Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works : MMK wins Ecotech Leader award for construction of environmental facilities

Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) was named the winner of an Ecotech Leader 2024 national award for environmental technologies for its construction of environmental facilities and its reduction of harmful atmospheric emissions. The award ceremony took place on 19 June in Moscow.

MMK's project involved the implementation of environmental measures during the construction of its new coke plant No. 12. The new plant, which is expected to begin operating this year, will enable MMK to decommission five other coke plants at the same time and reduce the Company's impact on the environment.

"The new coke plant is vitally important for MMK, not only from a production standpoint but also in terms of the environment. It will be equipped with the latest green technologies: 28 aspiration systems, desulphurisation and denitrification units, a closed-loop water supply system and a biochemical unit. The launch of the plant and the decommissioning of outdated equipment will have a cumulative environmental impact of reducing atmospheric emissions by 11,350 tonnes per year," said Andrey Cheryapkin, MMK's Acting Director for Occupational Health, Industrial Safety and the Environment.

Mr Cheryapkin noted that the Company has been implementing its Clean City strategic initiative since 2015, which is expected to result in a fourfold improvement in the air quality in Magnitogorsk by 2026. According to him, MMK has already achieved impressive results as of 2023: the concentration of benzo[a]pyrene in the atmosphere had decreased by 64%; manganese, by 74%; and dust, by 44%.

The construction of the new coke plant, which will have a capacity 2.5 million tonnes of dry coke per year, is MMK's largest investment project to date. The completion of the first phase of the project in 2023 was recognised as the "Event of the Year in Russian Metallurgy" in a competition that took place as part of the 29^th Metal-Expo International Industrial Exhibition.

The Ecotech Leader Award is supported by Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, and the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation. It recognises achievements in the development, integration and promotion of effective environmental and resource-management technologies. MMK has received the award for the fourth year in a row.