News

• The project enables Naveena Steel to enter growing market for regional infrastructure projects 
• Production capacity is 270,000 metric tons of rebars per year 
• Smaller diameters are rolled in multi-slit mode to increase productivity 
• Direct rolling of hot billets reduces fuel cost  

In November 2021, POMINI Long Rolling Mills received by Naveena Steel Mills (Private) Limited the Final Acceptance Certificate for the bar rolling mill installed in the new mini mill in Port Qasim, Karachi.  

The new mill enables Naveena Steel to the enter the growing market for regional infrastructure projects. The mini mill  will produce around 270,000 metric tons of reinforcing steel (rebars) per annum with diameters ranging from 8 to 40 millimeters. Diameters up to 12 millimeters will be rolled in multi-slit mode to improve productivity. As a special feature of the new plant, billets will be directly charged in hot condition to the rolling mill, which will provide significant energy savings. An inline induction furnace placed before the first rolling stand will serve to equalize the billet temperature, providing the seamless integration of the caster and rolling processes. 

Naveena Steel was founded in 2018. It is part of the family-owned Naveena Group. Established in 1971, it is active in the textile, wind-power and real-estate areas. Current production sites are in Karachi, Lahore, Pakistan and Dubai, UAE. In the context of the implementation of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor project in Pakistan, infrastructure development is expected to increase steel demand. For this reason, Naveena Steel is planning to set up facilities for melting, casting and rolling with a total capacity of 270,000 metric tons per year. The mini mill will be located in proximity to Port Qasim, Karachi, resulting in cost effective import of basic raw materials like scrap. 

Low and medium carbon steel billets, with square cross-sections of 130 x 130 millimeters and length of 9 meters, are hot charged to the rolling mill which produces rebars with diameters ranging from 8 to 40 millimeters. In order to increase the productivity of the plant, bars with diameters between 10 and 12 millimeters are rolled in two-slit mode, and those with diameter 8 millimeters in three-slit mode. The rolling line consists of a furnace discharging area, a 6-stand roughing mill in VHVHHV arrangement, a 6-stand intermediate train in HVHVHV arrangement, and a 4-stand finishing train in HHHH arrangement. All the rolling stands are Red Ring Series 5. The maximum rolling rate is 45 tons per hour, the maximum finishing rolling speed amounts to 12 meters per second.  

An inline PQS quenching system gives the bars a tempered martensitic case and a ferritic-pearlitic core, enabling Naveena Steel to obtain the YTS UTS A% values required by applicable standards (like DIN, ASTM, and Indian standards). The downstream hot dividing shear is equipped with an optimization system to maximize the utilization of the cooling bed and guarantee the pre-set number of commercial- length bar layers per bundle. The cooling bed is 54 meters long and 8 meters wide, with the possibility to extend it in future to a total length of 66 meters. A cold static dividing shear, handles the final cutting of the rolled bars. This is followed by automatic bundling, binding, weighing and dispatching of bundles. The scope of supply also includes fluid systems and operational parts, such as stand-by Red Ring stands, rolling rolls and guides.   

The rolling mill contract was originally awarded to Primetals Technologies Italy, the preceding company of POMINI Long Rolling Mills, in consortium with Primetals Technologies China Ltd. who supplied the electrical and automation part. The billet caster was supplied by Concast (India) Ltd., a Primetals Technologies group company. The original contract press release is available here.   

Red Ring is a registered trademark of POMINI Long Rolling Mills in some countries.  

The inline PQS quenching system supplied by POMINI Long Rolling Mills gives bars a tempered martensitic case and a ferritic-pearlitic core.