UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 8, 2018. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) is currently doing the startup and commissioning jobs for its new converter steam recycling unit, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Department reports.

The use of the new unit means the prime costs of steel-smelting will go down, as will the plant’s natural gas spending (estimated savings: 20m m3 a year). This is the first time a technical solution of this kind has been used in Russia.

‘The unit traps the steam resulting from steel-smelting at our converter shop; the steam then gets used to heat water at two heat exchangers to 115 degrees centigrade. This, in turn, allows for less intensive water heating at the heat and power plant’s boilers and cuts down on natural gas spending. The unit is mainly meant to be used in winter and during off-seasons; it operates automatically, with all the performance parameters displayed onto the production and power teams’ monitors,’ the press service says.

In addition to energy savings, the unit reduces the plant’s environmental impact, brings down noise pollution, and decreases chemically purified water loss by 286 m3 a year.

The project cost over RUR 170m to implement.