OREANDA-NEWS. Metalloinvest is implementing a programme for growing merchant pig iron production at Ural Steel, which includes modernisation of the pig iron smelting facilities at the blast furnace plant. The programme will allow Ural Steel to increase its merchant pig iron production by 40% to 1.9 million tonnes a year.

In particular, in order to improve ladle turnaround and boost smelting plant productivity, a new type of equipment was purchased: a cleaver machine to remove accretions from pig iron ladles. The new machine can clear ladle openings within 15-20 minutes, which is up to 16 times faster than the three to four hours it took the hydraulic manipulator.

To improve maintenance processes at the liquid pig iron casting machines 1 and 2, new overhead cranes and a frequency converter were installed, and 11 ladles with trolleys were purchased. Transportation was optimised with the installation of new switches near the casting machines.

Introducing the latest equipment to the express laboratory of the blast furnace plant further contributed to the shortening of the pig iron production time, as the number of samples analysed increased, and the time it took to receive the results of the pig iron quality tests fell to less than 30 minutes.

In preparation for the increased production volumes, the fourth magnetic crane was constructed at the cold pig iron storage facility number 2.

Merchant pig iron is one of the most popular metal products on the market at the moment. Increasing pig iron production capacities would allow Ural Steel to satisfy the customers' growing needs for this material.