Flat-rolled carbon steel processor Lee Steel Corp. plans to break ground on a greenfield facility in Romulus, Mich., complete with an environmentally friendly pickling line, as demand for its products continues to grow, president Zachary Taylor told AMM.

"We are moving out of our Detroit facility," Taylor said. "We have been there since the early 1970s and have outgrown it. So we decided to take advantage of the new (pickling) technology."

According to Taylor, Novi, Mich.-based Lee Steel is days away from receiving an environmental permit that will allow it to break ground on the new plant in Romulus, where it will install the new pickline line and transfer its two 72-inch-wide slitting lines from Detroit.

He expects the new 250,000-square-foot, rail-serviced Romulus plant to be built by Jan. 1. The slitters will immediately be relocated there, while the pickle line will be delivered next May.

Lee Steel already owns the 32-acre parcel and purchased the line, he said.

The pickling line, purchased from Red Bud Industries Inc., will feature Eco Pickled Surface (EPS) technology, a patented alternative process to traditional acid pickling. It removes mill scale from hot rolled black strip steel just as effectively as acid pickling but uses water and steel grit instead of chemicals, he said.

"A conventional pickling line uses hot acid to break scale off the steel, and then you have to dispose of the acid - a constant environmental nightmare," Taylor said. With EPS technology, "the only byproducts are the spent grit, which comes out in cakes and gets totally recycled, and steam

"The surface coming off of (the EPS line) looks like matte cold-rolled. It's a beautiful product. We will be one of the first to have (EPS) in our area," Taylor added. "It's the future."

Applications for EPS pickled coils include automotive - 60-65% of Lee Steel's Detroit-area shipments are to the auto industry - but serve other sectors as well.

The company employs about 50 people currently and will add 25 more once the new Romulus facility is fully operating, Taylor said.

The new Romulus plant is only part of Lee Steel's recent growth. The company recently invested $6 million at its Grand Rapids, Mich., plant, adding a Red Bud multiblanking line with stretcher leveler and a Machine Concepts precision corrective leveler, both of which started up four months ago, he said.

All of the expansion projects are being financed through Lee Steel's existing banking relationships. The company has annual sales of about $120 million, Taylor said.