In the photo (from left to right): Alexander Shalunov, Director of Ecolant Project Management, Gleb Nikitin, Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, Anatoly Sedykh, Chairman of the OMK Board of Directors, Igor Komarov, Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation in the Volga Federal District
On March 19, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov visited the plant of the United Metallurgical Company in Vyksa during a business trip to the Nizhny Novgorod Region. Together with the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Volga Federal District Igor Komarov, Governor of the region Gleb Nikitin and Chairman of the Board of Directors of OMK Anatoly Sedykh, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade gave a symbolic start to the implementation of the first green metallurgy project in Europe - an electrometallurgical complex with Ecolant direct reduced iron technology.
The project is being implemented in Vyksa by Ecolant (affiliated with OMK). The amount of investment in the project of the same name is estimated at more than 150 billion rubles. The plant will be put into operation in 2025. Ecolant will produce 1.8 million tons of steel per year. Vyksa will produce large-diameter pipes for main pipelines, seamless pipes for oil and gas production, railway wheels and plate for shipbuilding from Ekolanta steel.
“The project provides for the introduction of modern technologies, including the technology of direct reduction of iron. The implemented technology belongs to the category of "green" - the most modern technical solutions, which allows to reduce CO2 emissions by three times in comparison with the traditional BOF steel production technology, and is an important step in reducing the negative impact of metallurgical production on the environment. This will be one of the most environmentally friendly production facilities in Europe in the field of ferrous metallurgy. According to this technology, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia at the end of last year decided to conduct an open competitive selection for concluding a SPIC. By 2025, the project should have been launched, and this will add about 5% of the region's GDP,” said Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov during an event at the OMK Vyksa plant.
“This is a landmark, unique project in the world metallurgy. It will be the most modern plant in the world with the possibility of moving to a zero carbon footprint in the case of hydrogen production. And finally, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, there will be a full cycle metallurgy, which we have never had before. We are proud that we give our colleagues such a degree of confidence to start such projects,” said Gleb Nikitin.
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The Ecolant plant is the largest project of the decade in the domestic metallurgy. And its launch will contribute to the development of the country's industrial potential and the competitiveness of the Russian metallurgical industry.
The Ecolant project was launched in September 2020 with the signing at the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade of a construction cooperation agreement between OMK Board Chairman Anatoly Sedykh and Danieli Russia President Antonello Colussi.
The new complex is the first in Europe using green metallurgy technology. It includes a modern production of metallized pellets using DRI technology (Direct Reduced Iron, direct reduced iron) with a capacity of up to 2.5 million tons per year in conjunction with an electrometallurgical complex for steel production with a capacity of up to 1.8 million tons per year.
Technological capabilities of the new facility will allow to produce a wide range of steel products for pipe and wheel rolling industries. The steel produced in the electric arc furnace (EAF) will have three main casting formats - thick slab, round wheel billet and round tubular billet. The products will be supplied to OMK's Vyksa plant and sold on the market. A unique example of the production of products with the highest requirements for steel purity and quality in electric arc furnaces will be a thick slab for large diameter pipes (LDP) for subsea pipelines. At OMK's Vyksa plant, the slab will be used for the production of thick plates at its own Mill-5000 and large-diameter pipes, while round billets will be used for the production of railway wheels and the production of seamless pipes.
The project will comply not only with the current, but also future requirements of the European Union for environmental friendliness while improving the quality and performance of products. In addition, for the first time in the country, gas cleaning technology with an efficiency of 99.5% will be applied. All this will minimize the impact on the atmospheric air of the city of Vyksa.
The construction of the complex will have a great social and economic effect both for the region as a whole and for Vyksa. During its construction, about 2,000 jobs will be created, and with the launch of the complex - more than 700 modern jobs. This will increase tax revenues to the city budget, as well as the gross product of the entire Nizhny Novgorod region by 5%.
Also on March 19, the heads of the ministry, the federal district and the region assessed the progress of this project, visited the operating foundrycomplex of the Vyksa OMK plant and at the exhibition of industrial enterprises of the Nizhny Novgorod region, which was deployed in the newest workshop for the production of casing and tubing at the OMK enterprise in Vyksa.