Posted on 25 Aug 2020
Liberty Steel confirmed that has restarted its BF2 at the Czech Ostrava plant after four months of stoppage and repairs, Kallanish reports.
The furnace was stopped in mid-April to respond to the slump of demand linked with the outbreak of coronavirus across Europe. Following the stoppage the company invested more than CZK 44 million ($2 million) to upgrade and modernise the installation. With the official restart of the furnace last week, the company reached its target to bring back the furnace in operation by the end of August, as announced in April.
Pascal Genest, CEO of Liberty Ostrava, says: “The temporary shutdown of the furnace allowed us to respond flexibly to the slump in steel demand due to the coronavirus pandemic and to reduce the metal inventory built for the start of the construction season. We are very pleased that the repairs have been carried out successfully and that we have been able to deliver on our commitment to restart the furnace by the end of August. The ability to manage the blast furnace in this way highlights the plant’s flexibility, which will help the business as it looks to improve its long term economic and environmental sustainability.”
The furnace started operating back in 1952. It can now produce 3,200 tonnes of hot metal per day. Following the restart at the end of last week the furnace is now expected to be ready soon to output hot metal for steelmaking. During the stoppage of BF2 the company continued to produce using BF3.
Source:Kallanish
