The 6th edition of ABM WEEK will be held from June 7 to 9, but participants can also attend several activities on the 6th (Monday) and 10th (Friday) June. This edition’s Pre-Event includes three courses and a workshop, addressing technologies, innovation, and environment in the mining and steel industries.

The course The role of calcium in secondary steel refining will address theoretical and practical aspects of steel treatment with calcium-based alloys in the production of commercial steel grades, a process that improves the final product quality but is still considered a complex route. 

This course will be held from 8 am to 5 pm at the ABM headquarters and given by Breno Totti Maia (Lumar Metals), Edgar Castro (Affival), Wagner Viana Bielefeld (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul), and consultants José Flávio Viana, José Roberto Bolota, and Bruno Rodrigues Henriques.

This is a four-segment course, the first of which deals with secondary refining, Part 2 with calcium treatment, and Part 3 with the post-calcium treatment stage. Part 4 will present cases from the literature for discussion with the participants.

Another course planned by the ABM WEEK organization is Python applied to Industry 4.0, also held from 8 am to 5 pm at the ABM headquarters. The use of the Python programming language is proposed to solve problems related to emerging technologies in the industry. 

Professors Matheus de Oliveira Mendonça and Pedro Henrique Feres Campos will give a detailed presentation of the Python language and its potential applications, followed by a discussion on its possible application to an actual problem in the steel industry. Participants must have a basic knowledge of programming logic and a Google account.

The course Implementation of intensive cooling systems in rolling mills will provide information about the application of highly turbulent cooling technologies to steel production. The program begins with an introduction to intensive cooling and will address its application to hot and cold rolling processes. 

CRM Group’s Activity Manager, Hugo Uijtdebroeks, will lead this activity, which will be entirely in English without simultaneous translation. It will take place from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm at the ABM headquarters.

Workshop at IPT (Technological Research Institute)

The Pre-Event agenda also includes a workshop on Circular Economy in the Mining Industry –Business model-based solutions. Held at the IPT (Technological Research Institute) from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm, its objective is to discuss how the mineral industry can minimize its impacts on the environment and mitigate the issue of mining tailings through the circular economy.

The program is composed of three panels on the main bottlenecks, requirements and opportunities, and alternatives for the use of massive-volume tailings.

The first panel will discuss the context of circular economy, including a debate on business models and innovation in companies. Sandra Lúcia de Moraes (IPT), Beatriz Luz (Exchange 4Change Brasil), Jefferson de Oliveira Gomes (CNI/ANPEI), and André Vilhena (Vale) will participate.

The second one will focus on new businesses using tailings, including presentation of cases by Caio Moreira Van Deursen and Rodrigo Alberto Moreira Gomes (Nexa Resources), Mariana G. M. de Freitas (Mosaic Fertilizantes), and Roberto Galery, in charge of the Geotechnology and Geomaterials Laboratory at the Federal University of Minas Gerais.
The last part of the workshop will deal with the use of tailings in agriculture, including biosolids, remineralizers, and technosols. Eder Martins (Embrapa) and Fabio Perlatti (National Mining Agency) will participate. No registration fee will be charged.
 

Technical visit during the 4th EMECR

On June 10, with the ABM WEEK already over, the proposed program is a technical visit to Tecnored’s Technological Research & Development Center, in Pindamonhangaba, state of São Paulo, departing from the Pro Magno Centro de Eventos at 6:30 am and returning at 3:00 pm.

This R&D Center houses the Tecnored furnace, which allows the production of pig iron without using metallurgical coal.The process is based on the self-reduction principle. While the iron ore agglomerates in a blast furnace are reduced by CO gas, iron ore in the Tecnored furnace is reduced inside self-reducing briquettes composed of fine iron oxide particles and a carbon-based reducer.

Developed by engineer Marcos Contrucci, this technology eliminates stages of the conventional process, which results in lower carbon emissions and allows the use of biomass. Contrucci will be one of the honorees of the 4th EMECR – International Conference on Energy and Material Efficiency and CO2 Reduction in the Steel Industry. The technical visit is part of the official EMECR program.

The 6th ABM WEEK is hosted by Gerdau and is sponsored by the following companies:: Açokorte, Alkegen, Amepa GmbH, Aperam, Atomat Services, AutoForm, BM Group/Polytec, BRC, CBMM, Clariant, Danieli, Dassault Systèmes, DME Engenharia, Eirich, Enacom, Engineering, Evonik, Fosbel, GSI, Harsco, Hatch/CISDI, Ibar, Imerys, IMS Messsysteme GmbH, Isra Vision Parsytec, John Cockerill Industry, Kuttner, Metso Outotec, Nalco Water/Ecolab, Nouryon, Primetals Technologies, PSI Metals, Reframax , RHI Magnesita, Saint-Gobain, SMS Group Paul Wurth/ Vetta, Spraying Systems, Suez, SunCoke, Tecnosulfur, Ternium, Timken, TopSolid, TRB, Unimetal, Usiminas, Vale, Vamtec, Vesuvius, Villares Metals, Wallonia.be (ADI – Industrial Services, John Cockerill Hydrogen, BorderSystem, Datanet International, Synthetis e PEPITe), White Martins, e Yellow Solution. Special support: CNPq. Institutional support: Abal, Abendi, Abifa, AIST, AIST Mena, Alacero, CBCA, Ibram, Icz, Instituto Aço Brasil, CIMM, Ind4.0.