Friday, September 26, 2008

ThyssenKrupp Steel: 30 million euros to reduce particulates

ThyssenKrupp Steel is investing an additional 30 million euros to reduce particulate pollution in the north of Duisburg. By mid-2011 Germany's biggest steelmaker is to equip its sinter plant in Duisburg-Schwelgern with additional filters to capture particulates and dust-containing off-gases. The company is thus doing its bit to ensure that European Union emissions standards are met in the north of Duisburg. 

In the past ThyssenKrupp has made its contribution to improving air quality with a total of 41 measures. Their success is confirmed by measurements by the state environmental authority: Particulate pollution in the north of Duisburg has decreased by more than 20 percent since 2002, whereas in heavy traffic areas for example it has remained virtually constant. 

ThyssenKrupp Steel accounts for around 20 percent of the particulate pollution in the north of Duisburg. This was shown by an investigation program carried out jointly with the Ministry for Environment and Nature Conservation, Agriculture and Consumer Protection of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Other results of the two-year investigation: 60 percent of the particlate matter recorded at the measuring points in Duisburg-Marxloh and Duisburg-Bruckhausen is carried in by the wind from surrounding and more distant areas, while another 20 percent comes from traffic and domestic fuel combustion. Domestic fuel burning includes the coal stoves still used to heat an above-average number of homes in the north of Duisburg. 

The 30 million euro investment in the sinter plant will further reduce the company's share of the particulate emissions. Sinter plants convert fine ore into a coarse-grained material suitable for charging in the blast furnace. The plant at ThyssenKrupp Steel produces around twelve million tons of sinter per year. It already has filters with a total surface area of 150,000 square meters which clean approximately a hundred billion cubic meters of gas per year, with the captured iron-bearing dusts being cycled back to the sinter plant.

To improve control of particulate emissions still further, among other things ThyssenKrupp Steel will be installing an additional fabric filter downstream of the existing electrostatic gas cleaners. In addition, new high-voltage electrostatic precipitators are to be used to separate particulates inside the sinter belt areas. At the same time, further particulate sources will be connected to the improved dust collection systems. This action by ThyssenKrupp Steel goes beyond the measures recommended by the recently published Clean Air Plan for the western Ruhr. The filter concept for the sinter plant will reduce particulate pollution in the north of Duisburg by up to 3 micrograms per cubic meter.

"The aim behind this voluntary measure is to help achieve a sustainable improvement in the particulate situation in the north of Duisburg," says Dr. Gunnar Still, head of Environmental Affairs at ThyssenKrupp Steel. "However our company cannot bring about lasting compliance with the standards on its own. The background pollution from other sources is too great. 
Further efforts at federal and state level and an intensive dialogue among all parties are needed." 

Reducing dust emissions has always been an important issue for ThyssenKrupp Steel, not just since the decision to invest in the new filters. In recent years the company has launched wide-ranging programs which have led to a significant reduction in dust pollution. The most recent example is blast furnace 8, commissioned in December 2007, with its unique dust collection system for capturing emissions during rail car unloading. This system alone cost the company 20 million euros. Altogether, a quarter of the 250 million euro investment in the new blast furnace was spent on pollution control. Together with the North Rhine-Westphalia environmental agency it has been proven that the new blast furnace produces virtually no uncontrolled diffuse dust emissions.

Back in October 2004 ThyssenKrupp Steel began operation of a system to collect dust emissions from the casthouse and stockhouse of blast furnace 1. The 16.5 million euro unit cleans 1.8 million cubic meters of air per hour via 18 different extraction points. The investment was part of a 62 million euro program to reduce dust emissions from the Schwelgern plant unit, in the course of which the rotary coolers in the sinter plant were also enclosed at a cost of 33 million euros.

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