Rusal invests 60 million roubles to modernise coke-calcining process at Volgograd aluminium smelter

United Company Rusal, one of the world’s largest aluminium companies by primary production output, has reportedly invested around 60 million roubles for modernising coke-calcining kiln at its Volgograd aluminium smelter.

The modernisation of the kiln is for enhancing the environmental aspects of production and intensifying the plant’s coke calcining process. Following the modernisation, the kiln’s capacity is expected to increase to 12 tonnes per hour as compared to 8-9 tonnes at any other comparable plants.

The modernisation includes the development of new structural segments  for making raw materials go through a preparatory ‘drying’ process so the coke enters the heating chamber of the kiln has a lower moisture content compared with earlier generations of kilns. The consumption of natural gas has also lowered due to the structural segments, resulting in improved kiln’s performance and minimised carbon footprint of the entire process.

A new design concept has been implemented as well for mixing the elements to ensure all layers of raw coke are evenly calcined. Thanks to this, kiln’s fuel consumption has reduced while increasing the output.

In addition, thanks to the new construction of the recovery unit because of which the steam produced during the calcining process gets converted into heat, which is used for heating the plant in winter and tap water year-around, and electrical energy.

RUSAL’s CEO Evgenii Nikitin said: “The modernization projects conducted by RUSAL are not only aimed at achieving specific operational objectives, but also have a key role to play in improving the environmental profile of our plants. Improving and upgrading the calcining kiln at our Volgograd aluminium smelter fully conforms with these two principles, as it is part of a larger project to increase the self-sufficiency of the Company in terms of raw materials and to create a modern, energy-efficient and environmentally clean anode production.”