OREANDA-NEWS.  EVRAZ ZSMK has launched a pulverised coal injection unit for two of its blast furnaces.  The unit's productive capacity amounts to 160 tons of pulverised coal fuel per hour, or about 1.3 million tons annually. Investment for this project has exceeded 7 billion Rubles.

“This change-over to PCI technology is in alignment with EVRAZ's strategy to reduce costs and to improve production performance. EVRAZ NTMK – the first EVRAZ plant to adopt this technology - has already appreciated the cost advantage of PCI, so we expect that the application of this technology at EVRAZ ZSMK will also be a success", commented Alexey Ivanov, EVRAZ's Vice President,  Head of the Steel Division.

Pulverised coal injection ensures substantial cost savings on natural gas consumed for hot iron production, and results in the reduction of coke consumption by 15-20%.  At the same time blast furnace productivity improves approximately by 5%.  In addition the new technology is good for the environment as it reduces emissions of greenhouse gasses.

EVRAZ NTMK was the first plant in Russia to have launched a PCI unit, with construction and assembly completed in Nizhny Tagil in 2013.  The unit was launched at full capacity in April this year following the completion of performance tests, and the total project investment amount is approximately 6.2 billion Rubles.

Construction of a PCI unit at EVRAZ ZSMK started in 2011, and was followed by the installation and commissioning of equipment in spring 2014.  Importantly, the lessons learned at EVRAZ NTMK allowed the Siberian engineers at EVRAZ ZSMK to choose the best-performing and most cost-effective mode of operation for the new equipment.