The Russian steel producer Ashinskiy Metallurgical Works (Ashinskiy) has completely shut down the last of its three open hearth furnaces, thus completing the liquidation of its open hearth steel production, which had commenced in 1919.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, the liquidation of open hearth production with a total annual capacity of 750,000-800,000 mt follows the commissioning on July 30 this year of Ashinskiy's new 120-ton electric arc furnace (EAF-120). The switch from open hearth to electro-smelting steel production will allow Ashinskiy to save about $7 per each metric ton of melted steel, and to reduce the time of a single melting process from the current four (open hearth) hours to 50 minutes in the future.
Following the shutdowns, the open hearth furnaces will be dismantled, while the resulting freed-up space will be used by the rolling shop which is currently under reconstruction.