Environmental protection
Environmental protection is a high priority at ThyssenKrupp Stainless. Responsibility towards the environment, minimizing emissions and wastes, and using raw materials and energy efficiently are important goals. Modernization of production lines also serves environmental protection.
Environmental management begins with the design of the production processes in our plants around the world. All locations of ThyssenKrupp Stainless use production systems which are environmentally and resource friendly. Significant successes have been achieved in reducing dust emissions, noise, water and energy consumption and in reusing wastes. Our materials, too, play an indispensable role in making processes possible which protect the environment.
With environmentally compatible production sites, a large percentage of reprocessed material and above all the 100 percent recyclability of our products, we make an above-average contribution to global environmental protection.
ThyssenKrupp Stainless and its operating companies have achieved a great deal in the area of environmental protection. Control of air and water pollution and an almost 100 percent recycling system are an integral part of our operating processes.
During pickling in the production of stainless steel, large quantities of used acids and metal-bearing sludges are generated which until now have been purified and neutralized before being fed into public sewage systems or taken to landfill. A new electrochemical process, electrodialysis, allows higher acid recovery rates and reduces the nitrate load in the wastewater by 35 percent. The goal of further development work is a closed treatment process without any generation of used acids or wastewater. The research is expected to be completed in two years with an industrial-grade solution.
The CO2 emissions trading system began in the EU on January 1, 2005. Both ThyssenKrupp Nirosta and ThyssenKrupp Acciai Speciali Terni meet their requirement in full, meaning it was not necessary to buy emissions credits in this trading period. Thanks to operating measures, CO2 emissions were reduced compared with the base period.