News El 6 Novosibirsk

Novosibirsk, January 22, 2020. Today, the EPM-Novosibirsk electrode plant (EPM-NovEP, a subsidiary of EPM Group) received a new EIRICH mixing system valued at 320 million rubles. This is the second plant purchased by the company as part of a large-scale reconstruction of the Green Anode Plant, which began in 2019.

The new equipment was delivered from the manufacturer in Hartheim, Germany, to Novosibirsk in six truck vans. Preparation for the equipment assembly is planned to begin in February.

EPM-NovEP Managing Director Alexey Spektoruk explained that "The new complex will be incorporated in the seventh process train, which will become the next step in modernizing the Green Anode Plant. The train is planned to produce large-sized electrodes and graphite cathode blocks by vibromolding."

In addition to the installation of the new mixing plant, the modernization of the seventh process train will include the installation of two new grinders, conveyors, as well as screening and batching systems.

"The completion of all Green Anode Plant reconstruction activities at EPM-NovEP will allow the plant to increase its production capacity by a total of 25% (up to 50,000 tons per year)," Alexey Spektoruk said.

Installing EIRICH mixing plants is one of the key projects of the EPM Group large scale investment program at the Novosibirsk Electrode Plant, which has been underway since 2018. The first EIRICH mixing plant was commissioned in September 2019. It became the center core of the sixth process train's modernization. The equipment is already producing batches of UHP graphite electrodes.

As part of the investment program, a new 32-chamber furnace was put into operation, and a new direct graphitization furnace was launched in 2018. Three process trains are being modernized at the Green Anode Plant, namely the trains producing green paste, cathode blocks, as well as carbon and graphite electrodes. Russian and international experts took part in updating the grinding, batching, and mixing equipment, modernizing the coal-tar line, and getting underway updates on the laboratory complex. The total cost of the program to modernize and re-equip the company's production facilities in 2019–2020 is estimated at 3 billion rubles.