Russia-based iron ore and hot briquetted iron producer Metalloinvest has announced the successful completion of major scheduled repairs at two of its hot briquetted iron (HBI) production facilities, HBI-1 and HBI-2, at its Lebedinsky plant, finishing all work five days ahead of schedule. The upgrades strengthen the plant’s operational efficiency and reliability ahead of a third overhaul planned for October.
The overhaul of the HBI-1 complex lasted 17 days and included critical repairs to the shaft furnace, ladle belt, and cooling tower, which is responsible for gas purification and cooling. Plant specialists introduced several in-house engineering improvements, reinforcing the frame and reaction beam of the vibratory cooling conveyor drive to enhance durability and reduce downtime.
At the HBI-2 unit, the repair program lasted 18 days and focused on replacing and upgrading multiple key systems. These included bucket conveyor and loading pipes, frequency converters on briquette presses, gearbox and seal gas compressor, conveyor belts along loading and unloading lines. For the first time since commissioning, loading pipes on briquette presses were replaced. The cooling conveyors also received new chains, rollers, and pallets.
A major overhaul of the HBI-3 production complex is scheduled for October, which will complete the full maintenance cycle of all Metalloinvest HBI facilities. Once finished, the upgrades across all three complexes are expected to improve productivity, safety, and energy efficiency across the entire plant.