On September 28, the N8# blast furnace and hot blast stove project of Rizhao Steel Co., Ltd., undertaken by Shandong province Metallurgical Engineering Co., Ltd.(SDM) on a turnkey basis, was successfully ignited at one time. This marks the official transition of the project from the construction and installation phase to the heating up and trial production stage, laying a solid foundation for the smooth commissioning of the entire blast furnace project. Company Vice President Liu Hongjun and Hot Blast Stove Branch Manager Cong Peisheng attended the heating-up ceremony.

(Heating-up ceremony site)

N8# blast furnace and hot blast stove officially commenced construction on November 18, 2024. The first ring of the hot blast stove shell was lifted on January 1, 2025, and the top was successfully installed on March 24. Internal lining began on April 1, with the furnace proper and all pipelines completing their lining on July 25. The heating up process started on September 28th.

During the project construction process, all members of the project department withstood multiple pressures, including tight schedules, heavy tasks, and the coordinated forward progress of multiple projects. They work with the spirit of hammering nails, fighting day and night. From millimeter-level precision control in the hot blast stove body lining, to the accurate alignment of combustion system pipelines, and the full-time supervision throughout the heating up and commissioning processes, the team members consistently remained at their posts and collaborated effectively. Ultimately, they successfully completed the project construction tasks, laying a critical foundation for the efficient and stable ironmaking operations of the blast furnace.

This project is the sixth blast furnace and hot blast stove supporting project undertaken by SDM for Rizhao Steel Co., Ltd. It marks a new stage of cooperation between the two parties in the field of core steel smelting equipment and also demonstrates SDM's strong capabilities in the EPC field of large blast furnaces and hot blast stoves.

(Reporting project results, requesting "ignition" command)

 Market Expansion: Precise Efforts to Embark on a New Journey (2019-2023)

In 2019, SDM  began to deeply participate in the preliminary work of the supporting project for the new blast furnace and hot blast stove of Rizhao Steel Co., Ltd., providing professional support for the project feasibility study. The company established a specialized technical working group to thoroughly align with the owner's requirements, offering full-strand technical support ranging from process optimization of the hot blast stove combustion system to refractory selection and adaptation. Facing intense competition among multiple design institutes, SDM  ultimately broke through the competition and successfully won the bid for the project, relying on its solid technical expertise in the blast furnace and hot blast stove engineering fields, a tailored technical proposal for the project, and efficient service responsiveness. In January 2020, the contract for the "EPC Project of the Hot Blast Stove System Supporting the 3x3000m³ Blast Furnace Project of Rizhao Steel Co., Ltd." was signed. This project marks SDM 's first large-scale EPC project undertaken for Rizhao Steel, holding significant importance for market expansion.

With the orderly forward of the three blast furnace hot blast stove projects, the cooperation between both parties has entered the substantive implementation stage. This project adopts the completely independent intellectual property improved top combustion type hot blast stove technology. The significant advantages of this technology in energy saving, environmental protection, and service life have enabled rapid achievement of production and efficiency targets after commissioning, playing a key supporting role in the energy saving and consumption reduction of the blast furnace, and laying a solid foundation for subsequent cooperation on other projects.

Building on Past Achievements and Creating Benchmark Projects (2023-2024)

With the increasing demand for capacity upgrades and green transformation at Rizhao Steel Co., Ltd., SDM , leveraging its mature technical proposal and reliable engineering quality, successfully secured the EPC project for the "No.4 and No.5 Blast Furnace Hot Blast Stove System of Rizhao Steel Co., Ltd." through negotiated bidding in May 2023. Construction commenced in the same month. To establish an industry benchmark project, the Hot Blast Stove Branch specially organized technical experts to conduct detailed planning on construction techniques, quality control, and safety assurance, overcoming multiple construction challenges. Ultimately, the heating up targets for the No.4 and No.5 Blast Furnace Hot Blast Stoves were achieved in March and November 2024, respectively, completing the work 14 days ahead of schedule. The project owner issued a commendation letter, praising its engineering philosophy of "advanced technical features and standardized construction organization." To date, SDM  has completed five high-performance Blast Furnace Hot Blast Stoves for Rizhao Steel Co., Ltd., with stable system operation. During the project construction period, safety and quality control were highly effective, with no safety or quality incidents occurring, successfully achieving management objectives and earning high praise and recognition from the project owner.

Deepening Cooperation and Writing a New Chapter (2024-2025)

Based on the outstanding performance in the previous two phases of the project, SDM  has earned high recognition from Rizhao Steel Co., Ltd. Against the severe backdrop of tightening industry project supply, intensifying competition, peers engaging in price undercutting and scrambling for resources amid an "involution" trend, the company leveraged the trust foundation and technical reputation accumulated through past cooperation. With precise cost control solutions and customized services tailored to the owner's needs, it once again stood out and successfully signed the "Rizhao Steel Co., Ltd. Capacity Upgrade and Renovation Project—N8# Blast Furnace Project Hot Blast Stove System EPC Contract" through negotiation bidding in September 2024. This marks the sixth blast furnace hot blast stove supporting system that SDM  has undertaken for Rizhao Steel Co., Ltd.

The newly constructed N8# blast furnace and hot blast stove, following the mature EPC general contracting model, implemented full-process control from design, procurement to construction, strictly managing the quality of key procedures such as shell hoisting and refractory lining. During the heating up process, precise regulation of the temperature curve ensured the structural stability of the furnace, ultimately achieving a successful one-time heating up, once again verifying its technical reliability and engineering control capabilities. The successful heating up of the N8# blast furnace and hot blast stove marks a significant milestone in the years of deep cooperation between SDM and Rizhao Steel Co., Ltd., establishing another remarkable achievement in the general contracting of a 3000 m³ blast furnace and hot blast stove. This lays a solid foundation for the subsequent development of the No. 6 and No. 7 furnace projects at Rizhao Steel and the expansion of the domestic blast furnace and hot blast stove market.