The over 80-metre high chimney of the former sinter plant, i.e. the plant where sinter for blast furnaces was produced, has disappeared from the landscape of Nowa Huta forever. 33 kilograms of explosives were used to demolish the colossus and nearly 2,200 tonnes of rubble were created during the demolition works. This amount could fit into as much as 110 trucks! The sinter plant has been closed for almost a decade, so the company decided to remove the closed and unused buildings, including the chimney.
The operation of demolishing the chimney whose circumference at its widest point is 32.5 meters is one of the stages of the process of decommissioning the infrastructure of the former sinter plant, which was permanently shut down in 2012. “Fat Berta” - as steelworkers warmly called the large chimney of the Kraków sinter plant was demolished after half a century of its existence. 15 people from a specialized dismantling team worked on the demolition of the large chimney. There were also four excavators in operation, the largest of which weighing 50 tonnes.
Demolition works in the sinter plant, which began in July last year, will last until 2023. However, before they started, the area had to be prepared, fenced and secured. The safety of the entire process was supervised by the contractor's and ArcelorMittal Poland’s health and safety teams.
Scrap won't be wasted - metals to be recycled
- We decided to demolish the chimney and the entire infrastructure of the sinter plant as part of our ongoing drive to clean up unused assets. The entire plant occupied 30 hectares of land at Igołomska street. It consisted of 108 buildings, 115 belt conveyors, 4 electrostatic precipitators and 5 loading bridges. Thanks to this we recovered a huge unused area which can be used for other activities as and when required - emphasizes Sanjay Samaddar, chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal Poland.
Scrap is also recovered from the chimney and other devices of the former sinter plant, also known as the agglomeration plant, which will be reused in the steel plant in Dąbrowa Górnicza - it will go to converters and be used for steel production. - We plan to recover about 60,000 tonnes of scrap from all the equipment of the former sinter plant and the rubble coming from the demolition will be disposed of by a professional company - says Monika Mazurek, project manager for the dismantling of the sinter plant in Krakow.
There used to be two agglomeration plants in the Krakow steel plant. The first of the two sinter plants started operating in 1954 and was shut down at the turn of 1990/91. The latter - started in December 1966, five days before the first tapping of hot metal from blast furnace No. 5 - stopped working in June 2012.
Do you know that…
- - The sinter's chimney was 80 meters high, which is almost 6 times the height of the Wanda Mound in Nowa Huta.
- - Thanks to the demolition of the entire sinter plant, it will be possible to recover about 60,000 tonnes of scrap - this is as much as over 8.5 thousand figures of Lenin, like the one standing on the “Aleja Róż” would weigh.
- - During the demolition of the chimney nearly 2,200 tonnes of rubble were generated, which is as much as 110 average trucks could fit.
