In 2026, Metinvest crossed the mark of its first 20 years of operation. The company with Ukrainian roots promotes Ukrainian industry in the world, but the path to modern international business began precisely in Ukraine – with the large-scale modernization of its own enterprises and the introduction of the best global production practices.
This is exactly the approach that the company implemented at Zaporizhstal. Each major investment project simultaneously solved environmental problems: reduced emissions into the atmosphere, reduced resource consumption, introduced closed water use cycles and returned production waste to reuse.
Many of the solutions implemented at Zaporizhstal later became a reference point for other enterprises in the mining and metallurgical industry of Ukraine.
In 2013, while visiting the ecological modernization sites of Zaporizhzhia Steel Plant, Ukrainian businessman and founder of the Metinvest Group, which included the Zaporizhzhia Steel Plant, Rinat Akhmetov noted: “Zaporizhstal Steel Plant has great traditions. And we have great ambitions. We have two main tasks: economy and ecology. But it is impossible to do this without large investments. Despite the fact that there is a crisis on the world steel markets today, we will actively support modernization. I am convinced that we will build a strong economy. And I am convinced that Zaporizhzhia will have clean air. And everyone will benefit from this – enterprises, workers, the city, the region, the country.”
In December 2012, a high-tech basic coal warehouse was put into operation at Zaporizhstal, which supplemented the complex of the pulverized coal fuel injection plant, which was put into operation in October 2011. For the plant, this was an important step towards energy independence: blast furnace production received an alternative to natural gas.
The technology involves grinding coal to a powder state with subsequent injection into the blast furnace hearth. This allowed for a partial replacement of natural gas in the production process and an increase in blast furnace productivity by an average of 10-15%.
In addition to the economic effect, the project contributed to a more rational use of energy resources and increased production sustainability.
The total amount of investment in the project implementation amounted to UAH 1 billion, of which UAH 350 million was directed to the construction of the basic coal warehouse.
The biggest environmental challenge for the plant has traditionally been sintering blast furnace production, the main source of industrial dust. That is why its modernization has become one of the priorities of Zaporizhstal’s environmental program.
Starting in 2012, the plant has gradually updated the gas cleaning systems of all six sintering machines. Initially, sintering machine No. 1 received a modern electrostatic precipitator, and sintering machines No. 2–6 received bag filters, which demonstrated significantly higher cleaning efficiency. Later, a similar solution was implemented on sintering machine No. 1.
An important feature of the project was that the gas cleaning equipment was integrated directly into the technological process of sintering machines. The exhauster simultaneously ensures sintering of the sinter and transportation of contaminated air to the bag filters.
Operation of the sinter plant without the operation of the gas cleaning systems is technically impossible: their shutdown is allowed only during scheduled repairs of the equipment itself.
The result of the modernization was one of the most noticeable environmental effects in the entire history of the plant. Dust emissions were reduced by 90%, sulfur oxides by 50%. The gas cleaning systems of sinter plants Nos. 1-6 clean the air to a level of 30 mg/cubic meter of dust and less than 400 mg/cubic meters of sulfur dioxide. To maintain high efficiency, the equipment undergoes regular diagnostics and technological maintenance with scheduled replacement of filter sleeves.
Additionally, the plant reconstructed the aspiration units from the tail parts of the sinter plants – this is where the crushing and unloading of the finished sinter takes place. The new systems increased the volume of purified air 1.5-fold, from 1.6 million to 2.4 million cubic meters per hour.
Total investments in the modernization of gas purification systems at Zaporizhstal’s sinter plant amounted to over UAH 1.5 billion.
In 2014-2017, Zaporizhstal carried out a large-scale reconstruction of three blast furnaces Nos. 2, 3, and 4. In addition to updating the main equipment, each blast furnace received modern aspiration systems for foundry yards and bunker overpasses. As at the sinter plant, air purification here is carried out using bag filters. The new installations ensure a dust concentration after cleaning of up to 20 mg/cubic meter.
A special place among these projects is occupied by the reconstruction of blast furnace No. 3. During its implementation, the plant was the first in Ukraine to create a digital intelligent model of the blast furnace. Artificial intelligence analyzed more than 15 thousand drawings and helped identify more than 11 thousand potential errors at the design stage.
A unique Mammoet crane, specially delivered from the Netherlands, was used to install large-sized structures. The combination of digital modeling and modern installation technologies made it possible to reduce the time for the reconstruction of the blast furnace from two years to eight months. In 2018, this result was entered into the Book of Records of Ukraine.
The total amount of investments in the modernization of the blast furnace production of Zaporizhstal exceeded UAH 4 billion.
At the end of 2021, the plant began construction of a new aspiration unit for blast furnace No. 5. The project was to be completed in 2022 after a major overhaul of the unit, but due to a full-scale invasion, work was suspended and the blast furnace was decommissioned.
Zaporizhstal has implemented projects aimed at the rational use of water resources and reducing the load on natural water bodies.
One of the key projects in this direction was the construction and launch of continuous pickling unit No. 4 (BTA-4) and a hydrochloric acid regeneration unit in 2014. The transition from pickling in sulfuric acid to hydrochloric acid allowed to comprehensively solve several tasks at once.
First, the impact of sulfur fumes on workplaces was eliminated and their emissions into the atmosphere were reduced.
Second, the surface quality of cold-rolled rolled products improved due to more effective removal of scale formed at previous stages of production.
Thirdly, the plant stopped discharging neutralized pickling solutions into the Dnipro, as they are returned to the production cycle after regeneration. The removed scale, which is actually iron, is also reused in production.
The result was a reduction in the discharge of industrial water into the Dnipro by 1.5 million cubic meters.
Investments in the construction of BTA-4 amounted to over UAH 1.6 billion.
Another step towards the rational use of water resources was the introduction into industrial operation of a new five-section cooling tower for blast furnace production in 2018. The equipment provides cooling of circulating water and maintenance of the optimal temperature regime of blast furnaces.
Investments in the project amounted to UAH 40 million.
The cooling tower operates on the principle of a closed water supply cycle using treated wastewater. Thanks to this, the plant reduces water intake from the Dnipro basin by 4.8 million cubic meters each year and reduces wastewater discharge by the same amount.
In addition to the environmental effect, the project also provided significant energy savings: electricity consumption was reduced by approximately 1 million kWh per year.
In March 2019, an industrial and stormwater interception complex was put into operation at the enterprise. It collects wastewater and directs it to multi-level treatment: first to a filtration station, then to a disinfection plant. After that, the purified water is returned to the recycling cycle and reused in production.
The result was a reduction in industrial wastewater discharge into the Dnipro by 5 million cubic meters annually. Investments in the project amounted to UAH 58.5 million.
In 2015, Zaporizhstal put into operation the AMKOM slag processing complex for the utilization of industrial waste and the return of valuable components to production. The plant removes metal-containing particles from steelmaking waste and returns them to the technological cycle.
The capacity of the complex allows processing up to 150 thousand tons of slag and removing up to 13 thousand tons of metal-containing raw materials per month for reuse in Zaporizhstal’s production.
An important result of the complex’s work is the reduction of industrial waste accumulated over decades and the prevention of the formation of new ones. This ensures more efficient use of landfill areas and reduces the man-made burden on the environment. (Zaporizhstal)