Zaporozhstal facing major challenges in steelmaking process

March 30th, 2010
The major challenge for Zaporozhstal is its steelmaking process. Historically the plan to replace open hearth production with basic oxygen furnace process goes back to early 1980 but long debates on the project in the ministries, then USSR disintegration and deep recession followed by it prevented to do it that time. But the task remained actual and it even gains its necessity with the time run.
In mid 2000 the company has updated its BOF investment project and succeeded to attract required USD 2 billion credit to realize it. But the recent crisis has terminated the project once again. The project has been rescheduled, however the acceptable terms of credit line, first of all the interest rates are not re agreed yet. Plus at least two three years for construction are required. So, open hearth workers here may have no concerns on retraining for BOF process for the next several years.
OHF to BOF replacement is far not the only task. All stages of production starting from sinter plant and blast furnace shops and up to cold rolling and roll-forming shops have their own modernization tasks. Among one of the major is dust coal fuel production and insufflation unit for blast furnaces to replace natural gas consumption, which is relatively high there now especially taking into account further OHF process, consuming a lot of natural gas.
Now the erection of equipment for the unit is on the final stage, and its idle testing is planned for April this year, hot testing in May. The return of investments into dust coal fuel production and insufflation unit project is set for 1.5 to 1.8 years of running. This will sufficiently improve cost of pig iron as well as energy efficiency and resources utilization.
Going downstream of steelmaking process, steel rolling process is also set to be modernized, in parallel with BOF construction. Particularly, casting steel into ingots and its further processing at slabbing mill to be replaced by continuous casting process, which will also require a construction of new hot rolling mill. This is to solve three basic challenges for hot rolling at a time quality improvement, quantity increase and more assortment variety.
In parallel with this, a construction of modern hydrochloric acid pickling line with pickling mortar regenerating unit is going on at cold rolling production of the works. This will improve environmental safety, improve quality of cold rolled steel and enable the works to produce a new product pickled hot rolled coils. But even today Zaporozhstal enjoys a 40% share in domestic market of hot rolled flat steel products and 52% share of local cold rolled steel market. But the domestic market consumes only 37% of its production, according to result of the recent year. The rest goes for export to around 70 countries of the world.
Zaporozhstal holding is naturally beyond steelmaking it has some iron ore mining and processing assets, a control over some coal processing and coking coal production, refractories production, some scrap collecting companies, control over some tube plants and steel processing centers.