Technology

From scrap and iron to certified bar.

The Kribi complex is designed around the electric route: an arc furnace melts scrap and reduced iron, a ladle furnace sets the grade, a continuous caster makes billets, and a mill rolls them into reinforcing bar and wire rod.

Step inside the mill Compare the routes

Charging≈ 30 °C
Arc-furnace melting≈ 1,600 °C
Ladle furnace≈ 1,600 °C
Continuous casting≈ 1,000 °C
Reheating≈ 1,100 °C
Rolling≈ 1,050 °C
Quench and self-temper≈ 600 °C
Cooling and testing≈ 30 °C

IllustrativeSchematic section of Phase 1, not a design drawing. Typical temperatures.

Move the pointer along the line, or use the arrow keys.Slide the line sideways, or tap a stage.

Planned

Charging

Sorted scrap and reduced iron go into the furnace by bucket; in Phase 1 the reduced iron is imported.

Steel

≈ 30 °C

typical temperature

Illustrative

Rhythm

≈ 60min

from one heat to the next

Assumption

Electricity

0kWh/t

the charge is cold: about 1.21 t of scrap and reduced iron per tonne of product

Derived

Electricity so far

0 of 963

kWh per tonne of product

Derived

Planned

Arc-furnace melting

Graphite electrodes strike arcs that melt the charge; oxygen and lime refine the bath and form the slag.

Steel

≈ 1,600 °C

typical temperature

Illustrative

Rhythm

≈ 44min

of arc in a heat of 60 minutes

Assumption

Electricity

450kWh/t

of liquid steel, in a reference range of 347 to 500

Assumption

Electricity so far

479 of 963

kWh per tonne of product

Derived

Planned

Ladle furnace

The metal is reheated, deoxidised and trimmed to the target grade; every heat is analysed by spectrometer.

Steel

≈ 1,600 °C

typical temperature

Illustrative

Rhythm

≈ 20min

of heating per heat, to set the grade

Assumption

Electricity

37.5kWh/t

of liquid steel

Assumption

Electricity so far

519 of 963

kWh per tonne of product

Derived

Planned

Continuous casting

Steel solidifies in water-cooled moulds and leaves as square billets, cut to length.

Steel

≈ 1,000 °C

typical temperature

Illustrative

Rhythm

≈ 40t/h

of liquid steel, cast without a stop

Derived

Electricity

32.5kWh/t

of liquid steel: caster, oxygen, water, compressed air

Derived

Electricity so far

553 of 963

kWh per tonne of product

Derived

Planned

Reheating

Billets are brought to rolling temperature by induction, making the most of the heat left from casting.

Steel

≈ 1,100 °C

typical temperature

Illustrative

Rhythm

≈ 37.5t/h

of product: the pace of the mill

Derived

Electricity

300kWh/t

of product, by induction (150 to 400, depending on how hot the billets arrive)

Assumption

Electricity so far

853 of 963

kWh per tonne of product

Derived

Planned

Rolling

A train of stands reduces the section and lengthens the bar; the last grooves print the ribs.

Steel

≈ 1,050 °C

typical temperature

Illustrative

Rhythm

≈ 37.5t/h

of product, 8,000 hours a year

Derived

Electricity

110kWh/t

of product, in a reference range of 70 to 140

Sourced

Electricity so far

963 of 963

kWh per tonne of product

Derived

Planned

Quench and self-temper

A water quench hardens the skin of the bar, which the heat of the core then tempers: strength and ductility.

Steel

≈ 600 °C

typical temperature

Illustrative

Rhythm

≈ 37.5t/h

of product: the bar crosses the water without stopping

Derived

Electricity

0kWh/t

water does the work; its pumps are counted with the auxiliaries

Derived

Electricity so far

963 of 963

kWh per tonne of product

Derived

Planned

Cooling and testing

On the cooling bed, then cut to 12 m, tied in tagged bundles and tested in the laboratory.

Steel

≈ 30 °C

typical temperature

Illustrative

Rhythm

12m

long: bars cut, bundled and tagged with their heat number

Assumption

Electricity

0kWh/t

the bar cools in air

Derived

Electricity so far

963 of 963

kWh per tonne of product

Derived

30.3%

Electric route share of world crude steel in 2025; 50% of capacity in development

Source

worldsteel, World Steel in Figures 2026; Global Energy Monitor, Pedal to the Metal 2026

worldsteel.org/data/world-steel-in-figures/world-steel-in-fi

450kWh/t

Arc-furnace electricity per tonne of liquid steel used in RC-1, within the 347 to 500 kWh/t reference range

Source

IFC, EHS Guidelines for Integrated Steel Mills (2007): EAF 1,250 to 1,800 MJ/t (347 to 500 kWh/t); 450 kWh/t is the RC-1 planning assumption within that range

~0.58t CO₂/t

Indicative intensity including upstream imported DRI: the closest basis to route averages. Scopes 1 and 2 alone: about 0.32 t in Phase 1 (0.33 t at full build-out)

Source

Cameroon Steel reference configuration RC-1: electricity per tonne (IFC ranges for the furnace and rolling; RC-1 assumptions for induction heating and auxiliaries) × Cameroon grid factor 226 gCO₂/kWh (Ember, 2024, when hydropower supplied about 72%; ARSEL reports about 90% for 2025: the 2024 factor is kept as the prudent value); direct emissions and upstream of imported DRI at 0.70 t CO₂ per tonne of DRI (gas-based shaft furnace) are RC-1 assumptions

~90%

Hydropower share of Cameroon’s electricity generation in 2025 according to ARSEL (about 72% in 2024 according to Ember, the year of the 226 gCO₂/kWh factor this site uses)

Source

ARSEL, Rapport d’activités 2025, 7 Sep 2026

arsel-cm.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Rapport-ARSEL-2025.p

Step by step

From ore to reinforcing bar, in ten steps.

Phase 1 starts at furnace charging. The first two steps, from ore to reduced iron, are the long-term option that would let the plant use Cameroonian ore.

Ore and pellets
Ore is concentrated, then agglomerated into iron-rich, low-silica pellets.
Direct reduction
Natural gas strips the oxygen from the pellets without melting them, giving reduced iron.
Charging
Sorted scrap and reduced iron go into the furnace by bucket; in Phase 1 the reduced iron is imported.
Arc-furnace melting
Graphite electrodes strike arcs that melt the charge; oxygen and lime refine the bath and form the slag.
Ladle furnace
The metal is reheated, deoxidised and trimmed to the target grade; every heat is analysed by spectrometer.
Continuous casting
Steel solidifies in water-cooled moulds and leaves as square billets, cut to length.
Reheating
Billets are brought to rolling temperature by induction, making the most of the heat left from casting.
Rolling
A train of stands reduces the section and lengthens the bar; the last grooves print the ribs.
Quench and self-temper
A water quench hardens the skin of the bar, which the heat of the core then tempers: strength and ductility.
Cooling and testing
On the cooling bed, then cut to 12 m, tied in tagged bundles and tested in the laboratory.

Typical process temperatures, for illustration; they vary with grade and plant.

The heart of the mill

From billet to bar, in six movements.

The sequence follows the mill, stand by stand: each card takes over from the last, as each stand takes the bar the previous one left it.

Visualisation

Reheat≈ 1,100 °C
DescaleHigh-pressure water
Rough≈ 1,050 °C
Finish and ribAlternating stands
QuenchQuench, then self-temper
Cool, cut, traceAmbient

1/6≈ 1,100 °C

Reheat

The billet leaves the reheating furnace at an even temperature. Charging billets still hot from the caster saves much of the reheating energy.

2/6High-pressure water

Descale

High-pressure water jets crack off the oxide layer formed on the surface. This mill scale is collected and recycled.

3/6≈ 1,050 °C

Rough

The first stands reduce the section hard. The bar lengthens and speeds up at every pass.

4/6Alternating stands

Finish and rib

Stands alternate between horizontal and vertical to keep the section round; engraved finishing rolls print the transverse and longitudinal ribs.

5/6Quench, then self-temper

Quench

A water box chills the skin of the bar; heat left in the core then tempers that layer. The result is a strong skin and a ductile core without costly alloying, which keeps the steel weldable.

6/6Ambient

Cool, cut, trace

The bar cools on the bed, is cut to length, bundled and tagged with its heat number, grade and standard. Samples go to the laboratory.

Typical temperatures, for illustration. Video sequence: visualisation.

Why the electric route

The right tool for a market of this size.

Three routes dominate world steelmaking. The blast furnace with an oxygen converter needs imported coke, plants of several million tonnes, and emits the most CO₂. Direct reduction followed by an electric furnace uses natural gas and very pure ore, and emits far less. The scrap-fed electric furnace emits least of all, but depends on scrap that Cameroon generates in limited quantities.

Cameroon Steel’s choice combines the last two: an electric furnace charged with scrap and, for about 30%, imported reduced iron, which guarantees the chemistry of the steel. On a hydro-dominated grid, indicative intensity would be about 0.58 t CO₂ per tonne including upstream imported reduced iron, the closest basis to route averages (Scopes 1 and 2 alone: about 0.32 t in Phase 1, 0.33 t at full build-out). When a direct-reduction-grade Cameroonian concentrate exists, the same furnace can take iron made from national ore.

151Mt

World direct-reduced iron output in 2025, 65% of it gas-based; sub-Saharan Africa makes almost none

Source

Midrex Technologies, 2025 World Direct Reduction Statistics, Sep 2026

www.midrex.com/world-dri-statistics/world-dri-production-rea

2.0m³/t

Closed-loop make-up water target, against a sector average consumption of 2.3 m³/t (2024)

Source

RC-1 objective (range 1.5 to 3.0 m³/t); worldsteel sustainability indicators 2025 for the sector average

Route comparison. CO₂: worldsteel world averages (2024 data), tonnes per tonne of crude steel.
Route	Main inputs	CO₂, t/t	Typical size	For Kribi
Blast furnace and converter	Agglomerated ore, coking coal	2.34	Several Mt/yr	Unsuited: scale, imported coke, highest carbon exposure
Direct reduction and electric furnace	Direct-reduction-grade pellets, natural gas, electricity	1.47	Modules of 0.25 to 2.5 Mt/yr	Long-term option once ore and gas are secured
Scrap and electric furnace	Scrap, electricity	0.69	Mini-mills of 0.3 to 0.5 Mt/yr	In part: domestic scrap is limited
RC-1, Phase 1 (Kribi)	Scrap, 30% imported reduced iron, grid electricity	≈ 0.58 *	0.3 Mt/yr	Chosen first step

SourcedDerived worldsteel, Sustainability Indicators 2025; Midrex, 2025 World Direct Reduction Statistics (module sizes); mini-mills: company announcements 2022 to 2026. * Derived (RC-1), including the upstream footprint of imported reduced iron: the closest basis to route averages. Scopes 1 and 2 alone: about 0.32 in Phase 1 (0.33 at full build-out), not comparable.

Phased configuration

What each phase installs.

RC-1 reference configuration, indicative: front-end engineering will set the equipment, its sizes and its suppliers.

Installation	Phase 1	Phase 2	Phase 3	Option
Melting	One electric arc furnace and one ladle furnace	Second melt line	Melt-shop expansion	Direct-reduction module
Casting	Billet caster	Second caster	With the expansion	—
Reheating	Induction, hot charging	Gas-fired walking-beam furnace	Gas-fired walking-beam furnace	—
Rolling	Bar mill, high-speed wire-rod mill	Light and medium sections mill	Beam and heavy sections mill	—
Products	Rebar Ø8–32, wire rod Ø5.5–12	Angles, channels, flats	H- and I-beams, heavy sections	Reduced iron for the furnace
Cumulative capacity	0.3 Mt/yr	0.5 Mt/yr	1 Mt/yr	—
Average power	≈ 36 MW	≈ 53 MW	≈ 94 MW	—

PlannedIndicative Cameroon Steel, RC-1 reference configuration, 10 October 2026; power derived from IFC ranges for the furnace and rolling and RC-1 assumptions for induction heating and auxiliaries. No investment amount is published at this stage.

3D plant explorer

The path of steel, from scrap to bar

An electric long-products steelworks, like the one Cameroon Steel is planning at Kribi, moves material along a single line: scrap, melting, casting, rolling, dispatch. Pick a zone, or follow the steel from the light of the furnace to the grey of the finished bar.

Illustrative visualisation, not a design drawing

The production line

Everything starts here: scrap and other metallics arrive by truck, are inspected, weighed and graded. A silo holds direct-reduced iron (DRI/HBI), which supplements scrap when a steel grade calls for cleaner metal. The furnace charge is prepared here, basket by basket.
The electric arc furnace melts the charge with an arc struck between graphite electrodes and the metal; no ore or coke is needed. Liquid steel is tapped into a ladle and refined in the ladle furnace, which fine-tunes its temperature and chemistry before casting. This is the hottest stage of the plant and its largest user of electricity.
The ladle empties into a tundish that feeds water-cooled moulds, where the steel solidifies first at the surface and then through the core, as a continuous strand of square section. The strand is cut into billets, the semi-finished product that feeds the rolling mill. Casting continuously removes the ingot step and saves both energy and metal.
Billets are stored, inspected and marked so that every bar can be traced back to its heat. Before rolling, they pass through an induction heater that quickly brings them to rolling temperature, without a flame. Charging billets that are still hot from the caster substantially reduces the energy required.
A train of rolling stands stretches the glowing billet down to the required diameter and imprints the ribs of reinforcing bar. One line makes straight bars, the other wire rod in coils. Controlled cooling sets the mechanical properties, and on the cooling bed the steel turns from red to steel grey.
Bars are bundled, tagged and weighed, each lot with its inspection certificate. Trucks load under cover, cross the weighbridge and leave through the dispatch gate, bound for building sites and for the port. Keeping this traffic apart from scrap deliveries makes circulation smoother and safer.

Utilities and surroundings

Slag is the mineral layer that floats on molten steel and captures its impurities. Once cooled, it is crushed, and the metal it still contains is recovered and returned to the furnace. The resulting aggregate can be used in road works, subject to the required testing and approvals.
Furnaces, caster and rolling mill are cooled by water circulating in closed loops. Settling basins capture mill scale and particles, cooling towers reject the heat, and the water returns to the shops. Recirculating the water keeps withdrawals from local resources to what is strictly needed.
A plant of this kind connects to the high-voltage grid. The substation steps the voltage down for the arc furnace, the ladle furnace, the rolling mill and general services, and shields the public grid from the sudden load swings of the arc. Where this electricity comes from largely determines the carbon footprint of the steel.
The laboratory analyses every heat and tests bars in tension and bending, the basis of their certification. The training centre prepares operators, mechanics and electricians for steel trades, next to the offices and the health and safety services. The cluster sits by the main entrance, away from truck traffic.
A planted belt separates the plant from its neighbours. It softens noise and dust, screens the installations and carries stormwater drainage. Its species and width are for the environmental and social impact assessment to set, not for this illustration.

Power quality

An arc furnace is the most demanding load a grid can carry.

The current of an arc furnace changes from one half-cycle to the next as scrap collapses into the arcs. The result is flicker (voltage fluctuations visible on nearby lighting), harmonics, phase imbalance and a heavy draw of reactive power. The average demand looks modest; it is the peak that sizes the connection.

We commit to treating these effects at source rather than exporting them to the grid: a dedicated 225 kV connection, a static VAR compensator or STATCOM with harmonic filters sized during front-end engineering, connection studies that meet the grid code and the transmission operator’s requirements, and melt scheduling coordinated with the system operator.

~36MW

Average power demand in Phase 1 (≈ 289 GWh/yr)

Source

Cameroon Steel, reference configuration RC-1 (edition 10 Oct 2026): capacities × electricity per tonne; arc furnace 450 kWh/t (IFC range 347 to 500) and rolling 110 kWh/t (IFC range 70 to 140), induction heating 300 kWh/t and auxiliaries 70 kWh/t (RC-1 assumptions); planning estimate, not a design figure

~55MVA

Maximum apparent power to request at the connection in Phase 1 (range 45 to 65 MVA): this, not the average, sizes the connection. The 15-minute average peak is about 47 MW

Source

RC-1 planning assumption: furnace and ladle-furnace transformers, mills, induction heating and auxiliaries with diversity

100 → 400MW

Kribi 225 kV line and substation capacity: 100 MW initially, 330 to 400 MW later

Source

Port Autonome de Kribi, communiqués of 6 Aug 2025 and 19 Aug 2026 (site visit by the Minister of Water and Energy)

Average power demand by phase and Kribi substation capacity, MW

Phase 1’s average fits within the substation’s initial 100 MW; at full capacity the announced later capacity and a connection sized for peaks will be needed.

DerivedAssumptionSourced Averages: RC-1 (derived); maximum demand: RC-1 assumption (45 to 65 MVA); substation: Port Autonome de Kribi, 6 August 2025 and 19 August 2026.

Quality control

Every heat analysed, every batch tested, every bundle traced.

These are design objectives, not results: they will be verified by third parties before the first sales.

Visualisation: a tensile test on a steel bar

The chemistry of every heat
Spectrometer analysis at the ladle furnace and on the cast steel; carbon equivalent controlled to guarantee weldability.
Tests on every batch
Tensile (yield, tensile strength, Rm/Re ratio, elongation Agt), bend and rebend, at the frequency the standard requires.
Geometry and mass
Rib height and spacing and mass per metre measured on the line and in the laboratory.
Traceability
Each bundle carries its heat number, grade, standard and diameter; inspection certificate type 3.1 (EN 10204).
Independent eyes
Objectives: an ISO 9001 quality system, an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory, product certification by a third-party body.

Go further

Go deeper into the process.

White papers

Visualisation Covers: computer-generated images that do not depict an existing facility.

Labs tools

From scrap and iron to certified bar.

Ore and pellets

Direct reduction

Charging

Arc-furnace melting

Ladle furnace

Continuous casting

Reheating

Rolling

Quench and self-temper

Cooling and testing

Reheat

Descale

Rough

Finish and rib

Quench

Cool, cut, trace

The production line

Utilities and surroundings

The chemistry of every heat

Tests on every batch

Geometry and mass

Traceability

Independent eyes