Russia-based leading global iron ore and hot briquetted iron (HBI) producer Metalloinvest has announced that a new oxygen facility with a cryogenic air-separation unit (ASU No. 3) has entered the pilot production phase at Oskol Metallurgical Plant (OEMK), a subsidiary of Metalloinvest.
Metalloinvest and Germany's Linde Engineering Dresden GmbH signed a contract in 2012 to construct the facility. The Russian company's total investment in the project amounts to RUB 3 billion. The new facility has a capacity of up to 20,000 Am3/h of oxygen, 20,000 m3/h of nitrogen and 1,000 kg/h or argon. The commissioning of the new unit will enable increased gas output at the plant: 75 percent more oxygen, 24 percent more nitrogen and the beginning of on-site argon production. This will meet OEMK's current and future air-separation product needs for its products.