In partnership with PV Magazine, ArcelorMittal held a webinar on sustainability and the CO2 footprint reduction of solar mounting structures.

More than 300 participants attended this February 2022 event - project developers, manufacturers and supply chain members, energy supplier and utilities, EPCs / Installers / O&Ms, and investors - and gave an overall high rating of 4.2/5 to the session.

Steel: the material of choice, including Magnelis®

Sustainability and the environmental impact of PV plants is fast climbing up the agenda. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly essential to consider the entire life cycle of PV when making decisions about materials and products. For PV plants, mounting systems have a key role to play in improving solar’s green credentials, from the perspective of both projects and companies.

Steel is the material of choice when it comes to mounting systems due to its relative low cost, robustness, infinite recyclability potential, and its long-term durability when combined with the latest generation of protective coatings against corrosion. Given these benefits, and combined with new production technologies, the use of steel will continue to grow in popularity when it comes to the engineering and manufacturing of mounting structures with a minimised environmental footprint.

Backing up these assertions, PV Magazine webinar partner, ArcelorMittal, a leading supplier of steel and a major actor in the solar industry, talked about its foray into the world of low CO2 steel and presented solutions to improve mounting structure design, durability, and environmental impact.

One of the company’s focusses is to promote the adoption of higher strength steel products which have the potential to reduce the weight of components by up to 30% via structural design optimisation to reduce costs and, simultaneously, lower CO2 emissions.

ArcelorMittal is also continuing to strengthen the corrosion resistance of its Magnelis® coated steel to increase the lifetime of solar investments. Complementing this, is the product’s design and manufacturing process, which uses fewer natural resources and generates less run-off in soil and water, among other benefits.

Creating a circular steel economy with XCarb®

Overall, ArcelorMittal’s goal is to create a circular steel economy. To achieve this, it has launched its XCarb® programme, and has already earmarked 10 billion USD to reduce its European CO2 emissions intensity by 35% by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2050. The programme encompasses circular carbon and carbon storage projects and clean power generation. It further aims to use hydrogen instead of natural gas in the direct reduction of iron ore (DRI).

Webinar content

View the replay of the webinar and discover steel solutions that not only offer environmental benefits and improved durability, but that can also make a significant step in achieving the sustainability goals required for your business and our planet.

Topics include:

•    The benefits of Magnelis® coated steel for increasing durability, including for foundations in soils or concrete
•    The benefits of high strength steel, in terms of weight, cost, and CO2 footprint reduction
•    Additional benefits in terms of preservation of natural resources and processability
•    Reducing steel’s CO2 footprint and boosting sustainability credentials via such steps as using recycled materials, electric furnaces, implementing circular carbon technologies, and using renewable electricity
•    XCarb® Green steel certificates and associated customer benefits

Text:
ArcelorMittal Europe Communications
Constructalia

Images:
PV Magazine
CWF

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The complexity of corrosion mechanisms has made it difficult to establish norms and standards for solar steel structures in soils. Thanks to its extensive research, including laboratory and outdoor testing over a number of years, ArcelorMittal has proven that Magnelis® has a much more stable behaviour and much better resistance against corrosion compared with traditional zinc coatings. The French Corrosion Institute confirmed in December 2021 that Magnelis® behaves 3.8 times better than galvanised steel.

Magnelis® behaviour in soils extensivley tested

Atmospheric corrosion of metals has been studied extensively for years. However, for structure parts in soil, corrosion mechanisms are more complex and corrosion categories cannot be defined in the same way. There are also fewer norms and standards regarding soil corrosivity, as well as less literature and data.

Nevertheless, engineers need to reduce this uncertainty and evaluate the lifetime of their solar structures, be they exposed to harsh atmospheric conditions or rammed in soil.

To achieve this, ArcelorMittal has developed a deep knowledge of the behaviour of Magnelis® in soils through accelerated laboratory and outdoor tests, internally and in collaboration with external research centres such as the French Corrosion Institute.

Different types of soils - clay, silt, and sandy - with different corrosivity levels (evaluated using the German standard DIN 50929-3: 2018) have been used for these tests.

The results, after several years, confirm the improved resistance of Magnelis® vs galvanised steel: the rate of corrosion of Magnelis® increases at a lower rate and with less dispersion of the results.

High performance in soil validated

In December 2021, The French Corrosion Institute assessed the performance of Magnelis® in soil and concluded that, in the tested soils range, the average corrosion resistance of Magnelis® in soils was improved by an average factor of 3.8 compared to continuous hot dip zinc coating. This factor has been calculated based on mass loss according to the ISO 8407 standard.

Depending on soil analysis, Magnelis® ZM430 (35 µm per side) or ZM620 (50 µm per side) are the minimal coatings to be used.

The durability of rammed poles can be guaranteed by ArcelorMittal on a project basis, provided that physical, chemical, and electrical soil analyses have been performed.

Text:
ArcelorMittal Europe - Flat Products

Images:
ArcelorMittal Europe - Flat Products

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Global statement of the relative corrosion performance of Magnelis® in soils

Innovation in grain silo design: SiloMasters, renowned maker of agricultural storage solutions, has introduced Magnelis®, a high protection coated steel, into its grain silo range.

Lower weight thanks to high strength steels

High-strength, high performance galvanised steel up to S450GD has always been a prerequisite for SiloMasters’ flat bottom and hopper silos. This steel, which has a high elastic limit, allows the manufacturer to reduce the weight of its silo products and accessories, which is advantageous for the logistics, assembly, and handling of components - and which also extends the life of the products. Magnelis® is the natural next innovative step in performance for SiloMasters.

Magnelis® extends the silos' lifetime...

Introducing the Magnelis® ZM430 coating into its silo range has provided SiloMasters with the additional advantage of outstanding corrosion resistance, a self-healing effect ensuring excellent edge protection, and up to 25-year guarantees. The corrosion resistance of Magnelis® is three times better than galvanised steel, measured using outdoor tests.

Miguel-Angel Barrio, SiloMasters’ CEO, comments: “Extending the lifetime of our silos, especially in harsh environments like ports, was our major objective. With Magnelis® ZM430 replacing HDG600 (Z600), together with the services of ArcelorMittal Distribución Iberia and strong technical support of ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products, we have a very powerful and convincing offer for our customers”.

...and ensures innovation and the highest quality

The Magnelis® coating layer is unique in that the molten bath includes zinc, 3.5% aluminium, and 3% magnesium. This compact layer acts as a barrier to corrosion, preventing the underlying steel from coming into contact with the ambient environment and giving the coating its excellent protection characteristics, even in deformed areas.

Quality is fundamental to SiloMasters’ vision to be the leading supplier of agricultural silos. Incorporating the Magnelis® metallic coating into its products will help ensure that this company can continue to innovate, offering the highest quality to its customers.

“ArcelorMittal’s accelerated tests and long exposure in real farm context have demonstrated the outstanding corrosion performance of Magnelis® for farms,” adds Miguel-Angel Barrio. “The product also meets the requirements of EC Regulation 1935/2004, so it is food safe,” he adds. “We are proud to make use of this innovative new material in our products.”

About Magnelis® for agriculture

Due to the hostile environment in which it operates, agricultural equipment and infrastructure is particularly subject to corrosion from several sources. These include moisture and harsh weather, farm animals, manure, fertilisers, and corrosive farming products of all kinds. This challenging environment is ideally suited to the application of the Magnelis® steel coating with its outstanding corrosion resistance. In addition, a high surface hardness makes Magnelis® scratch resistant, protecting it from animal scratches and the abrasive effect of grain on the coating.

About SiloMasters

SiloMasters manufactures and supplies storage solutions for the agricultural, biomass, malting, feed mills, and cereals trading and milling sectors.  Its grain storage systems combine the latest technical advances in 3D design, finite element analysis, and structural calculations.

The state-of-the-art SiloMasters factory in Borja, Zaragoza, Spain exports 95% of its products around the world, giving the engineers at SiloMasters a detailed understanding of the regulatory environments across five continents.

More information: silomasters.eu

Text:
ArcelorMittal Europe Communications
Constructalia

Images:
SiloMasters
ArcelorMittal
Didier Bridoux

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