing plant near Valencia, Spain, has added a new Doosan DX380LC-7 crawler excavator to its machinery fleet, according to that equipment producer.
Doosan says IMEE is authorized by a local community organization known as Generalitat Valenciana to provide a discarded construction materials treatment service in the region.
The facilities at IMEE include a transfer station, a recycling plant, a further treatment plant and an inert landfill. At the transfer station, or separation warehouse, recyclables such as plastics, cardboard, metal and wood are removed.
The remaining inert waste is then passed through to a triage cabin, from where soil and aggregates are placed on a conveyor belt toward screening and processing machinery that converts it into marketable materials for use in the construction and roadbuilding.
“We are growing between 20 to 30 percent every year, so we needed a new excavator to work in our facilities and Doosan proved to be the best for the size of excavator to meet our needs, with a lower fuel consumption and a quality design,” IMEE Managing Director Nacho Llácer says.
He continues, “We need to load, unload, excavate and transport stockpiles to the crusher to recycle, collect the waste that arrives at our facilities (with an average of 140 trucks per day and about 2,000 metric tons of material per day) and carry out various jobs at the plant.”
Feedback from employees has been good, Llácer says, adding, "Our operators are very happy with the new excavator. They appreciate the ease of operation and the additional comfort that comes from a new machine. The visibility, the cab and the safety are outstanding elements, as well as the robustness.”
Doosan says the 44-ton DX380LC-7 model offers greater productivity, high performance and lower fuel consumption because of its D-Ecopower technology. Also included are a 360-degree camera system and what Doosan calls “large side mirrors, powerful work lights, and non-slip steps, platforms and safety rails on the upper structure.”
IMEE also owns a Doosan DX170W-5 wheeled excavator, which replaced a machine from another brand several years ago.
Llácer says of the older machine, “The DX170W-5 is ideal for its size and power. We equip it with a clamp to sort and separate various materials into groups. In addition to handling work in the waste area, the Doosan DX170W-5 excavator literally rips the plastic out of the big bags, separating the content from the container, which allows us to quickly and conveniently divide and select materials and soil or rubble. It also transports and stacks the containers we use.”
The combination of machines and techniques is effective for IMEE, Llácer says. “The different types of components used in construction generate waste that must be classified for later recovery, identifying what can be recovered for reuse. Thanks to the sorting process, we manage to recover 95 percent of the waste products for subsequent recycling. The lack of adequate centers like ours for construction waste creates a serious problem for our environment and is currently a huge setback.”
Regarding working with Doosan and its Valencia-based distributor Ximo Magallo & CIA, Llácer adds, “The qualities of machines today are intrinsic, such as new technologies, rear view cameras and ergonomic seats. However, I personally highly value the role of a good salesperson who not only sells a machine, but also advises you and helps you with decision-making when selecting the best products for your projects, including post sales, which is also extremely important. There are sellers who are simple order takers, who leave a catalogue on the table, but are not even experts in their product. Selling is not offering; selling is talking, listening to the needs and offering solutions to the client. A person who only distributes flyers will hardly know how to solve a problem when you have it. Therefore, it is vital for me that the manufacturers train their teams properly and prioritize the training centers.”
He says of Ximo Magallo & CIA and Doosan training business unit Centrocar, “Their team is really efficient in this sense, and they also offer a very good technical service and are fast. They solve all my problems, which strengthens my confidence in them.”