Paul Wurth Contracted EVRAZ NTMK for Blast Furnace Rebuild

Blast furnace specialist Paul Wurth, part of SMS group, a Metal-Expo regular exhibitor, has won a contract to equip a rebuilt blast furnace at a Russian steel plant.

Paul Wurth said in an announcement that it will install one of its Bell Less Top charging systems and other equipment on the No. 6 furnace at EVRAZ’s Nizhnij Tagil facility. The order also includes a complete top gas cleaning plant, copper staves and the hearth refractory lining, among other things.

By October 2020, EVRAZ will complete a technical upgrade of No. 6 Blast Furnace of their integrated steel works NTMK located at Nizhnij Tagil in the Urals, Russia. The modernization will concern all systems of the existing installation and enables increasing the nominal capacity by about 40% compared to the previous campaign design. With a hearth diameter of 9.8 meters and an inner volume of 2,200 cubic meters, the new furnace will be able to produce 2.5 million tons of hot metal per year.

Paul Wurth will supply the following systems to equip the furnace: a parallel-hopper type Bell Less Top (BLT®) charging system, a complete top gas cleaning plant, copper staves for the high heat-loaded areas of bosh, belly and lower stack, the complete hearth refractory lining with ceramic cup as well as, on behalf of TMT, fully hydraulic clay guns, tap hole drill and main runner cover manipulators, all for two tapholes, as well as tilting runner drive units. The technical solutions and the equipment basically repeat the technology installed at NTMK’s new No. 7 Blast Furnace which went into operation in February 2018. The BLT and the tapping machinery are going to replace competing systems, thus contributing to consolidating the leading market position of these Paul Wurth and TMT technologies.

Taking a look back into history, in 2003, it was exactly for NTMK’s that-time brand-new BF6 when Paul Wurth was awarded the first ever order from Russia for technology not related to top charging: an annular gap scrubber, copper staves and cardan-type tuyere stocks. These systems have been in operation to the full satisfaction of the customer during a full blast furnace campaign lasting for almost 14 years until EVRAZ stopped the furnace in last spring. Finally, also BF5 has been operating with a similar Paul Wurth/TMT equipment package from 2006 on up till now. With the recent orders received for the new equipment for BF6 at Nizhnij Tagil, Paul Wurth can claim the position of a truly Leading Partner for EVRAZ in technology and plant for ironmaking.