Displaying items by tag: Russia

Russia: The Ministry of Energy has launched its roadmap for the use of slag and ash by the cement industry and in road building. Soyuztsement has reported that the roadmap lists pilot projects for the products’ use. Currently, 5 – 7% of ash and slag waste (ASW) is used. Under its Comprehensive Plan to Increase the Utilisation of Solid Fuel Combustion Products bill, published in mid-2020, the ministry plans to increase the ASW utilisation rate across Russia to 50% by 2035. This amount could cut 6.2Mt/yr of the cement industry’s direct CO2 emissions, corresponding to under 1% of its emissions in 2020. Additionally, it would lead to the production of lighter and reduce the thermal conductivity of concrete.

The bill is due for submission before the Russian parliament in April 2021, followed by a second bill to provide for incentives to slag and ash producers in September 2021.

Russia: Eurocement subsidiary Belgorodsky Cement has announced the start of commercial production of a new CEM-III slag Portland cement. The company says that the cement is highly water and frost resistant and suitable for use in the construction of massive ground and underground structures. Belgorodsky Cement director general Eduard Androsov said, “We offer our customers an individual approach to solving construction problems and guarantee a stable supply of high quality products in the required volumes and within strictly defined deadlines.”

Russia: Iskitimcement has announced the beginning of CEM-II ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) cement at its Iskitimcement plant in Novosibirsk Oblast. Regional Weekly News has reported that the cement will be used in road base concrete production and soil reinforcement. Iskitimcement says that the cement has high frost, abrasion and impact resistance and strength of over 5.5MPa. It will sell the cement, the seventh type produced at the plant, in 25kg, 50kg and 1t bags.

Russia: Sibirsky Cement Holding (Sibtsem) subsidiary Topkinsky Cement has announced that it has entered commercial production of a new Mita slag Portland cement with granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) at its 2.7Mt/yr integrated plant in Topki, for which it received a certification of conformity with ‘cement for general construction’ standards on 16 January 2020. Nina Poputnikova, Topkinsky Cement laboratory and quality department head, said that it is producing the cement in response to ‘construction companies’ increased interest in cement for use in reinforced, precast concrete in monolithic structures such as buried and hydraulic structures.’

“In the near future we plan to certify two new cements,” said Topkinsky Cement managing director Alexey Ospelnikov. One will be a low-heat general-purpose cement for large-sized concrete structures and the other a sulphate-resistant Portland cement. “Expanding the assortment will help strengthen the company’s position in the Russian cement market.”

Russia: NMLK’s slag output is set to increase after the installation of a sixth furnace at its flagship plant in Lipetsk Oblast at a cost of US$0.55bn, increasing its pig iron production capacity by 8% to 3.4Mt/yr.

NMLK supplies Eurocement with 5Mt/yr of raw materials as primary feedstock and additives, and has in turn received the latter’s cement for its own construction projects.

Russia: Eurocement has signed a contract with Russia’s fourth largest steel company, Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), for the supply of an estimated 25,000t of cement over the three months to 31 December 2019. Metal Daily News has reported that the cement will be used in conjunction with NLMK’s blast furnace slag to produce briquettes at a rate of 0.7Mt/yr.

Russia: The National University of Science and Technology (NUST) MISiS and Vtoraluminprodukt have launched a pilot installation of a bubbling reactor, using the gas flushing principle, in Mtsensk, Oryol Region on 18 December 2018. The concept is intended to fully process industrial waste, slags and sludge, as well as carbon-containing wastes, including municipal solid waste (MSW) and efficient and environmentally-friendly production of iron and concentrate non-ferrous metals. NUST MISiS says that the furnace is the world's only metallurgical furnace capable of processing iron-containing industrial waste as well as solid waste, simultaneously smelting up to 16,000t/yr of metal and producing electricity.

"The advantage of this technology is that it is non-waste and allows for simple, reliable and environmentally-friendly purification of the exhaust gases. And it also allows combining the processing of metallurgical waste, coal preparation factories and municipal waste of enterprises or settlements that are heated with coal. It is a sort of a universal technology," said Nikolay Shenchenko, member of the Expert Mining Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation for industry and innovation and the chief executive officer (CEO) of Resmet.

Gennadiy Podgorodetskiy, team leader and director of the Innovative Metallurgical Technology Scientific and Educational Centre, said that the slag composition from the pilot furnace can be selected for further processing into slag stone products, thermal insulation slag or be used to make slag cement products.

Russia: Evraz’s consolidated crude steel output fell by 5.5% year-on-year to 3.3Mt in the first quarter of 2018. The steel producer blamed the fall on lower pig iron production due to iron ore supply issues in relation to poor weather in January and February 2018. It also attributed the decline to technical issues with blast furnaces #1 and #3 at its Zsmk plant, a shutdown of the blast furnace #6 at Ntmk and the divestment of its Ukrainian Dmz subsidiary in March 2018. Total steel product sales dropped by 5.7% due to lower crude steel production. Sales of semi-finished products fell by 16.6%, primarily due to reduced pig iron and crude steel production. This was partly offset by a 5.7% increase in the output of finished products, mainly for the construction industry.

Russia: NLMK Group has signed a five-year contract for the supply of raw materials, including granulated slag, to Eurocement group. The contract, which runs until the end of 2022, covers an annual supply of up to 5Mt of raw materials for use as primary feedstock and additives for cement production at seven Eurocement plants. The raw materials to be supplied also include iron-containing additives, chalk, clay and limestone screenings.

“NLMK Group has been working with Eurocement for several years, on short-term contracts. This new long-term agreement has taken our partnership to a new level. It will make our relationship more open and structured, simplify clearing and settlement and reduce the risk of changes in the market impacting the supply of materials,” said Ilya Guschin, NLMK Group’s Vice President for Sales.

NLMK and Eurocement are also exploring new ways to use fine steelmaking slag in the construction industry, such as the possible substitution of limestone with slag in the production of clinker.

Russia: Severstal has ordered four Inba slag granulation plants with dynamic dewatering of the slag sand from Paul Wurth as part of a contract for design and supply of technology and equipment for the reline of Blast Furnace No. 5 ‘Severyanka’ at Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant. Severstal’s installations will be the first use of this technology in Russia.

“The fifth blast furnace has been operating for over 14 years and this refurbishment project is expected to more than double its lifespan," said Alexander Shevelev, chief executive officer of Severstal.

The order also includes a Bell Less Top charging system with a hopper volume of 80m3 and a chute transmission gearbox with a pressurised cooling system. The blast furnace top gas will be cleaned by a Paul Wurth two-stage top gas cleaning plant. Auxiliary facilities at the plant will be built in 2018 and 2019 and the main equipment will be installed in 2020.