BF and BOF Upgrade at Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant of Mechel

Mechel, a Metal-Expo regular exhibitor, has reported launching 2 upgraded key facilities at Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant blast furnace #4 and converter #1. Investment totaled RUB 4.5 billion. Both facilities were practically rebuilt as part of the technical upgrade. It included full dismantling of the blast furnace and all equipment, assembly of a new jacket and cone, replacement of the furnace brickwork and cooling system, installment of a new equipment for loading iron ore and coke, as well as a modern automated operating system now all of the furnace’s parameters are subject to computer control and are displayed on a monitor. Improving environment friendliness was a particular concern during the revamp, with a new three-step gas cleaning system installed.

It is fully leak-proof and prevents combustion gases from escaping into the atmosphere. Blast-furnace gas that is formed during pig iron smelting is then used as fuel. The blast furnace #4’s capacity is 1.1 million tonnes of pig iron a year. Investment in its upgrade totaled RUB 1.5 billion. The company now launched the 2nd stage of its upgrade, construction of a suction system for the casthouse, which will completely prevent leaks of any solids from the blast furnace #4 into the atmosphere.

Works at the converter #1, incluluding replacing the converter’s vessel shell, cooling stack and flux handling route for smelting weight increase and steelmaking efficiency. The upgrade also tackled one of its key tasks, providing the converter with a modern 3-step gas cleaning system, which enables the plant to minimize emissions of waste produced in the steelmaking process. The converter’s annual capacity is 1.3 million tonnes. Investment in its upgrade totaled 3 billion rubles, with 1.5 billion of those funding ecological measures that will decrease the converter’s waste emissions by more than 30%.

After the converter #1’s upgrade and once the 2nd stage of the blast furnace #4’s technical upgrade is complete, Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant’s total waste emissions will go down by 116 tonnes a year.