EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil has completed the overhaul of Blast Furnace 6. The project has taken USD 176 million in investments and 16 months to complete. The volume of the furnace is 2,200 cubic meters, its scheduled annual production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of pig iron. Blast Furnace 6 has two casting yards, featuring closed type main and transportation chutes, automated top and bottom charging systems, shaftless air heaters, and aspiration units that contain more than 34,500 filters. The total capacity of the aspiration systems servicing the casting yard and stock-conveying system is 3.1 million cubic meter per hour. During the overhaul, Blast Furnace 6 was fitted out with modern gas treatment stations; the project, along with EVRAZ’s other environmental initiatives, was listed as part of the federal project Clean Air within the national project Environment. An expert system is used at Blast Furnace 6 to analyse and adjust the manufacturing processes. Using over 12,000 parameters, it can select the optimal conditions and manage the melting process in an automated mode.

Together with Blast Furnace 7 launched in April 2018, they form the most up-to-date and environment-friendly steel-making facility in Russia. With two cutting-edge blast furnaces in place, EVRAZ can expect a reduction of costs thanks to decreasing the frequency and duration of interim overhauls and lower coking coal consumption.

Blast Furnace 5 reached the end of its useful life and was idled, decision on its further use pending.