MIHAILOVIĆ: THE STEEL PLANT IN SMEDEREVO IS CONSTRUCTING FACILITIES TO REDUCE POLLUTION

Friday 12.01.2024

Executive Director of Operations at HBIS Serbia Vladan Mihailović, stated on RTS that, given the disruptions in the global, especially European metal market, steel production at HBIS Serbia is slightly over 1.1 million tons of cast slabs. However, Blast Furnace No. 1 was idled in mid-2023.

"We continued production with Blast Furnace No. 2, and about 35% of our products are placed in the domestic market. We exported around 10% to former Yugoslav countries, while the rest went to Central and Southeastern European countries – Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland, and France," said Mihailović.

He mentioned that the company is ready to restart Blast Furnace No. 1 if the steel market and customer needs require it, reminding that many competitors have also partially idled production due to market difficulties.

In March 2022, HBIS Serbia opened a new environmentally friendly facility, and Mihailović emphasized that the new Sinter Plant was built using the most advanced sinter production technology, contributing to improved ecological standards.

"The new Sinter Plant exclusively uses blast furnace gas instead of natural gas and is equipped with state-of-the-art gas purification facilities. We are fully dedicated to improving environmental quality. The IPPC permit we obtained obliges us to adapt our processes to meet the strict requirements of the EU. This year, we will build a protective wall around the open raw material storage, enabling a reduction in emissions of finer ore fractions during unloading. We committed to this during discussions with representatives of local communities, and we will complete it. We will also build Converter No. 4, which will have so-called 'dry' purification of converter gases, and we will construct a facility for storing converter gas, which will serve as fuel for other facilities. In the previous investment cycle, we invested over 300 million euros, and the next investment cycle for improving environmental quality and energy efficiency will be significantly larger," emphasized Mihailović.

He also discussed the achieved improvements in environmental quality in 2023, highlighting measurements from the Automatic Measuring Station in Radinac, near the factory. Mihailović cited a key parameter – the average daily concentration of PM10 particles, emphasizing that in 2022, there were 123 days with an average daily concentration above 50 micrograms. Mihailović emphasized that in 2023, the station recorded nearly double the improvement – 65 days with an average daily concentration exceeding 50 micrograms. "Also, based on transparent results from the automatic measuring station, the average annual concentration of PM10 particles was 48.4 micrograms per cubic meter in 2022, while in 2023, the average concentration decreased to 36.84," concluded Executive Director of Operations at HBIS Serbia, Vladan Mihailović.