Environmental Initiatives

Air Emission Reductions

In late 2009 AltaSteel completed a multimillion dollar project in the Bar Mill to replace the existing billet reheat furnace that had been in operation since 1967 with a state-of-the-art Danieli reheat furnace. The Danieli furnace utilizes a high efficiency counter-flow type recuperator to allow waste gas heat recovery by preheating combustion air. Ultra-low NO_X type burners are also used in the reheat furnace, providing significantly lower NO_X emissions compared to the previous furnace. Energy efficiency benefits of a 40% reduction in natural gas consumption per billet tonne have been realized. The total quantity of NO_X released from the AltaSteel site in 2010 decreased by 26% from 2009.

In 2007 AltaSteel implemented a voluntary action plan to reduce diesel consumption used for the operation of large mobile equipment at the plant site. To date the action plan has been very successful, achieving a 16% reduction in consumption in 2008 and a 22% reduction in consumption in 2009 compared to 2007 baseline data. The reduction in diesel consumption has had a positive impact on air emissions, resulting in average annual reductions of 329 tonnes of CO₂ and 9 tonnes of NO_X. These reductions have been achieved largely through the elimination of unnecessary equipment idling and equipment upgrades

Water Conservation

AltaSteel No. 1 process water system is one of two recirculating closed loop water systems which provides roll and equipment cooling to the Bar Mill and also serves to transport millscale. In November 2010, upgrades were made to the No. 1 process water system. The submerged vertical transfer pumps from 1976 were replaced with aboveground horizontal pumps which do not require a constant supply of potable water for bearing lubrication. Since the installation of the new transfer pumps, water consumption has resulted in an 18% overall reduction in monthly water consumption for the entire AltaSteel site.

Waste and Byproducts Management

Millscale consists of flakes of iron oxide produced when steel at high temperature is exposed to an oxidizing atmosphere. These flakes accumulate under billet handling conveyors and in contact process waters. AltaSteel continued with its millscale recycle program in 2009, thousands of tonnes of millscale to cement manufacturers used for the production of clinker.