OREANDA-NEWS  On 01 November was announced, that Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant (LSE, RTS, MICEX: CHZN), Russia’s largest producer of zinc and zinc alloys, completed implementation of a big investment project, having put the sulphuric acid system (Unit No.4) into operation upon its complete overhaul. The value of the project amounts to USD 35 m.

It’s worth mentioning that five sulphuric acid systems are operating at the plant. Gaseous sulphur dioxide (SO2) is fed into such systems after zinc concentrate roasting stage. The principal aim of this production stage is to reclaim the produced gas, preventing its emission to the atmosphere.

State-of-the-art materials and technologies were used in the course of the construction of the sulphuric acid system, which made it possible to enhance the efficiency of SO2 reclamation process, reducing emissions of such gas to the atmosphere by 96.5 tons and emissions of sulphuric acid by 0.7 tons a year. Moreover, the equipment is capable of producing 100 thou. tons of improved sulphuric acid. In 2003, CZP implemented a similar project and put a new sulphuric acid system into operation.

“The new sulphuric acid system is an important environmental project. The equipment enables us to make the city’s air basin even cleaner. The system also makes it possible to produce sulphuric acid having better quality, which is highly demanded by industrial enterprises,” – commented Vsevolod Geikhman, CZP Director-General.

Overhaul of the system was started in 2006. It is planned to bring the equipment to the design capacity by the end of the year.