Company News Feb 1, 2005 1:00 AM
Bruckhausen blast furnace concept: Environmental protection and profitability hand in hand
ThyssenKrupp Stahl AG welcomes the decision by the Duisburg city council to support the realization of the blast furnace concept at the Bruckhausen site. "We will be investing 200 million euros in the construction of the new blast furnace 8 in various phases between now and 2008 This will strengthen our efficient steelmaking facilities in Duisburg and also guarantee supplies of hot metal to the Ruhrort steel mill of Mittal Steel. The project will directly secure 1,200 jobs and indirectly 3,600. At the same time there will be a considerable improvement to the environmental situation in the north of Duisburg," says Dr. Karl-Ulrich Köhler, Chairman of the Executive Board of ThyssenKrupp Stahl AG.
The construction of the new blast furnace 8 to replace blast furnace 4, which will be shut down and kept only as a back-up unit, will deliver significant ecological benefits. 30% of the investment costs alone will be spent on environmental protection equipment, which in part will go beyond the current state of the art.
- The casthouse and stockhouse dedusting system will reduce dust emissions to half the legal limit.
- The dust emissions in the waste gas from the hot blast stoves will also be reduced to half the legal limit.
- All diffuse emission sources will be covered, reducing emissions by more than a third compared with blast furnace 4.
- Conveyor belt transfer points, screens and weighing bunkers will be connected to the dedusting system.
During the meeting to discuss this matter from January 25 to 27, 29005, ThyssenKrupp Stahl also volunteered to equip the blast furnace 9 stockhouse bunker with the same kind of new dedusting system planned for blast furnace 8. This measure alone will incur additional investment costs of 20 million euros and annual operating costs of 800,000 euros. However, it will contribute to a further significant reduction of fine dust emissions at particularly critical points.
"This is a sign of ThyssenKrupp Stahl´s responsible approach to improving the environmental situation in the north of Duisburg. The construction of the new blast furnace 8 follows on logically from the dust-reduction measures agreed voluntarily with the NRW Environment Ministry in 2001, which we have been systematically implementing," sums up Dr. Köhler. A total of 62 million euros has been invested. Measurements over several months have shown that in some areas, dust emissions have been reduced by 70%. This has also been confirmed by the relevant authorities.
The reservations mentioned in today´s press reports are not part of the city council´s decision. They were recorded in the minutes of the meeting at the request of two parties. ThyssenKrupp Stahl declares that all statutory regulations will be complied with. The level of fine dust emissions in the north of Duisburg attributable to ThyssenKrupp Stahl is under 20 percent. Far higher emissions are caused by road traffic and other fine dust sources. "We cannot be made solely responsible for solving a problem which has many causes we are unable to influence," says Dr. Köhler.
This press release is also available on the internet at: www.thyssenkrupp-steel.de
Contact:
ThyssenKrupp Steel AG
Erwin Schneider
Tel.: +49 203 52 - 2 56 90
Fax: +49 203 52 - 2 57 07
Email: erwin.schneider@thyssenkrupp.com
Dietmar Stamm
Tel.: +49 203 52 - 2 62 67
Fax: +49 203 52 - 2 57 07
Email: dietmar.stamm@thyssenkrupp.com