The No. 9 coke oven at Benxi Steel was completed and put into operation

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At 10:06 on March 15, with the issuance of the command to extract the coke, a lump of bright red coke was pulled out from chamber No. 56 of Benxi Steel’s newly built No. 9 coke oven, marking the official completion and commissioning of this important supporting project for Benxi Steel’s production system. This not only enables Benxi Iron and Steel to achieve complete self-sufficiency in coke, but also plays an important role in balancing coke oven gas, providing a solid supply of raw materials and fuel for the company to accelerate the development of a high-quality sheet metal production facility with a capacity of tens of millions of tons as well as a modern enterprise with international competitiveness. Like the No. 8 coke oven, which was put into operation on November 10 of last year, the No. 9 coke oven at Benxi Steel is also a 7-meter-capacity coke oven, with a designed annual production capacity of 750,000 tons of coke. It generates over 40,000 cubic meters of gas per hour, thereby resolving completely the shortage of coke and gas that arose due to the commissioning of the new No. 1 blast furnace and the three hot-rolling projects at Benxi Steel. As a result, Benxi Steel can now achieve complete self-sufficiency in coke production and have a balanced supply of heating gas. For these two large coke ovens, together with the dry quenching unit with a processing capacity of 190 tons per hour that is set to come online by the end of June this year, the total investment in the renovation project for Benxi Steel’s coke oven system amounts to 1.16 billion yuan. Bengang’s No. 8 and No. 9 coke ovens were the first to feature integrated coal storage and mixing systems. They represent a new generation of modern large-scale coke ovens in China, designed and built independently, with the highest coke production capacity, high levels of automated control, strong reliability of the equipment, and excellent energy-saving and emission-reduction performance. These ovens boast advantages such as a robust and well-structured design, uniform heating, high thermal efficiency, lower investment costs, and a long service life. In particular, they have reached international advanced levels in terms of energy-saving and emission-control mechanisms, equipment automation, high reliability, and low maintenance requirements. The project was designed and overall contracted by MCC Coking & Refractory Engineering Co., Ltd., with construction carried out by companies such as Benxi Iron and Steel Construction Company, Hunan Construction Group, and Jiangsu Tianmu. In March 2008, construction of Coking Oven No. 9 began. The more than 3,000 workers involved overcame various challenges, including the tight schedule for construction in the northern winters and the limited space available for work. They had to ensure the normal operation of Coking Oven No. 8 while simultaneously pushing forward with the construction of Coking Oven No. 9. Through systematic organization and meticulous work, they managed to complete the construction of Baoshan Iron and Steel’s Coking Oven No. 9 on schedule.