ArcelorMittal South Africa would spend a “substantial” amount on further improving the environmental impact of its plants across the country in the coming years, COO Johan Fourie said on Friday.

At the official opening of a new R222-million dust extraction system at its Vereeniging Works, ArcelorMittal South Africa said that it was spending more than R1-billion up to 2011 on such environmental improvement projects.

Fourie noted that the steel producer was planning: a zero-effluent project at its Newcastle plant; a dust extraction system for the sinter plant in Vanderbijlpark; a dust extraction system for the electric arc furnace in Vanderbijlpark; and a desulphurisation plant at Newcastle.

CEO Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita said that the company had already spent R276-million on such projects in 2008 and R297-million last year. It was planning to spend a further R424-million on other environmental projects during this year.

ArcelorMittal South Africa had to acknowledge the sins of the past, she stated, adding that there was a long legacy of environmental impacts to overcome.

Nyembezi-Heita commented that the company was “insanely pleased” with the completion of the R222-million project at the Vereeniging Works at the end of last year, as it was an example of the commitment by the broader ArcelorMittal Group to improve its corporate responsibility.

Not only would the improvements made to the Melt Shop at the steel plant benefit employees, but also the nearby communities, as the dust cloud above the steelworks had been eliminated.

Gauteng MEC of Agriculture and Rural Development Nandi Mayathula-Khoza also welcomed the implementation of the system, saying that it would indeed contribute to reducing air pollution in the Vaal region and in Gauteng province, in general.

The dust extraction system, which took 20 months to complete, was aimed at removing primary and secondary emissions from the electric arc furnace and the two ladle furnaces; reducing dust emissions from the tundish tilting area, as well as the emissions released when refractory rubble is loaded into removal vehicles.

A High Temperature Quenching system had also replaced the old radiant cooler in order to cool down the extraction from the primary suction at the electric arc furnace.

The existing bag house at the plant had been insufficient and a new bag house, with ten times the capacity, had been added. The new bag house had a capacity of 2,3-million cubic metres an hour, bringing the total installed bag house capacity at the plant to 2,55-million cubic metres an hour.

Vereeniging Works development manager Carel Combrinck noted that the company had aimed to keep the stack emissions of the plant to below 20 mg/m³, the total suspended particle emissions to below 10 mg/m³ and the noise level below 85 dB.

All this had been achieved, with the stack emissions of the plant at 16 mg/m³, the total suspended particle emissions at 1,05 mg/m³ and a noise level below 85 dB.

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