Primetals Technologies recently started up its third MEROS plant at the Acciaierie d'Italia steel mill in Taranto, Italy. In total, the steel producer has ordered seven MEROS plants, four of them for the sinter plants and three for the No. 2 power plant, for which construction work started in September 2022.
"We are very satisfied with the performance of the three MEROS plants realized. MEROS is a key technology for us in terms of sustainability, and we look forward to completing the program with the additional four MEROS plants," said Alessandro Labile, plant manager at Acciaierie d'Italia in Taranto.
Reduced pollutant levels thanks to MEROS
The MEROS exhaust gas purification system removes almost all potentially harmful substances in exhaust gases originating from sinter plants or power plants, among other sources. Clear results can be seen for this at the Italian site. The three MEROS systems implemented in Taranto reduce dust emissions from the two sinter plants to less than 3 milligrams per cubic meter. These values are well below the legal limit of 10 milligrams. Dioxin levels, at 0.01 nanograms per cubic meter, are also well below the 0.15 nanograms required by Italian law.
"Thanks to our highly efficient MEROS technology, the air quality in Taranto has improved enormously. It is an important project that reflects both the positive impact of this technology on the environment and our long-standing and close partnership with Acciaierie d'Italia," says Dr. Alexander Fleischanderl, Head of Green Steel and Senior Vice President at Primetals Technologies.
Energy-efficient process
The way the MEROS process works is that dust from the sintering plant is treated in a series of steps. During these, potentially harmful metallic and organic components are removed. This minimizes the amount of recycled dust, resulting in fewer filter cleaning cycles and lower compressed air consumption. MEROS is thus an extremely energy-efficient process.
Acciaierie d'Italia
Acciaierie d'Italia is a joint venture between ArcelorMittal and the Italian National Agency for Investment Promotion and Enterprise Development, S.p.A. - Invitalia, with around 10,000 employees and an annual production of approximately four million tons of steel in 2021.
MEROS is a registered trademark of Primetals Technologies Austria GmbH in certain countries.
