.gif?width=220&height=200&mediaprotectionhash=b13da841472e6e7ed500ee35df2a350aaf53d75246118b33ea2095cc7e9a3fc4&ext=.gif)
NLMK Launches New Converter at Lipetsk
10/13/2011 - NLMK has put a new 300-tonne converter into operation at the company’s main production site in Lipetsk as part of the company’s multi-year Technical Upgrade Program
NLMK has put a new 300-tonne converter into operation at the company’s main production site in Lipetsk. The company had announced start-up of the new converter in mid-September.
The new BOF, launched as part of the company’s multi-year Technical Upgrade Program, employs latest technologies to reduce its impact on the environment. It has been equipped with a high-efficiency system for collection and cleaning of fugitive emission generated during charging and tapping. NLMK noted previously that it plans to equip two additional BOFs at a later date with similar systems, which the company says should help to reduce dust emissions at BOF Shop No. 2 by 77%.
Alongside other Technical Upgrade activities, launch of the new converter will help the company to achieve a 36% increase in steelmaking capacity at the Lipetsk site, up to 12.4 million tonnes/year. Investments into the BOF projects have totaled about RUR14.8 billion (with VAT).
NLMK had previously announced the commencement of start-up activities at its new 3.4 million tonne/year Blast Furnace No. 7 at its Lipetsk site. NLMK’s BF-7, another major component of the company’s Technical Upgrade Program, is the first blast furnace to be built in Russia in the last 25 years. Also, the company's new 150 MW recovery co-generation plant, constructed together with BF-7, has begun to receive by-product blast furnace gases and already has generated its first electric energy.
