PRODUCTION OF CHARCOAL PIG IRON IN THE URALS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00039R000100050015-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 7, 2012
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: May 22, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/07 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000100050015-0
50X1 -HUM
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/07 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000100050015-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/07 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000100050015-0
~~~+?yl~ a'I/
lus ~ A + Wi
~i
PJ JC TION OF CHAS AL _PIO IXILN tN
In the USSR, high quality pig iron is produced in the Urale. Some partiotz1ar3
re types of charcoal pig iron can be produoed there since the region oontaiae
both highly pure iron ore and large foreate. however, efforts to develop charcoal
metallurgy in the Urale were made only after 1930. Toward the outbreak of the ware
production of charcoal pig iron totaled Y00,000 tone, including 240,000 tone of
top quality pig iron, An output of from 700,000 to 800,000 tuna of oharooal pig
iron, involving the production of 1.5 aiiion tone of charcoal, was planned for
the last rear of the third Fire-Year Plan (1942). In 1938 and 1939, steel plants
tieing charcoal were coneweing 3 3j million cubic meters of this fuel/.
After the war, the production of charcoal pig iron oould not match its
prewar levels. Present output can be estimated at 300,000 to 400,000 tone, shioh
1? n't, ~i f'fit~ient to eneure the planned development of high"c uality eteel
produotion.
The total forest area of the Urala amounte to 80 million hectares, providing
a potential annual supply of 40 million cubic meters. The distribution of forests,
ho-sr, is not very favorable. In the South, nunaerc~ue outs were made, and for
this reason, charcoal for industry irl the Chelyabinek region moot be shipped frcea
the northern foreete, hundred. of kilaueters away. The better preserved forests
and the beet prospeote for charcoal production lie in the districts of Serov,
.lam
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/07 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000100050015-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/07 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000100050015-0
e in the area of the Upper Ka e 1tiver, in the chuso~
al,
I~del ~ (Northern r )
regions and in the industrial center of A1*pyYevek (northeast from Sverdlovsk).
The Sohwarts furnace, rhiol~ is far from perfeot, is the mat extSUeively
notion. Before the war, its aplaoement with AmerIroan
used for charcoal prod
llurnaoes of the Koslov or Smolontkov type, or with a type
retorts, with Russian
developed by prof es oor Ishevskiy, was contemplated. In sorbets where oonditions
are unfavorable and float?&re difficult, Soviet technioians favor the u .e of
furnaces. But these pro3eota have refined on paper, and one
portably Swedish
1 oharooal intiuntry of today is still at a rather primitivi
can say that the Urn
stage.
for furnaoee using charcoal presents no proble*, aince mar
The ore sups ly
the Urals have ample deposits of both pure and mixed iron ore.
regions in
seibin to organize the production of oree specifically
But eltliough it is po
for charcoal smelting, Ural high-quality ,netel1urg7 still suffers because of the
these ores. In 1939, the out1*tt of iron ore designed
chronic look of duality of
for use with charcoal way only 260,000 tone, a part of which was actually smelted
It is strongly believed that present output does not
in coke.-burning furnaces.
equal this level, although the developoaent of high quality ueeta1lurgy deuaands
it.
The moa6 iron ore deposits designed to supply high-quality
foremost e~
eastallutrgy id the yaks/ depoit (southwest from Zlato iet ), the high grade ore
for charcoal pig iron production and the yield of which can
of which is used
be increased to 40 percent (at pre~iai. ?.t ie no higher than 30 percent).
This depooit, primarily supplies the Satka steel planta (eouthwest from Zlatoust,
near iakal~) and the new ateel oombine in Chelyabinsk.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/07 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000100050015-0
 farious other ores suitable for oherooal exulting aka oertain ores
Among
high in chrumiua and nickel from the Yelisardt ainesi ore, low in niokel, frua~
the fesh deposit (northeast from verdlovsk)i amgnetitv and titaniaa eintera
from Ku8a3 &td ore frcaa the Alupgevek, Auerbaoh, pokrovsk, Deloretek (south-'
tram T.1atoust), 8qrnovka, end other adposits.
The Feet Soviet pig iron is produoed with the charooal-smelted Bakal ores.
The proephorue oontent of this pig iron is under 0.03 poroent and it is well
suited for acid open-hearth smelting into steel. The 3atka plants also have
success using the nickel ore from the Akkerman deposit, mixing it with martite
from the qornot lagodatskiy aepoeit (eaet?northeast Srom Molotov). By smelting
the powdered ore from the ~tkkerman deposit with coke, it has been found possible
to obtain a natural alloy of iron (or steel) and nickel with a nickel content
as high as 3 3 percent. Despite a certain aomploxity in the processing method
used, this i iron is believed to have ease future in Soviet high-quality
*etallu y.
Aaong the Alapayevok plants, those using the charcoal psouees (the
evek, Sinyaehikhinskiy, ~-nd Staroutkinek steel plants) produce both
Ale-paY
metal (sheets fur roofing) and high..grade pig iron (our ruilin e411
ordinary
shafts). The iniatr7 of Metallurgy called for an inereaoe in the output of
the high-'grade pig iron, but the order was rather inef f ioiently carried out.
The Alapsyevok district has long been known for its high-grade roofing
sheetshich have a higk resietance to atmoepherie oorrosion. This property
is due to the nickel, chromium, and copper content of the ore. Fig iron
in this district ha an average content of 0.3 - 0.5 percent nickel,
produced
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/07 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000100050015-0
3
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/07 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000100050015-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/07 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000100050015-0
0.2 ? 0.4 peraent ohromius, and about 0.5 psraent ooppor. To obtain a pig iron
with a leer oontent of these srrtals, it is MOSUWY to add to the brut-furnace
charge a rather large quantity of oosplex ores (e. g., on from the Yelita'st
or the Rest depoaits, the latter hiving a low niokel content). However,
Yeliuivet or, being in powder form, meet first be converted into briquettee
or sinter and this etep entails corns organisation ditt&cultie$.
The re on whioh preaente the greatest poesibilitiee for higb'qu&1Lt7
charcoal iaeta11urgy is the 3erov dietriot (Northern Urals ), where the largeet
foreete ire located. The 3erov plant 1 e blast Iu nnaoee play an iasportrnt part
in charcoal pig iron production.
The eetabliehed norm for o ona'iir tion of hard wood (birch) charcoal is
4.5 - , cubic meters per ton of pig iron. However, the actual consuMptiofn was
never under 6 - 7 cubic meters per ton of pig iron; during the war it went as
high as 7 - B cubic seteres and despite later iaaprovenenta, is still 6.7
oubtu mui.ers per ton. The poet of one ton of charcoal was 25 zubles in
193~ 193? prices, resulting in a minima P coat of 150 rubles (using 6 oubio
maters o1 charooal ) per ton of pig iron. 3ms1ting with coke coats only one
third as much, since only 1.1 1.2 tons of coke, at 50 rubles per ton, are
required per ton of pig iron.
The Urs1 region is the only place in the entire USSR where high grade
charcoal pig iron is produced. Its production, however, is far from adequate
to aeet the dsawnds for highMgrade setals. For this reason, the use of coke in
producing high grade metal has become a current prob
r4M
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/07 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000100050015-0