Evraz NTMK (Nizhniy Tagil, Russia):

A. V. Kushnarev, Dr. Eng., Managing Director;
V. V. Filippov, Deputy Head of Technical Administration on Sintering, Coke and blast Furnace Operation, Valentin.Filippov@evraz.com
V. A. Mikhalev, Head of the Blast Furnace Bureau of Technical Administration, Vladislav.Mikhalev@evraz.com

Nizniy Tagil Technological Institute, Affiliate of the Ural Federal University (Nizhniy Tagil, Russia):
B. S. Tleugabulov, Dr. Eng., Associate Prof., bstz10@mail.ru

Evraz NTMK boosted the rate of its blast furnace process and cut down the coke rate critically over the last decade. This progress was based on the improved design of NTMK blast furnaces themselves, as well as improved process conditions, V staflux practice introduced in the process, higher oxygen in the blast air and use of PCI. The blast furnaces after some upgrades gave a chance to improve certain process parameters of the blast furnace process that uses titanomagnetites. In particular, lower Si in the hot metal at the same temperature level of the hot metal as before was made possible thanks to the pressure of gases boosted inside the furnace. For improvement of burden conditions, it is related to developments of the practice for production and application of V staflux, which took raw materials out of the burden, reduced the number of components and fixed the problem of FeV waste disposal. The staflux implemented in the smelting process improved the venting quality of melting stock column and reduced specific gas output, which created a precondition for intensification and power saving activities without having to worry about any failures in the operation of the blast furnaces to be run smooth. Which is why higher oxygen in the blast air (at least 30%) plus PCI were the next logical steps taken to improve the ironmaking practice. The higher rate of the smelting process made it possible to shut down the other blast furnaces, which were obsolete and deteriorated, without any critical output loss. At the moment, the blast furnaces of Evraz NTMK show the best performance and cost-efficiency not only in Russia, but also throughout the world.

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