MMK completed the modernization of the blast furnace

Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works completed the technical re-equipment of blast furnace No. 2. The company plans to commission the upgraded unit in August. MMK started a large-scale modernization of the second blast furnace in February 2020. The general contractor for technical re-equipment is Prokatmontazh OJSC. The total investment in the reconstruction of the furnace amounted to more than 5 billion rubles.

During the reconstruction of blast furnace No. 2, MMK dismantled and replaced the metal components of the existing furnace and modernized its cooling system. As a result, the cooling system shifted from a cooling system based on cast iron coolers with vertical plates to a system that used modern horizontal copper coolers in the barrel, lance area and in the lower part of the furnace shaft. The cooling system was designed and supplied by Paul Wurth. The introduction of a new reliable cooling system and lining of the lance belt, barrel and shell of the furnace in blast furnace No. 2 will allow the Company to avoid the need to carry out overhaul of the 2nd category in favor of shorter repairs.

An important part of the reconstruction of blast furnace No. 2 of MMK was the reconstruction of the foundry yard using a system of closed gutters, as well as the aspiration of the foundry yard and charging the charge. The equipment of the foundry for the production of pig iron and slag was replaced with modern hydraulic mining machines manufactured by Dneprohydromash. Previously, similar equipment was installed in four blast furnaces of MMK. The main chutes are now convectively cooled and enlarged to improve the separation of pig iron and slag. The gutter gasket will be made of refractory concrete. The gutters are equipped with shelters with an aspiration device manufactured by Dneprohydromash, with a capacity of 850 thousand cubic meters per hour.

By maintaining the integrity of the cooling system, implementing the above measures throughout the life of the furnace reduces the risk of performance degradation due to unplanned outages.

The redesign of the boiler house will allow work to be performed on the blast furnace with an increase in the proportion of pellets, and the capacity will increase to 3,900 tons per day, up from 2,477 tons per day in 2019. Natural gas consumption will be 132 cubic meters per tonne of pig iron, while the total consumption of coke per unit of production will be 421 kg per tonne of pig iron against 435.4 kg per tonne in 2019.

Blast furnace No. 2 was commissioned at MMK in June 1932, a few months after the commissioning of blast furnace No. 1. It was named "Komsomolskaya Pravda" in memory of the labor feat of hundreds of Komsomol members who