MMK Launches New 30 Billion Ruble Sinter Plant

MAGNITOGORSK, Russia, July 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) commissioned sinter plant No. 5, the only one of its kind in Russia, in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The facility has a capacity of up to 5.5 million tonnes of sinter per year.

MMK's new sinter plant is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, allowing it to obtain high-quality sinter, and it operates using the best available technologies.

"This project will significantly reduce the plant's impact on the environment," said Victor Rashnikov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of MMK, "Commissioning of the new sinter plant will also ensure a significant increase in environmental safety. This is part of MMK's large-scale investment strategy, aimed at completely modernising all production equipment in the first stage of processing."

The cost of contract equipment supplied by Sinosteel Equipment & Engineering Co. Ltd (China), amounted to 6.7 billion rubles. Total capital investments in the sinter plant complex, including construction and installation works, amounted to around 30 billion rubles.

The sintering area of sintering machines No.1 and No.2 which are part of the new sinter plant is 300 sq m for each sinter line, the height of the sintering layer is 700 mm. For comparison: At sintering plant No.4, which will be decommissioned with the launch of the fifth, the sintering area is 95.4 sq m and the layer height is 280-290 mm. The amount of fine particles (0-5 mm pieces) produced at the new sinter plant will be reduced from 10% to 5%. The capacity of the new unit is 347.2 tonnes of sinter per hour.

The new sinter plant is equipped with 19 high-efficient environment-protection units. Each sintering machine includes a sulphur recovery unit and a system for the recirculation of sinter gases, which ensures the purification of the entire volume of exhaust gases. The sulphur recovery unit consists of a two-section electric filter (dust cleaning) and an absorption tower which uses lime solution (for the cleaning of sulphur compounds). Sulphur recovery units are capable of cleaning up to 2.5 mln m3/hour of sinter gases with 99% efficiency rate for dust and 98% efficiency rate for sulphur dioxide. In addition, in terms of environmental facilities at the plant, there are eleven air-cleaning systems which catch industrial dust which is then returned to sinter production, which have a cleaning efficiency of more than 99%. Launch of the sulphur recovery units at full capacity, and the resulting sludge deposit from the units results in the production of a marketable gypsum. The water circulating supply system of the sinter plant allows for the collection, removal and reuse of waste water from the industrial site.

The commissioning of the new sinter plant will make it possible to decommission the outdated equipment at sinter plant No.4. As a result, it will be possible to achieve:

• a twofold reduction in dust emissions (by 2,100 tonnes per year), a fourfold reduction in sulphur dioxide emissions (by 3,500 tonnes per year) and a sixteen fold reduction in benzapyrene emissions;
• a reduction in discharges of pollutants into the water circulating supply system by 600 tonnes per year;
• a reduction in waste at the slurry deposit No.2 of the sintering plant by 13,750 tonnes per year.

When working at full capacity, sinter plant No.5 will be able to produce 5.5 million tonnes of stabilised cooled sinter per year, which will provide the MMK blast furnace plant with high-quality raw materials and will improve the efficiency of sinter and blast furnace production. Working conditions for MMK sinter workers will improve thanks to the environmental facilities at the new sinter plant.

The general contractors of the steel construction were Montazhnik, Prokatmontazh, Building Complex, Maglin, OKS; the general designer of the plant was Magnitogorsk GIPROMEZ.

About MMK

MMK is one of the world's largest steel producers and a leading Russian metals company. The company's operations in Russia include a large steel-producing unit encompassing the entire production chain, from the preparation of iron ore to downstream processing of rolled steel. MMK turns out a broad range of steel products with a predominant share of high-value-added products. In 2018, the company produced 12.7 mln tonnes of crude steel and 11.7 mln tonnes of commercial steel products. MMK Group had sales in 2018 of USD 8,214 mln and EBITDA of USD 2,418 mln.

SOURCE MMK