Metinvest Employees Awarded with the State Prize of Ukraine
06/14/2013 - A state prize was awarded for a collective study of Ukrainian coal-based energy saving technologies for steelmaking operations. The authors of the study included two Metinvest employees.
The two Metinvest employees were supply chain management director Vladimir Gusak and Yenakiieve Iron and Steel Works blast furnace shop manager Aleksandr Kuznetsov.
The other authors included:
· Yuriy Filatov, chairman of supervisory board of private JSC Donetskstal Metallurgical Plant
· Andrey Emchenko, candidate of sciences and deputy general director of private JSC Donetskstal Metallurgical Plant
· Valery Popov, shop manager of private jsc Donetskstal Metallurgical Plant
· Anatoly Starovoit, doctor of sciences, professor, and general director of Ukrkoks Ukrainian Research Association
· Igor Shulga, head of the coke department of the Ukrainian State Research Coal and Chemical Products Institute
· Stanislav Yaroshevsky, doctor of sciences and professor at the Donetsk National Technical University
· Aleksandr Kolomoichenko, chairman of private JSC Makeyevkoks
· Semen Kaufman, deputy technical director of private JSC Makeyevkoks
The authors developed a proposal for a new technology to use quality Ukrainian coal in coke production. This technology allows for the production of higher quality coke that is needed to develop pulverized coal injection plants (PCI). The implementation of PCI technology will help reduce the consumption of natural gas and increase the competitiveness of metallurgical enterprises.
All of Metinvest’s metallurgical enterprises continue to study and implement PCI technology at their blast furnaces. This project is being implemented within the company’s long-term technological strategy until 2020. Implementation of this large-scale investment project will allow Metinvest to completely eliminate the use of natural gas in its blast furnace shops.
Compared to the natural gas price of US$500/tcm, PCI technology can reduce the steel cost by US$40-50 per tonne, and decrease natural gas consumption in Ukraine by 3 bcm per annum. PCI technology is already being implemented at several Metinvest Group enterprises.
It is important to note that a strategy focused on implementing progressive technologies (including PCI) in terms of the processing and use of energy resources and the replacement of natural gas with alternative types of fuel is a state priority. Viktor Yanukovych, the President of Ukraine, ordered the establishment of a working group to study the intensification and implementation of such projects.
"To implement PCI technology at all of our Ukrainian enterprises, we need to improve coke quality,” said Vladmir Gusak, Metinvest’s supply chain management director. “Ukraine has the raw material resources required for this technology but they are not sufficient. We need to develop the extraction of low-sulfur coal in order to manufacture high-quality coke. Then we can use PCI to achieve a greater economic benefit. We tried to show this in our work."
