This marks the completion of a 3.4 billion rubles environmental improvement program which included the installation of equipment to trap fugitive emission from the Mill’s No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 converters. The program is expected to deliver an almost eightfold reduction in harmful atmospheric emissions at the Cherepovets Steel Mill.
 
Sergey Toropov, CEO of Severstal’s Russian Steel division commented: “The upgrade of the No. 1 Converter, which involved replacing the housing of the melting unit and the mantle ring and installing an exhaust hood to trap fugitive emissions, was scheduled to take 44 days. I am pleased to report that we have managed to complete the work nearly eight days ahead of schedule, allowing us to produce an additional 56,765 metric tons of steel.”
 
The new system for capturing emissions, which includes, amongst other things, new bag filters, smoke exhausts, a compressor station, a package transformer and distribution substation, was installed at CherMK last year. In December 2013, the system was commissioned following maintenance on the No. 2 Converter. The No. 3 Converter was connected to the system in February 2014. The installation of an exhaust hood at the No. 1 Converter completes this major environmental program. The program is truly unique, as it was implemented without interrupting production.
 
Sergey Toropov continued: “The main elements of this major environmental program have pleasingly all been completed on schedule. Whilst this program is the largest environmental project in the history of the Cherepovets Steel Mill, its completion does not mean the end of our focus on environmental improvements and we will continue to undertake activities to further improve the environmental performance of our production assets.”
 
The major supplier for the process equipment for this program was Siemens VAI Metals Technologies.