As part of its commitment to developing a long-term, sustainable business by minimizing the environmental impact of its operations, Tenaris’s mills in Romania have achieved a 100% recovery rate for iron co-product produced during its production process.
Tenaris’s production process starts at its steel shop located Călărași, Romania. The steel produced at the plant is 96% based on an infinitely recyclable material, namely scrap metal, collected and processed by the steel shop’s electric arc furnace in a quantity of approximately 500,000 tons per year.
For the last five years, Tenaris has focused on the recovery and reuse of slag, the co-product of scrap melting. By identifying a mechanical processing solution, the company successfully managed to repurpose 60,000 tons of slag annually for road construction.
The production process continues as the steel bars produced in Călărași are transported to Tenaris’s seamless tubes mill in Zalău. At this facility, the various pipe production and mechanical processes generate ferrous co-products.
Tenaris’s team has managed to transform oily mill scale into an additional material for the electric arc furnace in Călărași avoiding 850 tons of waste per year. Every year, 8,000 tons of mill scale are sold to companies in the metallurgical, chemical, or white goods, saving 15,000 cubic meters of landfilling space.
“It took a lot of teamwork to validate technical solutions, to improve co- products quality and identify the right partners to help us transform them into resources. This is a great example of a circular economy system and our commitment to develop a sustainable business,” said Anca Salajan, Tenaris Health, Safety and Environment Director in Romania.
The project has been highlighted in the Romanian online magazine The Diplomat. To read the story click here.
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