Russian GE Major Energoprom commissions new Mixing Plant to Improve Productivity
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![Russian GE Major Energoprom commissions new Mixing Plant to Improve Productivity](https://www.steelmint.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Energoprom-group.png)
The Russian GE giant Energoprom's subsidiary, Novosibirsk electrode plant (EPM-NovEP, a subsidiary of EPM Group) recently held an official commissioning ceremony of a new EIRICH mixing plant.
The EIRICH mixing plant will be used to prepare mixtures for pressing premium-grade graphite electrodes. The new plant offers five times greater productivity than the old type of mixing plants. The new high tech equipment reduces the time it takes to mix and prepare the paste for pressing almost by half while increasing the total productivity of the pressing area to 10 tonnes per hour. The project cost RUB 320 million to implement.
The company's management quoted that the commissioning of the new EIRICH mixing plant at the Novosibirsk Electrode Plant is a key investment project of the large scale investment program that EPM Group is implementing to boost the quality of graphite electrodes and their reliability in use. Through 2020, a total of RUB 1.5 billion is to be invested in EPM-Novosibirsk Electrode Plant.
The new mixing plant is an important development not just for the Novosibirsk electrode plant but for the entire industry. It's a great example of international cooperation in metal production and the machine-building industry and a sign of how confident Novosibirsk Oblast is when it comes to operating in international markets. The launch of the new EIRICH mixing plant will open up new opportunities for the development of the facility and the Siberian industry as a whole.
The contract between EPM Group and EIRICH to install the mixing plant was signed in March 2018. Total two EIRICH mixing plants are planned to be installed at EPM-NovEP by late 2019. The EPM group has a production capacity of 60,000 tonnes of graphite electrodes.
Energoprom shuts down its anode production
Starting October 01, 2019, EPM-Chelyabinsk Electrode Plant (hereinafter referred to as "EPM-ChEP", a member of EPM Group) shuts down its anode production. Anodes are used for the production of aluminum using high-tech modern reduction pots and serve to supply current to the electrolyte. The main consumers of anodes manufactured by EPM-ChEP JSC are the enterprises of UC RUSAL.
The decision to suspend the EPM-ChEP operations is linked to the extremely unfavorable conditions of the world market of carbon and graphite products, in particular, anode blocks, which are the main products of the plant. In less than a year, the cost of EPM-ChEP anodes decreased by more than 30%, making the company unprofitable and rendering further production unviable. The process of shutting down the operations started in late September and will last until the end of 2019.