Turkey’s İsdemir prepares to launch the country’s largest blast furnace

Turkish steelmaker İsdemir, part of OYAK Mining & Metallurgy, has completed preparations for the commissioning of a new blast furnace No. 1, the country’s largest. This is stated in the company’s sustainability report.

As noted, the new generation blast furnace will not only increase the production capacity of liquid crude iron, but will also make a significant contribution to İsdemir’s vision of sustainable growth through energy efficiency, environmentally friendly production processes and the use of advanced technologies.

A key feature of the project is the conversion of the increased volume of blast furnace gas into electricity, which further optimizes operating costs. This will enable the company to save on electricity purchases.

The new blast furnace will have a capacity of 2.8 million tons per year. The project was first announced in 2019 and was originally scheduled to be commissioned in 2021.

Isdemir’s steel production capacity is 5.8 million tons of steel per year, 3.5 million tons of flat products, 2.5 million tons of billets and 600 thousand tons of wire rod.

At the same time, OYAK Mining & Metallurgy’s subsidiary Erdemir completed a test of hydrogen injection into a blast furnace in 2024, the first such achievement in the country.

In addition, the group has started developing alternative fuels to coal by commissioning a pilot pyrolysis plant with a biochar production capacity of 7 thousand tons per year.

Last February, Isdemir announced plans to build a 140 MW solar power plant in Diyarbakir. The relevant project document was submitted to the country’s Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change. The project was planned to be completed within 25 months.