Outotec to supply process machines to the third stage of the copper electrolysis plant
Verkhnyaya Pyshma (Sverdlovsk Region)
Uralelectromed JSC (an enterprise of the UMMC metallurgical complex) signed a contract with the Finnish company Outotec for the supply of technological equipment for the third stage of the copper electrolysis workshop, the construction of which is planned to be completed in 2022 ... Finnish partners will supply to Verkhnyaya Pyshma an anode preparation machine, an anode scrap washing and packing machine, an electrolyte fine filter and two reagent preparation and distribution units (reagents - gelatin and thiourea, added to the electrolyte to obtain high quality copper cathodes).
“The designs of the main units of technological machines will be similar to those installed in the first stage of the electrolysis workshop. This will allow us to achieve equipment unification, reduce operating and maintenance costs, ”said Mark Shuklin, Deputy Head of the Technical Department of Uralelectromed JSC.
Differences will affect automated control systems, which will be designed taking into account current trends and operating experience. The system for washing the anode scrap will also change. On the new machine, the anode residues will not be flushed transversely, but by a tunnel method, which will simplify the design and shorten the operation time.
Outotec is currently designing technological machines. The approval of layout solutions for the placement of equipment is scheduled for September this year, after which OJSC Uralmekhanobr (a research and design institute as part of UMMC) will start designing building structures for assembling units. The delivery of technological equipment is scheduled for the 1st quarter of 2021. The installation is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021.
Note that the third stage will also operate using baseless technology using stainless steel cathodes. The new facility will house a circulation system consisting of 224 electrolysis baths with associated technological equipment (tanks, pumps, heat exchangers).
Recall that in February 2012, Uralelectromed JSC commissioned the first stage of a modern workshop with a capacity of 160 thousand tons of cathode copper per year. In May 2018, the second stage of similar capacity was launched. The new production facility will allow the enterprise to produce a total of up to 400 thousand tons of copper cathodes per year.