The consistent implementation of maintenance programmes is a prerequisite for stable operation of main equipment. The enterprise has embarked on the first stage of this year's major overhauls of hot blast stoves in the blast furnace shop.

Hot blast stoves are one of the key units in the iron-making process designed to preheat air blown into a blast furnace.

In the blast furnace shop, work continues a Category 3 major overhaul of hot blast stove No 6 at BF No 9, as part of which Metinvest Promservice's repair team will partially repair the refractory lining of the combustion chamber, hot and cold blast nozzles and gas burner, nozzles of flue gas valves, upper rows and corners of the checker chamber and dome. They will also clean the openings of the stove checker. In total, 300 tonnes of the lining worn out during the operation of the unit need to be replaced.

The overhaul plan also includes a partial upgrade of cabling and wiring products and command and control equipment, replacement of control panels and the hot blast stove lighting network, replacement of the gas throttle and repair of the gas burner fan.

"The stable operation of hot blast stoves plays an important role in saving fuel and increasing the performance of blast furnaces, and is therefore essential for the efficient operation of the shop. Three hot blast stoves were overhauled last year. A major overhaul of hot blast stove No 6 at BF No 9 is the next step in the implementation of the major overhaul programme, which will allow us to improve the technical and economic performance of the main equipment," said Yevhen PODGORNYI, Deputy Head of the BF Shop for Engineering.