Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) has commissioned sinter machine No. 1, which has produced the first sinter for the blast furnace shop, at the construction site of sinter plant No. 5.
The launch was attended by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of MMK Victor Rashnikov and General Director Pavel Shilyaev.
“The construction of sinter plant No. 5 with the capacity of 5.5 million tons will allow us to supply high-quality sinter to our blast furnace production facilities and reduce the cost of pig iron,” Victor Rashnikov said, adding that the best available, energy-saving and environmentally friendly technologies were used in the construction of production processes at the new sinter plant.
“One of our strategic goals is the transition to modern environmentally friendly processes. All the projects that the company has been implementing recently are focused on achieving this goal. I am confident that the environmental measures which are planned for implementation at MMK, including the sinter plant, will allow us to achieve our goals and make Magnitogorsk a truly clean city,” said the Chairman Board of Directors of MMK.
Pavel Shilyaev said that MMK’s new sinter plant included 19 environmental features – in particular, electrostatic precipitators, aspiration and sinter gas recirculation systems, a gypsum dehydration system and a storm water diversion system. The implementation of this project will significantly reduce the plant’s impact on the environment. Emissions of dust into the atmosphere will be reduced by 2.1 thousand tons per year and sulfur dioxide emissions will be reduced by 3.5 thousand tons per year. In addition, the discharge of suspended solids into the water circulation supply system will be reduced by 600 tons per year and emissions of benzopyrene will be reduced by almost a quarter.
According to MMK representatives, the project will also allow the disposal of sludge from sulfur recovery plants with the production of commercial gypsum and eliminate the deposit of 13.75 thousand tons of waste per year into sludge storage No. 2. With the launch of the new sinter plant, it will be possible to both decommission and preserve the obsolete sinter plant No. 4, improving the working conditions of sinter production employees.
MMK management visited the main control room of sinter plant No. 5. In sinter plant No. 5, the automatic mode (this is the principal difference between the new sinter plant and the old ones) will control the entire technological process of sinter production, starting from the sinter loading, right through to the cooling of the sinter. At the main post there will only be three employees: two senior sinter specialists and a senior batcher. Thanks to the video surveillance system at all the important sites (in the dosing buildings, sinter loading area, screening and on the sinter machines themselves) from their workstation employees will be able to control the heating of the furnace, the moisture of the dosed charge, the loading of charge onto the pallets of the sinter machine and the loading of sinter into hoppers.
Currently, the main technological equipment is being installed at sinter machine No. 2. Its launch is scheduled for July. At full capacity, sinter plant No. 5 will be able to produce 5.5 million tons of stabilized cooled sinter per year, which will provide the MMK blast furnace plant with high-quality raw materials, produced using modern energy-saving and environmentally friendly technologies. (MMK/Ukrainian metal)