Russian steel pipe and railway wheel manufacturer OMK will build a pellet to steel production complex, the first in Russia with iron ore feed and steelmaking facilities to be installed on a single site, with a 70% smaller CO2 footprint than that of a traditional basic oxygen furnace.
The complex -- expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2024 -- will comprise a 2.5 million mt/year plant producing metallized pellets using Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) technology and an electric arc furnace (EAF) with up to 1.8 million mt/year of steel capacity.
The complex's technological capabilities will allow it to produce a range of semi-finished feedstock for pipe and railway wheel production. The EAF-based meltshop will cast steel in three forms: heavy slab, round wheel blooms and round pipe billet.
All these semis will go into pipe and railway wheel manufacturing at OMK's flagship Vyksa Metallurgical Plant (VMZ), in the Nizhniy Novgorod region, with any excess sold on the market.
Notably, the complex will be able to produce heavy slabs up to the highest requirements for steel purity and quality, which will be transformed at the Vyksa mill into plates for the manufacture of large diameter pipes for subsea pipelines.
The project represents a total investment of Rb150 billion ($2 billion), including VAT.
The chosen technology is the most environmentally harmless and energy efficient ever applied in Russia, according to OMK, and is promoted under the green label. It represents the latest solution to make steel and yet achieve a 70% reduction in CO2 emissions compared with blast furnace-based production and has a 99.5% gas cleaning efficiency, with the output to meet current and future EU requirements for responsibly made steel goods.
The technology also implies the shortest production chain. For the first time in Russia, iron ore feed-to-steelmaking facilities with continuous supply of hot reduced pellets to an electric arc furnace will be installed in one site.
Italian engineering company Danieli will supply Eur400 million ($474 million) worth of solutions and equipment for the complex. This includes a DRI unit based on ENERGIRON technology, a system for feeding hot pellets into an EAF, a 180 mt EAF, a ladle furnace, a vacuum degasser, a gas cleaning system and a continuous casting machine.
"The project is of strategic importance for Russia's economy: it will contribute to the growth of domestic consumption of natural gas and iron ore ... and to the growth of domestic production of high value added goods, necessary for Russian oil and gas and shipping companies," said OMK Chairman Anatoly Sedykh. "This is an example of the best green technology available today, which can give an impetus to the domestic steel industry and improve air quality in industrial regions."
