On December 22, 2021, a visiting session of the Environmental Commission of Zaporizhzhya Regional Council was held at Zaporizhstal with the participation of people's deputy of Ukraine Sergey Shtepa. The session focused on the enterprise's action program aimed at reducing environmental load, particularly improving atmospheric air quality.
At Zaporizhstal of Metinvest Group, the session included the General Director of Zaporizhstal Oleksandr Mironenko, who discussed the results of environmental modernization of the enterprise. Since 2012, the Works has executed a large-scale reconstruction of gas cleaning units at the sinter plant and blast furnaces 2, 3, and 4. Advancements also include the construction of an ecological continuous pickling unit in the cold rolling shop and improved recirculation systems to reduce water consumption and subsequent discharge into water bodies.
"Zaporizhstal is an enterprise with a long history, which has gained a confident future thanks to systematic and comprehensive environmental modernization. We directed about UAH 16 billion of 'green' investments into the environmental transformation of the enterprise, allowing us to reduce air pollutant emissions by 15,000 tons per year at operating production units," stated Oleksandr Mironenko.
The modernization of steelmaking facilities at Zaporizhstal was also a topic of discussion. Currently, consultations are in progress to discover promising solutions for the enterprise, keeping in mind global trends for decarbonization and carbon-free economy, aligned with European environmental legislation.
People's deputy of Ukraine Sergey Shtepa praised the enterprise's transparency in environmental matters and its openness to public dialogue. "For me, it was important to see how Zaporizhzhya enterprises are modernized - not on paper, but in deed. The scale of Zaporizhstal reconstruction is really impressive. The Works not only implements advanced environmental solutions but also transmits data of internal online emission monitoring to the public, allowing them to see the real picture of gas cleaning systems operation. I am certain that every enterprise in Zaporizhzhya should adopt a similar approach to achieve the community's demand for clean air," Sergey Shtepa concluded.
The session participants visited the sinter plant, where all six sinter machines are equipped with modern primary dedusting systems. The Works has invested UAH 1.5 billion in the environmental modernization of the sinter plant. In 2021, the reconstruction of the dedusting system of sintering machines' tails was finalized, involving the installation of two bag filters that enhance the volume of air cleaned from the tails by 1.5 times and ensure dust removal below 45 mg/m³. These efforts are part of additional commitments to reduce ecological burden on the region, as documented in memorandums between the Works and the Zaporizhzhya regional state administration, as well as with the Zaporizhzhya city council, totaling investments of over UAH 235 million.
During their visit, members of the environmental commission examined the operation of blast furnace No. 3, which features state-of-the-art dedusting systems at the cast house and stock house, achieving emission cleaning up to 20 mg/m³ of dust. Project investments for this system reached UAH 1.9 billion. The delegation also visited the construction site of blast furnace No. 5, which is preparing for a major overhaul in 2022. This overhaul, as stipulated by the Memorandum, will also involve equipping the blast furnace with the latest dedusting system, marking the final stage of modernization for Zaporizhstal's blast furnace production.