Steel industry is one of the most power-intensive branches, particularly in terms of natural gas and coke consumption. Both can be substituted for domestically produced coal, namely pulverized coal.

In 2009 the facility of pulverized coal injection was brought into operation at blast furnaces No 1 & 5 at Alchevsk Metallurgical Plant in Alchevsk, Luhansk Region. Currently the facilities of pulverized coal injection are being developed for blast furnaces No 3 & 4.

The pulverized coal injection facility is being designed for blast furnaces at Dneprovskiy Metallurgical Plant. The mixtures of different coal grades are used for pulverized coal preparation. The injection of 170 kilogram to 200 kilogram of pulverized coal per one ton of cast iron into blast furnaces excludes natural gas usage and reduces the consumption of coke by 80 kilogram to 120 kilogram per 1 tonne of cast iron.

The annual production output of pulverized coal at Alchevsk Metallurgical Plant is 1553,000 tonnes. Eighty five workers and technicians run the facility. The injection of pulverized coal into blast furnaces of the plant guarantees annual economizing of 607500 tonnes of coke and 784.8 cubic meters of natural gas.

Taking into consideration the utilization of pulverized coal, the total annual saving of energy resources is 241,300 tonnes of equivalent fuel. The conservation of resources due to the facility usage in iron production process amounts to 241,300 tonnes of equivalent fuel annually.