OREANDA-NEWS. August 02, 2013. ArcelorMittal Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, has made good progress in the implementation of a number of large environmental projects, with a total investment of more than USD14.5m.

Three projects, which began in 2012, are currently being implemented in the blast furnace and sinter plant, with the aim of reducing emissions from these units and decreasing the impact on the surrounding environment. At the coke plant, assembly of the new charging machine is due to start soon.

M.V. Kulkarni, CEO of ArcelorMittal Zenica, emphasised the importance of these investment plans in difficult financial times:

“The projects are being implemented in order to fulfil two important goals:  to ensure  environmental protection, and to improve the working conditions of our, and our contractors' employees. Our objective for the entire investment programme is to bring emissions from ArcelorMittal Zenica within all the relevant Bosnia and Herzegovina laws and standards within a reasonable period of time, and to continue our progress beyond that. Everybody at ArcelorMittal Zenica is working very hard to achieve this goal, and I believe that residents of this town recognise this.”

Blast furnace
The installation of the cast house de-dusting system is on track at the blast furnace department.

The new system will ensure complete de-dusting of the solid particles during the tapping of hot metal in the cast house of the blast furnace, which will significantly reduce emissions and improve working conditions in the unit.

In May 2013 the delivery of equipment for this project was completed. The works and the assembly of the equipment outside the blast furnace building have progressed significantly, while the works on the blast furnace cast house started in June. Cold tests are expected to start this month.

Sinter plant
Two large projects are also underway in the sinter plant. The first is the replacement of the existing water de-dusting systems with new bag filters, used in the reloading and transportation of sinter and lime. All five filters have been recently placed in trial run mode, with satisfactory results.

The other project currently being implemented in this department is the replacement of all four sections in the sinter machine no. 4 precipitator, to reduce emissions. The assembly of all four sections has been completed and adjustments and testing of the electro filters is underway.
 
Coke plant
Procurement of a new charging machine is underway in the coke plant. This will significantly reduce the emission of solid particles from this facility and the duration of the emissions, creating much better working conditions for around 150 employees working in this area. The assembly and subsequent delivery of the equipment for the new charging machine is in progress.