Dangjin, South Korea — Hyundai Steel is experimenting with a system that could provide a solution to steelmakers across the globe facing rising energy costs and toughening environmental regulations.
The second-largest steelmaker in South Korea is trying to overcome these challenges by establishing a "tightly closed raw material processing system" in its integrated steel mill under construction in the industrial city of Dangjin on the west coast.
By unloading, conveying and storing raw materials for steel manufacturing, such as iron ore and coking coal, inside the closed facilities, the company can reduce pollution and make the steelmaking process more efficient, company officials say.
The steelmaker spent 400 billion won (US$321 million) to build what it calls the world's first closed raw material processing system that enables the steelmaker to operating all its procedures under airtight conditions.
Iron ore and coal are unloaded from ships by mammoth continuous ship unloaders, transported on closed conveyer belts, and stored in airtight domes and linear storage buildings. The process will reduce industrial noise and prevent the scattering of fugitive dust, which have long been sources of protest from local residents, officials say.
"The closed-roof raw material handling facility has set a new benchmark for the steel industry worldwide," Woo Yoo-cheol, president of the company, said in a speech to mark the opening of the facility.
"It is a revolutionary solution to dust problems compared to traditional mitigation measures which aim to reduce dust from an open-air facility," he told reporters at the complex decorated with scores of placards proclaiming: "Steel Innovation" and "Green Management."
The closed-roof raw material handling facility, which can store 3 million tons of iron ore, coal and other raw materials, is a key part of "the world's first green steel mill" with two blast furnaces that can produce 4 million metric tons each of crude steel annually.
The No. 1 blast furnace is scheduled to open in January next year and start commercial production in April. The No. 2 blast furnace is to open a year later. Hyundai Steel said it has secured 98 percent of the iron ore needed and 84 percent of the coking coal for the two blast furnaces.
The first batch of 170,000 metric tons of iron ore from Brazilian miner Vale SA was being stored in the closed-roof facility from a Greek carrier. The shipment comes under a 2007 agreement in which Vale would provide 4.5 million tons of iron ore annually for the next ten years.
The steelmaker also plans to get a combined 90,000 tons of coking coal later this month in the first batches from BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. Hyundai signed contracts with the two mining companies last year, which call for each of them to provide 1.02 million tons of coking coal annually.
Other steelmakers store the raw materials in open-air yards, incurring about 0.3 percent losses due to wind and rain, as well as causing pollution.
"The closed-roof facility would reduce the losses to less than 0.1 percent and prevent complaints by local residents," Lee Jong-in, vice president of the steelmaker, told United Press International. "Hyundai Steel's integrated mill is bound to set a new epoch in environmental performance in steelmaking, on the basis of its close-roof raw material handling facility," he said.
Jose Carlos Martins, top executive of Vale who was traveling to the complex, praised the closed-roof facility as "evidence of Hyundai Steel's commitment to build an eco-friendly integrated mill."
Hyundai Steel is spending 5.84 trillion won (US$4.70 billion) to build the integrated mill to feed steel products to its auto affiliates Hyundai-Kia Motor Group, the world's fifth-largest automaker in 2008.
With the two blast furnaces and existing electric arc furnaces, the steelmaker would be among the world’s top ten steelmakers, with a combined capacity of over 20 million tons, Hyundai-Kia Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo said.
The automotive group aims to boost synergy effects among affiliates by creating a circular production and recycling link between steel manufacturing, steel processing and car making, he said.
"Hyundai Steel aims to be a model example of an environment-friendly plant through its dome-style storage facility," said the chief of the motor group, which has recently launched its first hybrid model in South Korea, part of its effort to become one of the world's four largest "green car" makers.
The steelmaker is also building a power plant at the complex that reuses gas generated in the course of steel manufacturing.
The plant can produce 3.5 million megawatts of electricity per year, accounting for 80 percent of its annual electricity need, the company said. “The plant will also reduce 3.32 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year,” it said.
No comments:
Post a Comment