All enterprises affiliated to Industrial Metallurgical Holding (IMH) fully understand a need to reduce their negative environmental impact. They are constantly introducing new environmentally friendly technologies and ecological projects. The best example of successful environmental improvement is represented by the largest enterprises of IMH.
At JSC Koks the enterprise’s experts are carefully monitoring environmental parameters of production process in line with production indicators. Reducing technological environmental impact is the priority activity of the enterprise. Kemerovo Koks is the only Russian enterprise where all coking batteries are equipped with dust free coke pushing facilities. Technological environmental impact in the region has already been minimized to the European standards and it will be reduced further gradually. Emissions into the atmosphere were reduced considerably to 1.8 kg per ton of coke from 3.3 kg in 1999 and they will be reduced further to 1 kg per ton of finished product.
Today JSC Koks has virtually resolved an environmental problem regarding reutilization of coke-oven gas. The bulk quantity of the gas is reused to heat the ovens and the rest of it is transferred to Kemerovo Power Plant as a fuel to produce electricity.
In 2000 JSC Koks installed a unique environmental facility to capture ammonia from coke-oven gas. Implementation of a new technology reduced annual production of concentrated sulfuric acid by 40 thousand tons. The plant also modernized a biochemical sewage treatment facility that helped to increase the treatment ratio to 99%. Besides all liquid wastes of the plant are 100% recyclable and water consumed is totally recirculated. Consumption of water at the plant was reduced from 3.4 million cubic meters in 2001 to 2.3 million cubic meters in 2005.
It’s hard to believe that JSC Koks situated in the middle of Kemerovo city was on the brink of its closure in mid 1990-s as its emissions were far more than the MAC value.
Reducing environmental impact is a major task of JSC Tulachermet as well. A lot has already been done regarding reduction of emissions. Emissions into the atmosphere per unit of production have been reduced by more than 50% for the last three years which was partially achieved by installation of high efficiency aspiration systems. Tulachermet has developed a program to preserve natural water reservoirs. The enterprise’s water consumption was reduced by 50% and sewage water discharge was totally ceased. It is the first metallurgical enterprise with closed cycle of water consumption. In 2005 the enterprise introduced full water recycling system. Today most of industrial wastes of the plant are reutilized to produce metal containing briquettes and different construction materials.
Tulachermet is aiming to reduce further environmental impact of the plant. Ecological program developed in 2004 includes a number of environmental measures to be implemented at the plant until 2008. This program is the first step towards integration into ISO 14000 standard.
Polema are also implementing new environmentally friendly technologies under their long term ecological programs. For example, in April 2004 JSC Polema (situated next to the industrial site of Tulachermet) introduced high efficient and environmentally safe bromide-lithium refrigerator instead of compression ammonia cooling facility used in electrolytic chromium production. A new technology has virtually eliminated toxic emissions.
Newly acquired enterprises Ufaleinickel and Rezhnickel (Ural region) have also developed long term environmental programs. They also implement innovation programs on the basis of environmental improvement in the area.
Environmental safety control is also being improved at the coal enterprises of IMH. For instance according to a license agreement open cut Uchastok Koksovy (Kemerovo region) bound itself to solve a range of environmental problems around the site. Production program of the open cut is estimated for 16 years period. During this time miners should conduct full revegetation of the disturbed crust and reconstruct natural landscape. Every ton of new stripping is moved to the site where the crust had been disturbed following by planting of new trees. Total amount of stripping is 750-800 thousand tonnes per month.
