Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plans to have completed the construction of pulverized coal injection plant (PCI) by the end of this year and phase out natural gas for ironmaking. Pre-assembly of PCI steel structures is currently in progress.
Metinvest Engineering, LLC acts as the General Contractor and the General Designer in this project. The construction involves specialist subcontractors. Erection works are carried out by Metinvest PromService. All steel structures required for construction are fabricated from Metinvest Group’s products.
On July 16, erection specialists completed one of the most important phases of construction – a taper part of the pulverized coal storage silo was installed. Erection was carried out by a crane with a lifting capacity of 400 tons at the height of 32 meters. All installed structural elements weighed 152 tons and were 15 meters long.
PCI plant was designed according to the European environmental and labor safety standards. A closed loop of fuel circulation and PCI plant sealing capacity underpinned the project technical solution. A high capacity bag house supplied by Küttner will provide additional protection against dust emission to the atmosphere.
Pulverized coal will be produced at Mariupol Ilyich Iron and Steel Works and transported to Azovstal in sealed railway tanks with inert gas. Pulverized coal will be injected into the blast furnace along with nitrogen to avoid any spontaneous combustion of coal.
Enver Tsikishvili, general director of Azovstal: “Metinvest Group continues to implement large-scale investment projects at Azovstal. The PCI plant construction is the most effective way to make products more cost attractive and increase the competitive edge of the works. We use the best available practices and standards in this project. To that end, we involved the world-leading manufacturer of metallurgical equipment from Germany. Our partners from Küttner guarantee that PCI plant will operate in the most efficient manner and be environmentally friendly”.
Metinvest Group invested more than $17 million into the construction of PCI plant at Azovstal. In future, the PCI plant will help not only stop using natural gas (saving 30 million cubic meters per year per blast furnace), but also reduce coke consumption. The project implementation started in March 2016. (SCM Holding/Ukrainian metal)