Two months left until the end of the year. It is too early to summarize it, but certain conclusions can already be drawn. At Novotroitsk Plant of Chromium Compounds, further modernization of production did not stop even in the current difficult epidemiological conditions.
“All the planned measures to improve the efficiency of the plant, environmental protection and labor protection have been completed over the past three quarters,” says Alexander Epifantsev, Chief Engineer of JSC NZHS. – The coronavirus, of course, left its mark on the previously customary course of the implementation of the annual order to ensure the integrated development of the plant. A lot of funds were invested in adjusting the shift work schedule, daily thermometry of employees, equipping public access areas with recirculators, sanitizing work areas, purchasing disinfectants and protective equipment.
These measures preserving the health of the plant workers are still ongoing. But the so-called technical work did not stop even for a minute. Almost all divisions of the enterprise are undergoing major reconstruction throughout the year. In August, NZHS was stopped for repairs, on which all the plant’s services did a great job. A lot of equipment has been replaced. And it was work for the future. ”
The plant premises are also being transformed: at two workshops – No. 1 and No. 2 – the facades on the north side have been updated. The total area of the new decorative plastering of the walls of these main divisions of the enterprise was about 12 thousand square meters.
In the factory boiler house, the fourth boiler installed at the end of summer is “overgrown” with insulation and auxiliary equipment. And soon, after commissioning, it will update the list of the latest power equipment put into operation at NZHS in recent years.
The automation of workplaces is expanding, providing them with modern programs for maintaining and regulating production. So, in the room of the masters of the furnace department of the sodium monochromatic production workshop No. 1, modern electronics were “registered”. Six monitors allow shift personnel to monitor the process in all critical areas of the shop.
As part of environmental protection measures, the plant annually purchases and changes equipment that reduces the possible negative impact from the existing production. For example, in the same workshop in 2019, the KFE filter was replaced – a modern one, not the first at the plant, which has proven itself well. The same filter was replaced here in the grinding department this year as well.
In the sodium monochromate workshop No. 5, an extensive step-by-step re-equipment of the second kiln conveyor is underway. A new automatic gas-flame equipment has been installed here, and a new wet mill has been launched in a test mode. It is larger and more efficient than its predecessor. Earlier, the installation specialists completed the installation and covering of the armor of this unit. Armor is a steel casting of various configurations to protect the inner walls of the case. And unlike military equipment, it is not installed outside, but inside – it is here that heavy balls – “shells” fly. Timely replacement of this protection will greatly increase the life of the mill in the future. Has exhausted its resource, it has been replaced – and continue working!
“This is a planned modernization with an eye on the further development of the production of not only this workshop,” says Alexander Kozlov, deputy head of technical department, directly at the test site. – In the mill, the sinter of the charge is broken up with steel balls, then dissolved with weak liquors with further filtration and transferred to the production of sodium monochromate – the main, first product in the chain of further factory processing. And the ore residue is returned to the “head” of production. This increases productivity and reduces waste. In the near future, their number will be reduced to a minimum. ”
“This is the task set before us by our general director Vasily Ivanovich Izmalkin,” adds Grigory Lakomkin, head of workshop No. 5. – And it will be solved. The purpose of these changes is to extract all useful components from the ore as much as possible, to use them in further production and to make it waste-free. And this section can be considered the beginning of a deep modernization of the entire production of sodium monochromate in two buildings. ”
And this is the future of the plant, its new horizons, new products. And the results of both the work already completed and the work being carried out now – daily, painstaking, with the participation of the entire team – should ensure a confident start of the enterprise next year. It simply cannot be otherwise.