Legend: |
e |
estimated |
IM |
Integrated Mill |
IEM |
Integrated and Electric Arc Furnace Mill |
MM |
Mini-Mill |
DRM |
Direct Reduction Mini-Mill |
SS |
Specialty Steel Mill |
Plant Numbers refer to locations on Figure 1.1
Figure 1.1 Steel Plant Location by Province (1997)
Click the image to view full size version.
Nine of these facilities, including four integrated mills, are located in Ontario. There are four mills in Quebec and one each in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia. Ontario accounts for about 70% of Canadian steel capacity. Plant locations are shown in Figure 1.1.
In 1998, the 17 plants shipped 15.5 million tonnes of steel with a sales value of $11.2 billion and employed approximately 34,500 people. 7
Canada plays a major role in the international steel trade, exporting 5.2 million tonnes and importing 7.4 million tonnes in 1998. The United States, Canadas traditional major trade partner in steel, accounted for 88% of Canadas exports and 42% of imports in 1998. 8 International competitiveness is a significant issue for the industry.
Steel making is a very complex, capital and energy intensive operation involving a progression of manufacturing processes that transform raw materials into iron and steel products. Figure 1.2 illustrates the iron and steel manufacturing processes.
Figure 1.2 Simplified Steel Manufacturing Flowsheet
Click the image to view full size version.
Steel is produced in Canada by two main steelmaking processes: basic oxygen furnaces (58.5% in 1998) and electric arc furnaces (41.5% in 1998). 9 The basic oxygen furnace is used in integrated mills in conjunction with cokemaking, sintering, and blast furnace ironmaking operations. The integrated mills, which smelt iron ore and melt scrap, produce the greatest diversity of products including bars, rods, structural shapes, plates, sheets, pipes and tubes, and wire rod. The integrated mills are gradually changing their product mix towards a greater concentration in flat-rolled products. While electric arc furnace technology is gaining importance, it is usually used in non-integrated mills (mini-mills or specialty steel mills) fed by scrap or direct reduced iron (DRI) to produce a wide product range of carbon and alloy steels. Dofasco Inc. operates the only integrated steel plant in Canada that produces part of its steel by the electric arc furnace process. Ispat Sidbec Inc. operates the only Canadian steel mill that produces and uses DRI as part of its raw material feed.
Ancillary or secondary steelmaking processes that are common to both integrated and non-integrated steelmaking include ladle metallurgy, continuous casting, hot forming, cold forming, and finishing. Three of the integrated mills have finishing operations, which may include acid pickling, pickle acid regeneration, annealing, and coating. Lake Erie Steel Co. Ltd. produces hot-rolled flat product only. Two non-integrated mills (Ispat Sidbec Inc. and Atlas Stainless Steels) have some finishing operations (acid pickling, cold rolling, and annealing).
QIT-Fer et Titane Inc. was grouped with the integrated mills because it operates a basic oxygen furnace, a ladle metallurgy station, and a continuous casting machine for secondary steelmaking. 10 QIT-Fer et Titane Inc. also produces titanium (TiO2) slag and high-quality pig iron from smelting calcined ilmenite ore and coal in rectangular electric arc furnaces. The iron oxide slag from the electric arc furnaces is fed to a basic oxygen furnace to produce high-quality steel billets.
1.2 Scope of the Code
The integrated mills segment of the steel sector includes all facilities that use coal and iron ore or agglomerated iron ore as raw materials to produce primary steel products. Primary steel production processes include iron sintering, cokemaking, iron and steelmaking, hot and cold forming, coating operations, and associated production and ancillary processes and facilities. It does not include pipe or tube making or steel fabricating facilities.
This Code of Practice outlines environmental concerns and alternative methods, technologies, designs, practices, and procedures that will minimize the adverse environmental effects associated with integrated steel mills. It also contains recommendations considered to be reasonable and practical measures to preserve and enhance the quality of the environment that is affected by these mills. Environmental performance standards are included for atmospheric emissions, water and wastewater, solids, and environmental management practices. These recommended practices may be used by the steel sector, regulatory agencies, and the general public as sources of technical and policy guidance in the development and implementation of site-specific environmental protection practices and requirements.
While Code recommendations are intended to be clear and specific with regard to expected results, they are not intended to discourage the use of alternative technologies and practices that can achieve an equivalent or better level of environmental protection. The Code is intended to be applied with some flexibility, recognizing that some recommendations will require interpretation to allow for site-specific conditions and concerns, particularly in the context of existing facilities. However, interpretations of Code recommendations should be undertaken in consultation with the appropriate regulatory authorities and stakeholders.
The overall objective of the Code is to identify minimum environmental performance standards for new integrated steel mills and to provide a set of environmental performance goals for existing mills to achieve through continual improvement over time. However, all municipal, provincial, and federal legal requirements must be met, and a commitment by companies to be consistent with Code recommendations does not remove obligations to comply with all regulatory requirements.
1.3 Code Development
The Code was developed by Environment Canada in consultation with provincial environmental agencies, industry representatives, and other stakeholders. Federal, provincial, and international environmental guidelines and standards of relevance to the operation of integrated steel mills were considered in the development of these recommendations, as were the environmental management practices recommended by various national and international organizations. Sources of standards-related information included environmental agencies in the United States, various countries in the European Union, Japan, the World Bank, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Information on best management practices was drawn from various reports and literature produced by provinces, Environment Canada, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Bank, the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI), steel companies, and technical journals.
1.4 Code Structure
The Code describes operational activities (Section 2) and related environmental concerns such as atmospheric emissions, wastewater discharges, and waste management (Section 3). Recommended environmental protection practices are described in Section 4.
1.5 Implementation of the Code
This Code of Practice will be adopted by Environment Canada and others as a guidance document that delineates appropriate environmental protection standards and practices for integrated steel mills. Some elements of the Code may be adopted under the Federal-Provincial/Territorial Environmental Harmonization Accord and associated sub-agreements such as Canada-Wide Standards (CWS) (www.ccme.ca).
Some elements of the Code may be used in the development of initiatives or programs to achieve the objectives of cooperative agreements including the Canada-Ontario Agreement (COA) and St. Lawrence Vision 2000.
The Code may be adopted on a voluntary basis by individual steel sector corporations and facilities and by the Canadian Steel Producers Association (CSPA) and its members. It may be included as a commitment to Code recommendations in Environmental Performance Agreements among Environment Canada, provincial environment departments, and steel companies or facilities. It may also be adopted in whole or in part by regulatory agencies. CSPA members who operate integrated mills have initiated a program to monitor PAH and benzene emissions consistent with Code standards and audited by an independent third party.
The Code may be used for benchmarking best practices to achieve continual improvement in the environmental performance of integrated steel mills in Canada and other countries. Code recommendations may also be used as benchmark criteria for the conduct of audits aimed at assessing the environmental performance of sector facilities or companies.
FootNotes
1 |
Canadian Steel Producers Association, Producer Information, www.canadiansteel.ca downloaded Feb. 11, 1998. |
2 |
Ibid. |
3 |
Dofasco Inc., Annual Report 1996. |
4 |
Stelco Inc., Annual Report 1996. |
5 |
Ibid. |
6 |
Ibid. |
7 |
Canadian Steel Producers Association, Steel Facts 19921998, 29/03/99. |
8 |
Ibid. |
9 |
International Iron and Steel Institute, World Steel in Figures, 1999 Edition, Brussels, Belgium. |
10 |
QIT-Fer et Titane Inc., corporate brochure. |
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