Andrei Karunos

Re-cultivated soil

Time and again the world’s industrialized countries made attempts to establish ecologically safe steel enterprises. In this sense the German company Kloeckner near Bremen can serve as a role model. Its blast-furnace, converter and rolling plants are located 2 to 3 km from each other having between them meadows, copses with wild animals, lakes full of birds. The enterprise’s discharges have only a minimal impact on residential areas. But the land in Germany is expensive and that is why Kloeckner’s production is unprofitable. So, the country’s other companies have to financially support this ”showcase” of the German steel industry.
Referring to this experience Alexei Kushnaryov, the chief engineer of the Nizhny Tagil Iron & Steel Works (NTMK) said in an interview with Eurasian Metals: "Such an enterprise cannot serve as an example for us".

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s Alexei Kushnaryov stressed, the steel industry was always an ecologically problem-causing industry and, as it was developing, these problems were only getting worse. At present, just 30 % of technological systems and processes used by Russian metallurgists conforms to world standards and 28 % of them is so outdated that there are simply no reserves for their modernization.
At the beginning of the 21st century Russia’s metallurgical complex annually discharged into the air over 5 million tons of contaminating substances and the volume of discharging contaminating sewage into reservoirs amounted to 1.2 billion cubic meters. The common feature of the country’s 20 cities rated as the worst in this respect by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources is the presence of steel mills with the highest production capacities. Nizhny Tagil (NTMK) is placed13th following Norilsk (Norilsk Nickel), Novokuznetsk (the West Siberian Steel Corporation and Kuznetsk Steel Corporation), Lipetsk (the Lipetsk Iron & Steel Works), Cherepovets (Severstal), Magnitogorsk (the Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works) and a number of others.
"NTMK is the last one among enterprises of the steel industry, which annually discharge over 100,000 tons of contaminating substances into the air. But this does not give us the reason to be complacent", said Alexei Kushnaryov. Under the complex ecological program NTMK is constantly working to reduce the harmful production effect on the environment.
The enterprise is actively developing ecologically safe technologies, such as pouring steel by continuous casting machines, melting steel in walking-beam furnaces (at the rail and structural steel plant), using Wagner’s saws (at the tired-wheel shop). Outdated production facilities are being gradually liquidated. Open-hearth furnace shop No.2, four furnaces at open-hearth furnace shop No.1 and bloomer shop No.1 have already been closed. The coke-oven battery and blast furnace have been completely removed. The coke-oven battery has been built anew and currently it is being adjusted to operate in the design technological conditions. The new blast-furnace shop will be provided with modern gas-cleaning units, stock houses and casting yard.

Product of reprocessing man-caused formations. Used in road construction

Kushnaryov noted that the Russian Law on Environment Protection places all the responsibility on nature users. In accordance with federal laws NTMK currently makes payments for the subsoil use (use of artesian water), use of surface water (as a source of water inlet and sewage receiver), for contamination of the environment (water, air) as well as for waste disposal. In Kushnaryov’s opinion, the draft law, which is now being discussed in the State Duma, may promote even more the environment protection activity of enterprises similar to NTMK. It provides for including their own environment protection expenses into ecology payments.
Alexei Kushnaryov mentioned the program of the enterprise’s development till 2010, under which the Nizhny Tagil Iron & Steel Works intends to sharply reduce volumes of environment contamination: down to 38,000 tons of hazardous substances a year. In 2002 NTMK already reduced discharges into the air by 6,000 tons.
In Alexei Kushnaryov’ words, the complex ecological program at NTMK is annually corrected. In two and a half years the enterprise spent over $36M on reducing the harmful impact of its production on the environment. Under this program the converter plant’s reconstruction is going on, the system of transferring sludge from blast furnaces to the sludge utilization shop for reprocessing has been assembled, the project of establishing the enterprise’s sanitary protection zone is being developed. Currently the development of a monitoring system is nearing completion and it is planned to commission the system in 2004. Also next year there will be an international auditing and the ISO 14001 standard will be introduced.

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Alexei Kushnaryov Chief engineer of NTMK JSC is 43 years old. Graduated from the G. Nosov Magnitogorsk Mining-and-Metallurgical Institute with a diploma of metallurgy engineer. Starting as a roller-mill operative became the chief roller at the Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works. Since 2002 has been the chief engineer of NTMK. Has a scientific degree in engineering, author of many scientific articles and inventions connected with the rolling production technology.

Since 1996 the shop to reprocess man-caused formations has been in operation at NTMK built according to the technology and equipment supplied by German firms. This is a high-capacity crushing-and-sorting complex having deep magnetic separation as well as the system of aspiration units.
"Besides the ecological component, this shop is very important commercially", stressed Alexei Kushnaryov. "By reprocessing dump slag we are making commercial products, for example, slag road-metal for road construction as well as metal products for various purposes with the iron content from 50 % to 90 %", he said. The reclaimed metal is used in charges of sintering plants, blast and steel-melting furnaces. As Kushnaryov pointed out, all products made with the use of slag «have a hygienic certificate».

General view of complex to reprocess man-caused formations

The chief engineer of NTMK said that in 2002 two million tons of dump slag were reprocessed, 344,000 tons of metal were reclaimed and utilized. As a result, the enterprise achieved an important ecological goal: for the first time volumes of removing slag from dumps for its subsequent reprocessing exceeded volumes of freshly stored slag.
Re-cultivating soil after slag dumps is carried out by stages, as the territory occupied by these dumps is being vacated.
Authorities of the Sverdlovsk region, where the Nizhny Tagil Iron & Steel Works is operating, are encouraging those industrial enterprises, which are active in environment protection.
"We receive subsidies from the region’s ecological foundation to take ecologically significant measures", said Kushnaryov. In particular, for three years now NTMK together with the region’s administration has been providing assistance to the Levikhinsky mine to neutralize mine water. Thanks to the ecological foundation’s subsidy the enterprise produces high-quality lime that is supplied to the mine.
According to Kushnaryov, at present NTMK is preparing a new request for ecological subsidy. These funds will be used to construct aspiration systems and new production facilities for reprocessing man-caused formations.