Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) continues the implementation of one of its largest investment projects, the construction of coke oven battery No. 12. Alexey Teksler, Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region, visited the construction site today.

The capacity of coke battery No. 12 will be 2.5 million tonnes of dry coke per year with the cost of the project reaching approximately RUB 67 billion. The Magnitogorsk branch of Sinosteel Equipment & Engineering Co. Ltd. is the complex’s general designer and the developer of the design documentation is MAGNITOGORSK GIPROMEZ.

The project documentation, which was approved by Glavgosexpertiza Russia (the Federal Department of State Expertise) provides for the construction of coke oven battery No. 12 in two stages. The first stage will involve construction of two coke oven battery units with two coke dry quenching units, one desulphurisation and denitration unit. The coal preparation shop, liquid ammonia warehouse, coke-sorting facilities, air compressor station, fire-pumping station and engineering facilities of coke battery oven No. 12 will also be constructed during the first stage. Its capacity under stand-alone conditions will be 1.25 million tonnes of coke per year. Two more coke oven battery units with processing facilities will be built at the second stage. The increase in production at the commissioning of the second stage will amount to 1.25 million tonnes of coke per year. The first stage of the complex is to be launched in 2022, with the second stage scheduled to be commissioned in 2023.

The implementation of this project, in addition to achieving production goals, is of great environmental importance to MMK and will significantly improve the environmental situation in Magnitogorsk.

According to Victor Rashnikov, Chairman of MMK's Board of Directors, the new coke battery complex will not only increase the reliability of coke supply to the plant's blast furnace operations but will also contribute to a serious reduction of the technogenic burden on the environment. "Our goal in the field of environmental protection is unchanged – to achieve the "Clean City" indicators, according to which we must reduce the integrated atmospheric pollution index to five units by 2025. I am confident that we will achieve this goal and the construction of the new coke oven battery complex will be a very important and significant step on this path," stressed Victor Rashnikov.

The launch of coke battery No. 12 will allow for the gradual decommissioning of five obsolete batteries and reduce consumption of coal concentrate and natural gas. In addition, the modernisation of production will make it possible to reduce gross emissions by 11.35 thousand tonnes per year and ensure zero-waste production due to the introduction of dry coke quenching unit. Dry quenching technology will make it possible to recover heat from the coke, to obtain steam for technological needs and to generate electricity, with an additional capacity of 40 MW. Of particular note is the impact of the new facility on reducing the plant’s carbon footprint. CO2 emissions will be reduced by over 1.1 million tonnes and the carbon footprint will be reduced by 0.21 (-21%) tonnes of CO2 per tonne of coke, bringing MMK even closer to achieving its decarbonisation targets.

Currently, construction and installation work on the foundations of the first stage of coke battery No. 12 are underway. The installation of bored piles is almost completed; in total, more than two-thirds of almost 15,000 piles of all types have been driven. The pouring of concrete for foundations is actively underway. Around 20,000 cubic metres of concrete have already been poured out of a total volume of 28,700 cubic metres. The Russian contractors are being supported by a team of around 300 Chinese specialists who have arrived at the construction site of the complex and are currently helping pour foundations.