SIAD Macchine Impianti (SIAD MI) has been selected to supply an Air Separation Unit (ASU) to an innovative, low environmental impact, metallurgical complex in Russia

A large smelter is being built using green technologies in the city of Vyksa, Nizhny Novgorod Region. Initiated by the United Metallurgical Company owner, Anatoly Sedykh, the project will result in a production facility featuring the best available green technology to date. With its specifications, it will meet not only current international environment requirements but also future standards aimed at reducing carbon footprint.

Ecolant is a full-cycle smelter that is free from chemical coke plus blast furnace and converter processes that are common in such production. Steel will be made from ore and natural gas using the hydrogen technology - Direct Reduced Iron (DRI). According to the project initiators, a single ore-steel production chain will be implemented at the smelter. First, ore and natural gas will be processed into pellets, the so-called semi-product. While still hot, it will be directed to the steel furnace with the resulting steel going to secondary refining and casting. This is the shortest and most efficient production method. Technology with a similar set of options has not been implemented so far neither in Russia, nor in Europe. The technology adopted for “Ecolant” allows greenhouse gas emissions from this production to be cut by up to 3 times versus the traditional technology with blast furnaces and converters which is currently used to make 70% of steel globally.

The new metallurgical plant in Vyksa is of great importance for Russian industry as well as an example for the global metallurgical industry.. “This is a pilot project for the Russian steel industry, an example of the so-called modern “green” metallurgy,” said Head of Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov. “The project includes solutions that are aimed at significantly mitigating the environmental impact. Its implementation will help keep emissions from the production low while making products of equal or better quality,” he added.

The client’s requirement is therefore to install an ASU in the new plant which is compatible with DRI technology. In this context, SIAD MI was selected for certain essential qualities expressly requested by the client: the advanced technology of its ASUs, its internationally recognized reputation as a reliable contractor, the high performance of its plants and an outstanding experience of successful ASU projects supplied for steel mills.

Thanks to their significant experience in the construction of tailor-made plants, SIAD Mi’s engineers are designing a 17,000 Nm3/h oxygen ASU perfectly in tune with the Carbon-Free philosophy that pervades the entire project; the plant will be able to produce technical gases (oxygen, nitrogen and argon) in liquid and gaseous form, separating them from the air.

Due to its innovative nature and strategic importance to the industry of the Russian Federation, the order required a long lead time. The offer development phase and the technical alignment required more than a year of work, and were managed jointly by the Italian headquarters and by the Russian office, SIAD RUS, in Bergamo and Moscow respectively - but the ASU will be designed and manufactured entirely in Italy.

It is expected that the ASU at Vyksa will be started up in 2023, thus providing the commissioning of a new steel production complex in 2025. Until that date, SIAD MI will continue to provide dedicated support during the installation phase, in the hope that Ecolant project will be a pioneer of a “green revolution” in the Russian steel industry.