UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 9, 2020. Russia’s Federal Service for Intellectual Property has granted EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK) five inventors’ patents since the start of 2020. The patents have to do with wheel band production, blast furnace and oxygen converter technologies, and ways to reduce environmental impact. All the patented technologies are now used at the plant.

According to EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Communications Center, three patents are directly related to the technology for making cast iron at the plant’s new Blast Furnace 7.

‘Our metallurgists have patented the technology for collecting and recycling gases and dust (the byproducts of cast iron smelting) with the help of a special hood-like device. The collected dust gets recycled and reused in production, which reduces the plant’s environmental impact. We had the design of the blast furnace duct patented as well; the duct is used to separate the cast iron from slag. Another patent has been issued for the method of creating the furnace charge composition that ensures the best cast iron quality. The unique tech solutions we came up with help avoid metal waste, reduce iron ore, coke, and energy spending, improve lining performance, and raise the vanadium extraction efficiency by 0.021%,’ the company says.