Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works continues efforts to boost
production safety and reduce emissions at its facilities.
The Company is using high-tech innovations to
achieve this – in particular, machine vision. This technology
provides basis for the automatic gas detection system implemented at
coke batteries No. 7-8. The system, which includes several video
cameras installed both on the battery itself and in its immediate
vicinity, as well as a sophisticated software unit, makes it possible
to detect leakage of toxic coke gas containing benzapyrene. If the
door is gassed, the operator is automatically alerted on their
monitor, allowing timely action to be taken. The project therefore
reduces both the workload for staff and the risk of gas emissions
into the atmosphere. In addition, machine learning technology is also
used here: the system not only recognizes leaks, but also stores all
the information in its database, analyses it and uses it to create a
repair schedule.
This is not the only digital innovation at coke
batteries No. 7-8. An automated system to prevent personnel from
being in hazardous areas has also been implemented here. This project
is based on Industrial Internet of Things and machine vision
technologies: coke machines are equipped with special sensors to
track when an employee enters the hazardous area, and employees are
provided with personal RFID tags which vibrate in the area. This is
followed first by the coke machine activating light and sound alarms,
to then finally shut down.
Also, since the beginning of 2021, the Company has
been replacing the doors of coke ovens in order to reduce coke gas
leakage into the atmosphere. More than one hundred gas tight doors
manufactured by Bluesky have already been installed at coke batteries
No.7-8: gas leakage is virtually reduced to zero. In addition, a
pneumatic sealing system was installed on 260 covers of gas outlets,
which completely eliminated emissions and made the work of the hatch
attendants easier.
In addition, to reduce exposure to hazardous and
harmful factors, the employees of coke production: doormen, hatch
attendants, gas collection operators are issued aluminized hazmat
suits and closed-type safety glasses, to protect respiratory organs,
as well as half-masks with replaceable filters. All coking machines
are equipped with automatic barriers which prevent personnel from
entering the zone of machinery operation. As part of the
environmental programme, a new door extracting machine was purchased
and put into operation, the main difference from the existing ones
being a pre-installed aspiration system. It will allow capturing and
filtering dust and gas emissions, which are generated when coke is
discharged from the furnaces.
MMK employs modern technologies at its facilities
to solve several problems simultaneously. These innovations reduce
the impact of harmful factors and improve working conditions of the
Company's employees, ensure an increased level of safety at
workplaces, and also contribute to improving the environmental
situation in production and in the city of Magnitogorsk as a whole.
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