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NLMK Group fulfills all goals of Environmental Strategy 2023
NLMK Group has successfully achieved all key objectives as part of its Environmental Strategy 2023, reducing specific atmospheric emissions by 13%, increasing waste processing rate to 96% (recycling of secondary resources at 99%), and cutting discharges into water bodies in half.
In order to improve air quality, the Company has decreased its specific air emissions by 13% to 17.0 kg/t of steel over the last five years — this is lower than the level of best available techniques (BATs) of 18 kg/t.
In order to secure these results, NLMK Lipetsk installed and upgraded 24 gas treatment units, revamped two blast furnaces and its BOF operations, constructed a new chemical product recovery facility, and modernized its railway rolling stock. New cutting-edge cleaning systems ensure gas dusting rates downstream of filters at a level several times lower than after household vacuuming (5 mg/m3 vs. 20–30 mg/m3). Stoilensky integrated a dust suppression system into its tailings facility and an automated emission monitoring system for all its major production sources.
A large-scale programme was executed to eliminate the hydrogen sulphide odour. Commissioning of a new cooling facility for blast furnace gravel and deployment of specialized agents in wet quenching have enabled a two-fold decrease of its annual-average concentration in the air in the city of Lipetsk. According to Roshydromet Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, there were no violations of hydrogen sulphide concentration thresholds caused by sources at NLMK in 2023. In 2024, NLMK Lipetsk is to complete its transition to waterless cooling of blast furnace gravel, which will completely eliminate the hydrogen sulphide odour coming from its sources.
In order to reduce adverse impacts on water basins, 11 sites of NLMK Group have set up closed-loop water cycles. Water intake from water bodies is used for the cooling of equipment and other production processes; waste water then undergoes treatment and is re-used. Total water circulation within NLMK Group is currently at 3.5 billion m3 per year, which is the volume of five Suez Canals. Strategy projects have enabled the Company to reuse 97.5% of its water intake across all of its sites.
As part of the completed strategy cycle, NLMK Lipetsk revamped its on-site treatment facilities. This project, worth a total of RUB 170 million in CAPEX, improved the quality of NLMK municipal sewage discharge. The next step is to integrate municipal sewage discharge into the site’s closed-loop system starting from 2025.
Waste management went up to 96% as a result of the Environmental Strategy implementation. Recycling of all types of secondary resources (including by-products) was brought up to 99%, or 20 million tonnes of raw materials being recycled per year. A total of 40 recycling projects were implemented for reinforced concrete, sand, timber materials and other secondary resources that are generated in the course of production (such as blast furnace gravel) or accumulate at sites after construction or repairs. The largest project in this area is a new briquetting plant worth RUB 5 billion. It can process all types of sludges and dust captured by gas treatment equipment into feedstock briquettes for blast furnace operations, delivering savings of 500,000 tonnes of virgin feedstock per year.
About NLMK Group
NLMK Group is a vertically integrated steelmaking company, the largest producer of steel products in Russia and one of the most efficient in the world.
NLMK Group’s steel products are used in various industries, from construction and machine building to the manufacturing of power-generation equipment and offshore wind turbines.
NLMK operates production facilities in Russia, Europe and the United States. The Company’s steel production capacity exceeds 14.5 million tonnes per year.
For more information on NLMK Group, please visit our website.
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