In a statement, Primetals Technologies said it will outfit the No. 6 blast furnace at EVRAZ’s Nizhniy Tagil Metallurgical Plant with level 1 and level 2 automation packages.

“The basic automation and the process optimization will be installed as a virtualized automation system on central, redundant servers, which will drastically reduce servicing costs, especially those for future upgrades,” Primetals Technologies said in a statement. “The new process automation will enable the operational parameters of the furnace to be optimized and coke consumption to be reduced.”

Through the project, EVRAZ is demolishing the existing No. 6 furnace, which concluded a 15-year campaign at the beginning of 2018, along with ancillary facilities, such as the stockhouse and hot-blast stove. The furnace is being rebuilt and is to  come on-line in 2020.