Metalloinvest, a leading manufacturer and supplier of iron ore products and hot briquetted iron in the world market, one of the regional producers of high-quality steel, is investing 460 million rubles in the reconstruction of heating furnace No. 2 in the second section rolling shop of the Oskol Electrometallurgical Plant named after A.A. Ugarov.
Thanks to the implementation of the project, the formation of a number of defects in the production of products will be eliminated, which will reduce costs and increase the volume of shipment of high-quality long products (Special Bar Quality, SBQ) to consumers.
"Reconstruction of heating furnace No. 2 is part of the SBQ customer focus and quality improvement program," said Alexey Kushnarev, OEMK Managing Director. “Successful technical re-equipment of the main production units of the plant within the framework of this program will allow us to increase the share of high-quality rolled steel in the total volume of OEMK products by 300 thousand tons and strengthen the Company's position in the market.”
The Italian company Tenova is the supplier of the main technological equipment and services.
Commissioning of the equipment is scheduled for December 2022.
As part of the reconstruction of the heating furnace, the design of the walking hearth on the last 12 meters of the furnace will be changed using water-cooled spark ignition system for simmering zones 4 and 5, combustion control equipment for all zones, including the first level of automation.
These solutions will prevent the formation of scale cakes on the hearth of the furnace, along which the blanks move during the heating process. Damage from scale on the lower edges of the blanks led to defects in finished rolled products and rejection of products.
For reference:A comprehensive program to improve customer focus and quality SBQ is being implemented at OEMK im. A. A. Ugarov from March 2017 and is calculated until 2025. The main task is to maintain Metalloinvest's leading positions in the special quality rolled steel market in Russia and to ensure stable supplies of SBQ to export consumers.
