Russia-based leading global iron ore and hot briquetted iron (HBI) producer Metalloinvest has announced that the launch of coke oven battery No. 6 (CB-6) has taken place at its integrated iron and steel plant Ural Steel. The installation of CB-6 is part of Metalloinvest's investment program to modernize production at Ural Steel.
The introduction of the production unit will enable the plant to produce approximately 690,000 mt of high-quality coke annually. This will meet the needs of its blast furnace to increase pig iron production and will eliminate the need to purchase coke from third-party producers. The steam by-product of the production process of up to 50 mt per hour will be used for the plant's production needs.
As part of the company's investment program and to increase pig iron production capacity, blast furnace No. 4 is undergoing reconstruction, which will be completed within one year. Major modernization and reconstruction works are also planned for blast furnace No. 3. The company is considering upgrading the production capacity of its first bloom caster to 500,000 mt in the electric arc furnace workshop and is planning to renovate the second caster and increase its production capacity to 1 million mt of steel. In addition, Metalloinvest plans to build a fifth pig casting plant and modernize continuous casting machine No. 1 for production of rail products. Key activities at the rolling mill include the modernization of roller treatment furnace No. 1 and the heat-treatment machine.