wiredInUSA November 2017

Production from scrap

French sea power

Continuus Properzi has announced that two new plants, capable of recovering 100 percent scrap with a minimum copper content of 96 percent, will begin production of fire refined high conductivity (FRHC) rod in early 2018. An 80 ton-per-day refining furnace, capable of an annual production of 24,000 tons, is being installed at TLMZ LLC in the region of Tolyatti, Russia, to feed one of the new Properzi CCR lines. The second refining furnace, making use of a recent and patented design with the charging door on the top and an automated conveyor belt for loading the scrap into the furnace, will begin operation at Gil Rod Shomal Co in Rasht, Iran. Expected production is around 30,000 tons per year of 8mm FRHC copper rod using a Properzi system that already works with cathodes to make electrolytic tough pitch (ETP) rod at 12.5 tons per hour. Copper rod from 100 percent scrap can fulfill the large majority of total tonnage required by the market as it can be drawn down to 0.25mmwire, or even smaller. FRHC rod was recently standardized by ASTM B4- 15a as C11025.

Floatgen, the first offshore floating wind turbine to be installed off the French coast, is currently being prepared for deployment off Croisic at the École Centrale de Nantes SEM-REV demonstration site. The 2MW Vestas turbine, mounted on Ideol’s Damping Pool floating base, will be towed to its location at the site for connection to the electrical grid. Floatgen’s inauguration on 13 th October was attended by dignitaries including Sébastien Lecornu, secretary of state to the minister of state, the minister for ecological and sustainable transition; Bruno Retailleau, president of the Pays de la Loire region; David Samzun, the mayor of Saint-Nazaire and president of the CARENE (Saint-Nazaire agglomeration community); and Francis Bertolotti, chairman of the Nantes Saint- Nazaire Grand Port maritime supervisory board. The floating turbine will be deployed for an initial period of two years, and the electricity produced will be sent directly to the electrical grid. Floatgen is currently being prepared for deployment. Photograph courtesy of Matthieu Blandin

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wiredInUSA - November 2017