OREANDA-NEWS. Metinvest Group will invest over USD 92 mln in the upgrading of the fourth blast furnace at “AZOVSTAL IRON & STEEL WORKS”.

Thanks to capital overhaul of the second grade using sophisticated technologies the company intends to increase BF performance by quarter - up to 1.1 mln. t of iron per year in case of man-induced impact reduction. Environmental protec-tion equipment will be fully reconstructed to improve ecology.

Stringent requirements of the European environmental standards will be followed up in the BF mod-ernization project. Treatment facilities of skip pit, bell-less top and BFG cleaning are intended to be modernized.

More cardinally modernization will be focused on cast house aspiration systems. Bag filter with replacement of air pipes, valves and exhausters will be mounted instead of the existing electrostatic precipitator. After new system commissioning efficiency of flue gas purification from dust, including fine dust, will increase up to 99%. The guaranteed emissions level will be below 50 mg\m3 as required by Ukrainian legislation.

A number of technological innovations will be introduced at BF-4. Hearth and bottom will be made of graphite and microporous carbon blocks with ceramic cup. Such design will allow reducing heat losses and coke consumption and interrepair times will be increased from current 10-12 years till 15-20 years.

State-of-the-art castable refractory will be applied as iron and slag runners lining for maximum separation of melting products. Runners will be covered that allows eliminating dust and harmful sub-stances emissions. Cast houses will be expanded and double-level. Instrumentation and automation, as well as process control system will be upgraded using contemporary solutions.

BF capital overhaul will last 120 days. It will be commenced in June 2014. Currently, tenders and contractor selection are in progress. Contracts are being concluded with the equipment suppliers.

Enver Tskitishvili, Director General of PJSC “AZOVSTAL IRON & STEEL WORKS”, noted: “Crisis in the metallurgy is not a ground to freeze development projects by Metinvest. Assets are being mod-ernized. Next year upgrading of the fourth blast furnace will be the key challenge for PJSC “AZOVSTAL IRON & STEEL WORKS”. We will increase furnace performance without additional impact on Mariupol ecology. In fact, new cleaning systems will allow total utilization of flue gases.