NLMK’s new 3.4 m tpa blast furnace enters hot testing phase

NLMK is proud to announce the launch of hot testing at its new 3.4 million tpa Blast Furnace No. 7 (BF-7). Today NLMK completed the burden and fuel charging operations. Air heated to 800 0C is blown into the furnace to prepare proper temperature conditions for iron smelting; later, blast temperature will further be increased to 1250 0C. The first ton of pig iron will be produced in September.

NLMK’s BF-7 is the first blast furnace to be built in Russia in the last 25 years, and the key project under Company’s Technical Upgrade Program till 2012. NLMK has invested RUR43 billion (incl. VAT) into the project including construction of the new blast furnace, a recovery co-generation plant and the furnace infrastructure. Following BF-7 commissioning, Lipetsk plant pig iron capacity will grow by 30%, marking the most important single unit increase since the Soviet times. This will enable the Company to grow its BOF steel capacity at Lipetsk by 36%, to 12.4 million tones.

The BF construction design relies on innovative solutions from Russian and foreign engineers, making it one of the best examples of efficient international cooperation in recent years. A number of technical solutions are innovative not only for Russia, but also globally. NLMK’s new 150 MW recovery co-generation plant, constructed together with BF-7, started receiving the by-product blast furnace gases and generated first electric energy.

The new facility fully meets the requirements of the best available technologies. At the same time, benchmarked against its closest international peers, BF-7 will display better labor efficiency, minimum fuel consumption, and better product quality. The project uses all the most advanced environmental technologies available: highly efficient de-dusting systems, closed water cycle, maximum recycling of recoverable resources for power generation. All slag from blast furnace processes will be reprocessed into crushed stone used in construction.

For reference:
The BF-7 team will count 268 employees: 72 skilled workers have been transferred from other blast furnace production facilities, and 196 new ones have been hired. A total of 1580 new workplaces will be created.

The following companies were involved in the BF-7 project: Stroitelno-montazhniy Trest NLMK LLC (Construction and Assembly Unit of NLMK), the general contractor; Lipetsky Gipromez OAO, the chief designer, and PAUL WURTH, the leading metallurgical equipment manufacturer, responsible for the design, delivery of main process equipment, assembly supervision, commissioning, and performance tests.