Russian steelmaker NLMK Group has announced that it has completed guarantee testing of pulverized coal injection (PCI) technology at blast furnace (BF) No. 6 (with a capacity of 3.1 million mt per year), and at blast furnace No. 7 (with a capacity of 4.3 million mt per year), both located at the company’s blast furnace shop No. 2 at Lipetsk plant. Tests confirmed that the equipment has reached design capacity.
The PCI project was executed at blast furnace shop No.2 in two stages. Starting from May this year, the technology was tested at blast furnace No. 6, and then at blast furnace No. 7 starting from June. Previously, this resource-saving technology was introduced at blast furnace No. 5 (2.7 million mt per year) and blast furnace No. 4 (1.8 million mt per year).
According to NLMK, the PCI technology involves co-injecting natural gas and fine coal particles into the blast furnace, resulting in reduced coke consumption. Replacing expensive raw materials with cheaper alternatives, such as switching from coking coal to steam coal, reduces the cost of pig iron production by approximately five percent. PCI enables a decrease of up to 30 percent in the consumption of expensive coke, and a 50-80 percent reduction in the consumption of natural gas.