Russian steelmaker Severstal has announced that it has shut down its blast furnace No. 5 at its Cherepovets plant within the scope of major repair works and revamp.
According to the statement, having a pig iron production capacity of 4.2 million mt per year, the blast furnace No. 5 is not only the largest unit of the plant, but also in the Russian steel sector.
During the works, in which Severstal will invest RUB 37 billion ($400 million), the energy facilities and aspiration system among others will be replaced. The company will also install a new dust collector and new conveyor equipment for supplying raw materials. In addition, Severstal will be able to reduce coke consumption and carbon emissions during pig iron production with the help of revamped natural gas supply and furnace cooling systems.
"The main task of the first-class overhaul is to ensure high reliability and productivity of a strategically important facility. The blast furnace overhaul will allow us to move closer to meeting our federal Clean Air Project targets, as well as our sustainability goals, including the goal of reducing carbon emissions from steel production by 10 percent of 2020 levels by 2030. It is also important to emphasize that we have developed a set of measures that will allow us to avoid a decrease in the volume of finished products, despite the shutdown of the unit. A stock of steel slabs and billets, as well as a transition to minimum pig iron consumption in steel production, will help minimize production losses during the shutdown of blast furnace No. 5. Thus, shipment volumes of commercial products and the schedule for fulfilling customer orders will be maintained," Alexander Shevelev, CEO of Severstal, commented.
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