On 24 May, coke battery No. 8 of Avdiivka Coke, a part of Metinvest Group, started production. The plant has re-commenced full-scale operations for the first time in three years of fighting.
Due to heavy shelling in August 2014, Avdiivka Coke was cut off from power and had to mothball production. The brickwork of coke battery No. 8 could not withstand a sharp temperature drop and was damaged. Avdiivka Coke repaired the damages, yet the recurrent power outages prevented the plant from commissioning the battery.
With newly built power lines, Tsentralna-AKHZ and Kotlyarevsky-AKHZ, the equipment of all structural subdivisions was brought back into use.
Coke battery No. 8 will help ramp up production of blast furnace coke to 8,500 tonnes a day.
Musa Magomedov, CEO of Avdiivka Coke:
“The mothballing process has adversely affected the battery and furnace equipment. Today, we cant predict how the battery will operate. Most likely, we’ll have to make new repairs. Yet, re-commissioning the battery is very important for the plant.”
Avdiivka Coke has been in the midst of hostilities since June 2014. During this time, over 320 shells exploded on the plant’s premises, 12 employees were killed and more than 50 injured. The plant suspended operations 15 times and was cut off from power more than 200 times.