In the branch "Manufacture of polymetals" JSC "Uralelectromed" (the enterprise of the UMMC metallurgical complex) started production of fuel briquettes that will be used as fuel for shaft furnaces. The prime cost of 1 ton of briquettes from coke breeze and dust is 2 times lower than that of coke. The raw material for the production of briquettes is a coke breeze, which, like coke, is purchased on the market, but costs several times cheaper.

According to the chief engineer of the branch Oleg Bernieva, briquettes are a good alternative to expensive coke. The new fuel product is absolutely identical in its quality characteristics to blast-furnace coke.

"By replacing coke with fuel briquettes by approximately 30%, we will be able to save on the purchase of energy resources, which ultimately will reduce the cost of blister copper," he said..

Experiments on the production of coke briquettes have been conducted since August 2015, both in the laboratory of the research center of JSC "Uralelectromed", and in production conditions.

The project was implemented thanks to the new press of LUDMAN (USA), installed in the briquetting shop in 2015. Due to its high productivity, the "American" allows, without prejudice to the main technology of briquetting fine-dispersed raw materials, to make similar briquettes from coke breeze.

At the moment, the branch started using briquettes on an ongoing basis on all three shaft furnaces. The enterprise expects to receive up to 700 tons of fuel briquettes per month.