The Russian steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) has announced that within three years it intends to lower its specific steel production energy intensity by nine percent to 5.75 Gcal/mt, aiming to reach the best performance standards of similar EU steel companies, to decrease its production costs, and to increase its self-sufficiency in energy supplies.
The decrease in specific energy intensity between 2010 and 2012 will be accomplished by increasing in-house energy generation with the full use of secondary fuel gases, by the introduction of advanced equipment with low specific energy consumption in basic oxygen furnace (BOF) and rolling operations, by the use of secondary heat from sinter and blast furnace (BF) operations, as well as by the decrease in the loss of energy resources during their transportation.
In 2005, NLMK commissioned the information and measuring system Energo, which allowed it to automatically balance the production and consumption of utilities. This year the automated accounting system was introduced at NLMK's coke operations.
For the last ten years specific energy intensity at NLMK's main production site in Lipetsk declined by almost 13 percent from 7.2 Gcal/mt to 6.3 Gcalm/t. This energy efficiency was possible due to the implementation of the company's technical upgrade program, which included the introduction of energy-saving technologies, the construction of production lines with low energy consumption, and the expansion of in-house energy generation facilities. Currently, the energy self-sufficiency of NLMK's Lipetsk site stands at 44 percent.