TMZ to be one of the most "green" enterprises of Uzbekistan - experts

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The construction of the Tashkent Metallurgical Plant (TMZ), which will become one of the most modern enterprises for the production of cold-rolled steel, not only in the CIS, but also in the world, is underway in the capital.

Currently, works on the construction of the main plant shop and infrastructure facilities, foundations for technological equipment, organization of external networks and pipe racks and energy are finishing.

But how will this company take into account environmental issues? To what extent will metallurgical production be safe for the environment and people living nearby? The experts answered these questions.

"Even before the construction of the plant began, in accordance with the law, we held public hearings with the population, which were attended by residents of nearby houses, representatives of the district khokimiyat, communities and labor groups located nearby. The goal is to explain to people what the future enterprise will be like its activities will affect the environment, and answer the questions that concern them," Hamza Maksumov, engineer for health, safety and environmental protection of the TMZ, said.

According to him, for many residents, the perception of a new metallurgical enterprise was traditional. So, in their view, these are furnaces with extreme temperatures, overthrowing smoke and ash, which means disturbed ecology, particles of heavy metals in the atmosphere, and water discharges with waste harmful particles into the soil.

"We explained that cold rolled metal is its deformation to the desired thickness, squeezing it with rotating rollers. Therefore, there is almost no furnace in such a production, and less dust and gases are produced in the steel industry compared to other processes in metallurgy. There will be no smoke, and even less ash that will fall on their fields and gardens," he noted.

As for groundwater, said Maksumov, the company’s specialists assured everyone that they would not suffer at all, since the production will mainly use units supplied by the world market leader in the production of metallurgical equipment - Italian company Danieli. It meets all European norms and standards, with environmental issues in the first place there.

According to the chief engineer of TMZ Valery Osin, the uniqueness of the enterprise lies in the fact that all production processes will take place in a closed cycle, that is, with virtually no waste. This primarily concerns liquid discharges - they will not exist at all. Modern equipment will remove all impurities, and the purified water will return to the process again, ensuring a closed loop.

"The production process involves the etching of hot-rolled metal from oxides and pollution, as well as hot-dip galvanizing of sheets, which will cause the appearance of some decay products, dust and gases. But they will be disposed of or scattered," he noted.

Generally, Osin added that the main problem with rolling mills with traditional equipment is unorganized dust emissions at the rolling mill site. These emissions create a large dust content of air in the shops, which negatively affects the health of the staff, as well as a considerable amount of dust is released into the environment.

"In our case, this will not happen, because unique Italian equipment will be used, preventing dust formation and penetration of pollution sources into the atmosphere. I note that when choosing a supplier of equipment, not only its cost was taken into account, but also the most modern technological and technical solutions, including environmental. There are no doubts that TMZ will become the greenest manufacturing enterprise in our country. And not only,” the expert emphasized.

The representative of the leading in Moscow design and construction organization in the field of metallurgy "Metprom" Konstantin Bakalo underlined that cleaning equipment is provided for all equipment used at the TMZ. Therefore, for example, emissions to the atmosphere will not just be minimal, they are close to zero.

According to experts, the plant’s year of operation - in terms of emissions to the atmosphere - will correspond to one day of car driving in Tashkent. As they claim, it is very small.

"Green plantings will be planted in large quantities inside the enterprise and near it, which will become a kind of filter for the emitted gases and dust. In addition, they will create a favorable microclimate in the factory territory. I will add to this that there is not a single site in the there was an open evaporation of any substances into the atmosphere, and the closed waste-free cycle of the entire production process would be slightly “disturbed” only by the container remains of chemicals and other related substances,” Bakalo said.

After reaching full capacity TMZ will produce 500,000 tonnes of cold-rolled metal a year. At the same time, 20% of products are planned to be exported to Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.