Zaporizhstal has commenced SKD assembly of blast furnace No. 3 right on the BF reconstruction site. All metal structures to be assembled on the new foundation weigh about 5,000 tons.
To date, the plant has installed one of the six furnace shell blocks previously put together on a preparation site. Specialists have built a new solid foundation after dismantling over 13,000 tons of outdated metal structures. The furnace will stand on 128 piles, each one 24 m long. The foundation was cemented with over 400 cubic meters of high-quality concrete.
After the foundation works, Zaporizhstal has embarked on the most labor-intensive phase, the SKD assembly of blast furnace No. 3. Units weighing up to 300 tons each are brought in modular carts to the site and installed on the foundation by a Mammoet heavy-duty crane with a capacity of 1,600 tons. More than 600 contractors work daily on the site.
As part of the reconstruction, Zaporizhstal has assembled basic metal structures of the gas cleaning system, including the scrubber, Venturi tubes and drift eliminators, and is completing the installation of an irrigation system. In total, the metal structures of the new gas cleaning system weigh 700 tons.
“We’ve been half-way through the reconstruction project of BF No. 3 and have already begun to assemble a new blast furnace, which is more environmentally friendly, energy-efficient and modern,” said Zaporizhstal CEO Rostislav Shurma.
Zaporizhstal embarked on the large-scale environmental reconstruction of BF No. 3 on November 1, 2016.
It is the first time in the history of Ukraine that the plant has used the best global practices to implement a large-scale infrastructure project. Zaporizhstal developed an intellectual model of the blast furnace that helps boost the effectiveness and reduce the time of reconstruction. The plant has invested around UAH 1.5 billion in the environmental upgrade of BF No.3. (Scmholding/Ukrainian metal)