As part of a US$150m modernisation programme, ArcelorMittal Ostrava in the Czech Republic is building a new boiler for its power plant.
The world’s largest steelmaker’s energy arm, ArcelorMittal Energy, has entered into an agreement with Finnish company Valmet to install a fluidised bed boiler worth US$74m.
The new boiler will ‘significantly reduce’ sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and dust emissions, claims ArcelorMittal. In fact, the entire modernisation of the Ostrava plant is based on achieving greater efficiencies.
An ongoing desulphurisation programme is underway, designed to reduce nitrogen oxides, and the objective is to reduce the company’s environmental footprint and ensure that the power plant will comply with EU emission limits before they come into effect.
The new boiler will be operational within three years and will burn coal more efficiently than the existing system of coal-fired burners, claims ArcelorMittal. The new boiler has guaranteed efficiency of more than 92% and is equipped with facilities for desulphurisation and reduction of nitrogen oxides emissions.
Tapas Rajderkar, CEO of ArcelorMittal’s Ostrava facility, said the new boiler represents ‘the biggest environmental and modernisation investment project since the 1990s’.
All coal-fired boilers at Ostrava are either being replaced or overhauled.