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NLMK Expands Secondary Metallurgy Capacity at Novolipetsk

11/02/2011 - NLMK has commissioned a new two million tonne/year ladle furnace (LF) at Novolipetsk, the company’s main production site in Lipetsk.

NLMK has commissioned a new two million tonne/year ladle furnace (LF) at Novolipetsk, the company’s main production site in Lipetsk. 
 
The ladle furnace project will allow the facility to increase production output by 200,000 tonnes/year while also reducing the site’s consumption of deoxidizing agents, ferroalloys and refractories. The new ladle furnace will enable the company to expand its product mix and improve quality by reducing the amount of nonmetallic inclusions and sulfur in its steel to 0.001%.
 
An advanced fume extraction and gas cleaning system — providing waste gas dust removal that is 99.5% efficient — will help to maintain the facility’s excellent environmental performance.

Commissioning of the new ladle furnace is part of Stage II of the Technical Upgrade Program NLMK is carrying out together with Siemens VAI of Austria. The main objectives of Stage II of the program are:
 
·         To increase steel output by 40% to 17.4 million tonnes/year, including an expansion from 9.1 to 12.4 million tonnes/year at the Lipetsk site
·         To develop secondary metallurgy at the Lipetsk site
·         To achieve maximum self-sufficiency in basic raw materials
·         To increase finished rolled product output through revamping and construction of new rolling facilities
·         To increase labor efficiency and improve environmental performance.
 
Another ladle furnace with a similar capacity is currently under construction at the facility’s BOF Shop No. 1, with launch planned before the end of the year. The company’s investment for the two ladle furnaces will amount to RUR2.7 billion. In 2010, the company had commissioned two previous ladle furnaces with a total capacity of eight million tonnes/year at BOF Shop No. 2.