Essar looks at replacing coke oven battery

Essar Steel Algoma says problems with its coke oven battery Number 7 are bad enough that one option it’s considering is replacement of the 1950s-vintage facility.

Jerry Suurna, Essar's local general manager for safety, environment and emergency services, says the Number 7 battery may be too old to be worth the cost to retrofit a pollution control device to its door.

It's the oldest of the three operating coke oven batteries at Essar Steel Algoma.

Speaking last night at a community open house, Suurna talked about recent developments, current priorities and planned emission control initiatives at the Sault Ste. Marie steel mill.

He said the company had thought it would be able to install an automatic, mechanized door and door-jam cleaners on the battery door without a lot of changes to the door itself or its frame.

The company was mistaken, said Suurna.

When engineers checked on the door frame they found it would not support the weight of the equipment Essar Steel Algoma was looking at buying for it.

And no other equipment that could do the job was immediately obvious or available.

A multi-thousand dollar project quickly grew to a multi-million dollar project and Suurna said Essar management is having second thoughts about investing that much money on such an old battery.

What Essar wants the ministry to do

So Essar Steel Algoma is asking the Ontario Ministry of the Environment whether it can delay action of any sort on that furnace for a few months while the company investigates its options and comes up with a new coke oven emission reduction program.

It's seeking four amendments to its certificate of approval from the Ministry of the Environment to discharge emissions into the natural environment.

These are:

- To defer the installation of door and jam cleaners on number 7 coke oven battery to coincide with the Ministry of the Environment's discussions of Essar Steel Algoma's alternative coke oven emission reduction program

- To extend the date for commissioning the new ladle metallurgy furnace baghouse to coincide with a date of completion of construction of the new ladle metallurgy furnace

- To extend the date of commissioning Number 9 coke oven battery collector main individual oven pressure controls to coincide with the findings and recommendations of a technology benchmarking study

- To extend the date for commissioning Number 6 blast furnace permanent baghouse to coincide with a 10-month post-starting date.

What’s up with Number 6?

After running only a short time, the Number 6 blast furnace was banked and a controlled shut down of it was initiated when the world market for steel dried up in October 2008.

Now, is asking the ministry to allow it to install and commission a permanent baghouse 10 months after commissioning the furnace, whenever that may be.

Essar Steel Algoma remains committed to installing the permanent baghouse on Number 6 whenever it's restarted, said Suurna, and has demonstrated its commitment to the environment by following through on most of the other parts of its plan.

"It's an issue of balancing finances, balancing expenses and balancing requirements," Suurna said. "If you had an endless pot of money you could do everything, but then you also don't know what the market forecast is going to be."

Essar wants to make sure the Algoma steel mill is going to be ready to meet demand when demand rises again.

This means ready to produce coke and steel, which will require increasing production on the coke oven and bringing blast furnace Number 6 online at some time in the future.

It also means an overall reduction in emissions, something has been and remains committed to, Suurna said.

The co-generation plant has been installed and commissioned, a permanent baghouse has been installed and commissioned on blast furnace Number 7, much of the road surface on mill property has been paved and green spaces have been created to reduce dust and coal blow-off from the piles on the dock, he said.

These steps and others Essar committed to were conditions laid out in the terms of the certificate of approval granted last year that allowed Essar to restart blast furnace Number 6 and increase coke production.

The certificate of approval it now wants to amend.

Next steps

Now, Essar is intent upon creating a revised and renewed five-year plan to reach both its environmental and production goals.

The technology benchmark study undertaken by Essar at the ministry's request will provide needed information to help guide in the creation of that plan, said Suurna.

It will give the company an idea of what technology is available for pollution control at existing blast furnaces and coke ovens, he said.

The study will disclose what emission controls and production levels can be achieved in newly constructed coke ovens, said Suurna.

"The status quo just wasn't good enough any more," said Suurna. "When Essar took over, it did so with the expressed intent to increase production and reduce emissions at this mill."

The technology benchmarks study is due on Tuesday, December 1, Suurna said.

The mill has also undertaken an air quality study, he said.

It's difficult to say how long that will take because it depends on how many days the company will be able to sample the air and gather relevant data.

The wind will have to be blowing from the east to the west, Suurna said, in order for samples to be gathered where the air enters the area, where it comes out of the mill and where it leaves the mill, to allow a proper comparison of those numbers.

Suurna said he hopes the numbers will give Essar Steel Algoma a better idea of how effective its current pollution control methods are and what needs to be improved.

He said he also hopes it will show how much particulate and other pollution is coming in from outside the area and what and how much is being produced by the mill.