Severstal, one of the largest steel producers in Russia, is about to launch one of its electric-arc furnaces (EAF), following a long-term maintenance process. In addition, the company has scheduled the modernization of its blast furnace (BF) No. 5, with the work assigned to Italian plantmaker Danieli.
According to sources, Severstal is going to restart its EAF in May this year after around one year of modernization works. The facility combines the features of the EAF and a small-volume converter and is capable of working without liquid pig iron as well as with increased pig iron usage. In particular, the share of pig iron can be increased to 85 percent, the company stated. Severstal is equipped with two EAF’s capable of 1.1 million mt production per year. One of the furnaces will be used as the supporting one during maintenance or when the company will require additional slab volumes to be produced. The modernized EAF will allow Severstal to consume the excessive pig iron volumes from its BF No. 3, which is currently increasing operation after the modernization, SteelOrbis has learned.
In December 2020, Severstal successfully rebuilt its BF No. 3. The works in question included the installation of a “Hoogovens” design cooling and lining system. The same modernization is scheduled for the company’s BF No. 5 with the commissioning expected in 2023. According to sources, the works will start not earlier than 2022.