Stoilensky, part of NLMK Group, has produced its three-millionth ton of pellets at its pelletizing plant, one of the largest in Europe.
Launched in November 2016, the pelletizing plant was recognized as the 2016 Event of the Year in the Russian steel industry by experts at the Metal-Expo’2016 international exhibition. The plant has a design capacity of 6 million tons of pellets per year. The pelletizer equipment allows for a further 20% expansion of this capacity to reach 7.2 million tons of pellets per year.
The concept behind the design of the pelletizing plant is that of an environmentally friendly, waste-free facility, in which waste charge material and captured dust are fully recycled. A high efficiency dedusting system captures up to 98% of emissions.
Sergey Napolskikh, Stoilensky General Director, said: “It’s an important milestone for Stoilensky, its three-millionth ton of pellets. Thanks to our motivated and highly qualified team, the plant was able to reach design capacity in just 6 months and has since gone from strength to strength. We supply over 500,000 tons of 64.8% Fe pellets (in line with the project parameters) to NLMK Lipetsk every month. The induration machine is running at 789 tons/hour, as expected. Achieving all the set goals will enable us to ensure NLMK Group’s control over raw material costs.”
This high-tech facility took two years to build. The active phase of the project, which is the largest in its region, began in 2014 and required a total investment of around $680 million (34 billion rubles).
The best available technology and equipment was selected during the design phase. The largest induration furnace in Europe ensures the plant’s high performance at 780 tons of pellets produced per hour.
The launch of the pelletizer that is of strategic importance for NLMK Group enabled the company to consolidate its position as one of the most efficient steelmakers in the world by supplying its blast furnaces with low cost captive raw materials. (NLMK/Ukrainian metal)