Within the framework of the comprehensive program of ecological modernization, a five-section cooling tower (manufacturer-Israel) was put into commercial operation at Zaporizhstal. The cooling tower is designed to provide return water to blast furnaces and maintain an optimal temperature regime for their operation. The investments amounted to UAH 40 million.
The new cooling tower operates on the principle of a closed water supply system using treated wastewater. The ecological effect of the solution is estimated in the reduction of water abstraction from the Dnieper river basin for 4.8 million m3 per year and reduction in the discharge of sewage in the same amount. In addition to the environmental effect, new equipment has an energy-saving effect which means reduction in electricity consumption by 1 million kWh per year.
As a reminder, in 2012 Zaporizhstal sent more than 8.8 billion hryvnias for the environmental modernization of the enterprise according to the technological strategy of Metinvest. Among the successfully implemented projects there are comprehensive modernization of gas cleaning systems of sinter plant with the installation of modern high-tech gas cleaning for all sinter machines, ecological reconstruction of blast furnace No. 3, construction of a new pickling line in the cold rolling shop No. 1, reconstruction of blast furnace No. 4 with the construction of casting yard and trestle aspiration.
