Newer equipment, higher product quality. Kamet-Steel's by-product plant has completed an investment project to replace coal tar storage tank № 3. 

Being a by-product of the coke production, coal tar is used as the raw material for downstream chemical production. One of the process stages to produce the tar with the required quality properties is its step-by-step settling to remove sludge (semi-solid residues from the coking operations) and then water, and only then does it go to another equally important production site – the tar processing shop. 

The tar is reheated and then separated from the water in special storage tanks with a volume of 300 cubic metres each, with five of them located on the premises of the shop. Tank № 3 has reached the end of its service life, so contractors installed new equipment to replace it.

A robust steel casing, new tar inlet and outline lines, steam supply and   water drainage lines were installed. Shut-off valves were changed, and instruments were installed to measure the volume of steam used for heating.

A new technical solution to install an external heat exchanger instead of an integrated allows preventing a drop in the tar heating temperature due to the deposition of sludge on the heating elements inside the tank.

"Coal tar is in high demand among customers. In 2023, we shipped 19,000 tonnes of the product. The new tank enables to properly prepare the tar for downstream processing. Aside from this, thanks to the new equipment, we will be able to reduce the consumption of steam for heating the tar, and thus save energy, contributing to the achievement of the company's team goals", Pavlo HULIUK, head of the by-product plant, said.