Ostrava, 21 February 2014

ArcelorMittal's Ostrava facility in the Czech Republic has announced the latest in a series of investments designed to improve operations at the plant, from product quality to emissions and occupational safety.

A US$6.26m project announced this month will help to de-dust iron ore and coal tipplers for both sinter plants on site. Wagon tipplers are an outdoor steel structure that unload wagons of raw materials by turning the wagon upside down or tilting it.

"In the sinter plant area, we are already complying with all national and EU emission limits, which we achieve using the best available techniques. De-dusting of wagon tipplers is an additional measure. This is also one of the reasons why the project is being implemented with funding from the European Union," explains Petr Baranek, chief environmental officer at ArcelorMittal Ostrava.

The two sinter plants receive regular railway wagon deliveries of raw materials such as iron ore, pellets, coke and anthracite that are mixed and used in the production of sinter and hot metal. Around 24,000 tonnes of raw materials in total are unloaded every day, for the two sinter plants. 

The new de-dusting equipment will extract the dust generated during unloading (i.e. non-ducted emissions) and drive it to a new bag filter, the best known solution available for de-dusting as it is able to separate particles of sizes as small as PM 1. 

The de-dusters form part of the company's ongoing environmental improvement project worth a total value of US$ 130.1m, 85% of which is subsidised by EU funds.

Tubular products investment

This announcement comes two weeks after the completion of a major, four-month renovation which modernised the manufacturing process of small diameter seamless pipes and increased production capacity.

The new line - an investment worth US$ 7.6m - was inaugurated on 3 February 2014. "With this modernisation we are responding to customers' requirements and growing demand for our products, especially in the North American market. We are constantly working to improve our competitiveness," says Libor Černý, CEO of ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Ostrava.

At the Stiefel 140mm mill, ArcelorMittal Ostrava produces seamless oil country tubular goods (OCTG) such as tubing, drill pipes and line pipes with diameters of 21.3mm to 140mm. As part of the investment project, the tubular products division of the site installed modernised and more efficient equipment for pipe processing and testing, including bevelling machines.

The tubular products project included the optimisation of material flow which has increased production capacity of oil pipes from 24,000 tonnes to 42,000 tonnes. The new equipment also brings cost savings and a reduction in safety risks during material handling.

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