MMK's sinter output hits 750 million tonnes
"This milestone is the result of the work of several generations of sinter makers since the launch of sinter production in Magnitogorsk in 1937. MMK produced its first 100 million tonnes of sinter only in 1961, with the 700-million-tonne milestone being hit at the end of 2016. This means that it took us less than five years to produce 50 million tonnes of sinter. Today's success is met by a largely renovated sinter shop, equipped with highly efficient environmental protection facilities and featuring Russia's most modern sinter plant No. 5, built using the best available technologies. I am sure that MMK’s sinter makers will continue their valuable work and will continue to make a significant contribution to improving the efficiency of the first process stage," said Pavel Shilyaev, MMK CEO, congratulating the sinter shop's employees.
Today, the sinter shop is part of the Mining and Processing Division, the first stage of MMK's production cycle. The sinter shop includes three sinter plants with a total output of 11.3 million tonnes of sinter per year. In recent years, MMK has reconstructed sulphur recovery units Nos. 2 and 4, which has significantly reduced sulphur dioxide and suspended substance emissions.
The biggest event for sinter production at MMK was the launch of sinter plant No. 5 in 2019, which was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The new sinter plant’s capacity is 5.5 million tonnes of high-quality stabilised cooled sinter per year. The project is part of MMK's strategy to modernise its first stage production process. The launch of the new sinter plant made it possible to supply MMK's blast furnace shop with high quality raw materials produced using modern energy-saving and environmentally friendly technologies. The launch of the sinter plant allowed for the decommissioning of obsolete equipment at sinter plant No.4, which significantly reduced the plant’s environmental impact. As a result, dust emissions were halved (down 2,100 tonnes per year), sulphur oxide emissions were reduced fourfold (by 3,500 tonnes per year) and benzoapyrene emissions were reduced sixteenfold. In addition, the discharge of pollutants into the water circulating supply system was reduced by 600 tonnes per year, and the amount of waste into slurry deposit no. 2 was also reduced by 13,750 tonnes per year. MMK received the award 'Main Event of the Year 2019 in the Russian Steel Industry' for its sinter plant No. 5 construction project.