UMG has signed a contract with the Belgian Sibelco for supplies of slag, a waste product of Ukrainian coal-fired thermal power stations.
As agreed, in 2016 UMG is going to deliver 45 thousand tons of slag from the ash dumps of DTEK’s TPSs to the Netherlands-based branch of Sibelco. Slag is used as an abrasive for sandblasting of ships’ bottoms and is a safe alternative to sand, which causes lung diseases from continued contact.
To improve the quality of products, UMG commissioned special slag-washing equipment, which helps to produce purer raw materials with the market value being almost twice as high as slag with a high ash content.
“Export of Ukrainian slag abroad is an unprecedented event. Annually, Ukrainian TPSs generate up to 8 million tons of ash and slag, with 90% of them being stored in ash dumps. Therefore we are interested in expanding markets for this waste. Our cooperation with such companies as Sibelco makes it possible to apply ash and slag to commercial ends”, said UMG sales director Sergey Melnichenko.
UMG started processing and selling ash and slag (ash, slag, bottom ash and fly ash) in 2013. A year later, the company launched one of the world’s most cutting-edge mills for production and processing of fly ash, the most high-margin ash and slag material. UMG invested $1.2 million in construction of the mill in Druzhkovka. In 2015, it sold 348200 tons of ash and slag materials worth $5 million, with 31500 tons exported abroad.
Using ash and slag waste to commercial ends is environmentally beneficial. At present, ash dumps of Ukrainian TPSs are filled by 50% and sometimes by 95%. Ash and slag recycling mitigates the negative environmental impact of ash dumps by reducing their storage volume. Thus, a need for new coal waste sites is also reduced.
UMG operates in six main areas: clay production, limestone and dolomite mining, processing and sales of by-products of thermal power stations, sales of noble and industrial gases, mineral fertilizers and grain. Established by SCM Group in 2006, UMG employs about 4 thousand people. The geography of the company’s deliveries covers 30 countries. (UMG/Ukrainian metal)