ArcelorMittal Poland (AMP) has completed the revamp of its Dabrowa Gornicza plant’s blast furnace no.2 and blown the unit in, the firm says.
The work, which began at the end of March, included the replacement of the furnace hearth refractory lining as well as the construction of a new cooling system and modern gas treatment plant. It will result in the reduction of 45,000 tonnes/year of CO2 emissions. Moreover, electricity consumption has been lowered nearly 400 MWh per year and over 18,000t of dust are recycled and reused in the steelmaking process.
The firm tells Kallanish it now plans to operate both blast furnaces at Dabrowa Gornicza and has no intention of idling either one. BF3 was restarted in January, following its idling last September due to weak demand, in preparation for the shutdown of BF2 for revamping, which cost PLN 720 million ($167m).
AMP saw crude steel production fall 15% on-year in 2022 to 3.4 million tonnes, thereby dropping below 2020-pandemic output of 3.9mt.
Adam Smith Poland