Rustavi Steel LLC – Basic Data
Rustavi Steel LLC – Basic Data
Type of Activity: Metallurgical Production
Legal Address: 12 Gagarin Street, Rustavi
Actual Address: 12 Gagarin Street, Rustavi
Identification Code: 404411908
Cadastral Codes: 02.07.04.764; 02.07.04.014; 02.07.02.486
Contact Person: Vasil Otarashvili
Contact Phone: 2 60 66 99
Email: contacts@rustavisteel.ge
Enterprise Area: 3,162,265 m² (currently housing 11 main workshops)
Location on Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/iBzj5jVp6NuxRKW2A
Working Schedule: The enterprise operates continuously, averaging 330 days per year, in three shifts (8 hours per shift). Employs up to 1,300 people.
Environmental decisions have been issued in 2019 for lime production, metallurgical production, and cement production. (Cement production was not implemented)
For changes in enterprise operation conditions, a scoping conclusion No. 60 was issued by Order No. 402/s dated October 13, 2022. Based on this, the company prepared an EIA report and submitted it to the agency on December 27, 2023.
Additionally, the company requested that the environmental decisions issued in 2019 for cement production and metallurgical production be declared void by the environmental decision on changes in enterprise operation conditions.
Changes in Metallurgical Enterprise Operation Conditions (Information according to 2023 EIA Report)
General Overview of Activities:
Rustavi Steel LLC’s metallurgical enterprise has been operating since 1948, and until the 1990s, steel production was carried out with a complete metallurgical cycle. The enterprise produced steel, hot-rolled seamless pipes, cast iron, aluminum, and various iron structures.
According to the EIA, the enterprise territory is fenced with reinforced concrete slabs, with internal roads arranged along the inner perimeter. A large part of the territory (almost half) is landscaped with perennial trees and plants.
The enterprise’s technical water supply is provided from Rustavi Steel LLC’s owned Kura filtrate pumping station and the first-stage pumping station. The enterprise’s scrap metal and metal freed from slag (scrab) supply is produced from one of the enterprise’s structural units, the scrap and slag processing workshop (slag dump), located in the floodplain of the left bank of the Kura River.
On the enterprise territory, while production building structures are present, the agglomeration workshop is not functioning; blast furnace, open-hearth furnace, pipe-rolling, and thermal power enterprise workshops are no longer functioning (open-hearth and pipe-rolling workshops have been dismantled). Construction waste (inert waste) from workshop dismantling is placed on the enterprise territory and will be processed/recovered at Rustavi Steel LLC’s slag dump after receiving the environmental decision.
Cement production and pipe-rolling workshops have been discontinued in the enterprise, while the electric steel-melting workshop has been restored and is currently operating.
Neighboring Enterprises:
The enterprise is bordered by:
Northwest: GeoSteel LLC’s metallurgical enterprise, Georgian Alloys Group LLC’s ferroalloy enterprise, Bulat LLC’s ferroalloy enterprise, Northeast: Rustavi Azot JSC’s chemical production, Southeast: Russeloys LLC’s ferroalloy enterprise and HeidelbergCement Georgia LLC’s cement production and others.
Within 500m of the enterprise, there are several operating industrial facilities with varying distances:
– GeoSteel LLC – 30m
– HeidelbergCement Georgia – 435m
– Russeloys LLC – 440m
– Rustavoil LLC – 45m
– New Plastic G LLC – 80m
– Metallurgremont JSC – 40m
– Millennium Construction LLC – 360m
– Kavkaspak LLC – 280m
– Kvebi LLC – 80m
– Rustavi Metallurgical Enterprise JSC – 445m
– Rustavi LLC – 80m
– Gzatketsili+ LLC – 35m
– Arsem Corp LLC (Bulat) – 5m
Currently, the enterprise produces various products including:
– Various diameter reinforcement bars
– Seamless pipes
– Square billets
– Cast iron castings
– Metal structures
– Mechanical parts
– Shaped castings
– Granulated slag
– Silicomanganese
Description of Operational Changes:
According to the 2009 EIA report and January 20, 2009 Ecological Expertise Conclusion No. 6, the Rustavi metallurgical enterprise used imported square billets until establishing its own raw material production. After the electric steel-melting workshop became operational, processing scrap and slag enabled production of their own raw materials (steel billets) and increased annual production from 8,000 tons/year to 130,000-140,000 tons/year. After the new 35 ton/hour electric arc furnace became operational, the enterprise’s maximum capacity became 35 tons/hour (35 t/h × 8000 h/year = 280,000 t/year).
The electric steel-melting workshop operated 6 steel-melting furnaces including: 2 × 10 t/h electric arc and 4 × 12 t/h induction furnaces, resulting in steel production capacity increase from 8,000 t/year to 130,000-140,000 t/year from 2009 to present. Currently, induction furnaces have been dismantled, while 10 t/h electric arc furnaces and auxiliary equipment (ladle furnaces, continuous casting machines, etc.) are conserved and will be activated only after installation of gas-dust catching system and continuous monitoring system (it should be noted that the production of the 35 t/h capacity furnace fully meets the needs of other shops of the enterprise, and therefore, the activation of 10 t/h capacity furnaces is not necessary in the near future).
The operation of the new furnace in the electric steel-making shop has increased both the raw material (steel) and the enterprise’s product range and quantity, and the actual production capacities of the enterprise are as follows:
– Pipe-rolling workshop – “DGAN 400” Currently produces 112,000 tons of seamless pipes annually
– Shaped casting workshop – Can produce 1,000 tons of cast iron castings and 300-350 tons of silicomanganese monthly
– Reinforcement – Produces thermally strengthened reinforcement with monthly production of 165,000 tons
– Steel-melting workshop produces square billets and pipe billets
Technological Process Description:
Raw materials include scrap metal (ferrous), metallic fraction from slag processing, lime, and other auxiliary materials. Raw materials are mainly transported by road, but rail transport is also used. The technological process begins with scrap storage in old and new scrap yards (new scrap yard was set up in connection with 35 t/h furnace activation). After processing (sorting, cutting, pressing) in scrap yards, scrap is supplied to the electric arc furnace charge department, where auxiliary materials needed for melting process are stored.
The billets produced in the electric steel-melting workshop are supplied to section rolling and pipe-rolling workshops for production of respective products (pipes, reinforcement, etc.).
According to the enterprise’s technological instruction, imported scrap metal is checked (visual inspection) for explosion hazards, and only after inspection does preliminary processing occur, involving mechanical processing (sorting, cutting, pressing, etc.). Mechanical processing of scrap is done with press shears.
Gas cutting of scrap takes place in open areas. The gas-cutting section handles cutting of large, non-standard scrap.
In the new scrap processing shop, there are 4 units of gas cutting machines and installation of additional 12 units of gas cutting machines is planned, which is accounted for in the emission calculations. The shop is also equipped with a hydraulic press cutter (Piranha) with a scrap processing capacity of 237,600 t/year (productivity 30 t/h) and a scrap shredder with a processing capacity of 60,000 t/year (productivity 15-20 t/h).
The scrap storage territory is designed to receive and store 336,000 tons of scrap per year.
Air Extraction and Air-Dust Cleaning Systems
According to the EIA report, the 35 t/h electric arc furnace dust collection system is automated and operated by software. The dust collection system includes smoke and dust collection equipment, pipeline, air volume regulator, dust filters, ash removal system, electrical equipment, and electric automatic control system.
After collecting gas-dust mixture in the smoke and dust collection equipment, it is separated in the dust filter. Dust adheres to the filter (bag filter surface) and falls into the bunker, from where it is transported by conveyor. Then filtered clean gas is emitted into the atmosphere. For process control and monitoring, the dust collection system is equipped with Siemens S7-300 PLC automatic control system.
The smoke generated during the material loading and melting process in the electric arc furnace and ladle furnace is collected and cleaned through a dust collection system. To extend the equipment’s life cycle, reduce emissions, and lower system operating costs, the dust collection system is equipped with vacuum pressure dry fabric sleeve filters. The gas-dust mixture is extracted through the fourth opening exhaust, discharge valve, and hood. The discharge valve consists of movable and fixed parts. The fourth opening exhaust is a water-cooled tubular structure whose surface is covered with anti-corrosive paint.
During the melting and oxidation process in the electric furnace, the fourth opening valve fully opens and the fourth opening exhaust system operates at full capacity, reducing the pressure in the furnace. The hot exhaust from the electric furnace’s fourth opening passes into the spark arresting chamber, then moves to the water-cooled flue where the temperature drops below 450°C, and finally enters the main flue with a circular exhaust hood, where it mixes with low-temperature air, ultimately reducing the mixed exhaust temperature to below 120°C. During the air mixing process, carbon monoxide partially oxidizes into carbon dioxide. Large dust particles settle in the spark arrester.
To maintain the dust collection system’s electrical resistance balance and keep the exhaust temperature below 120°C before passing through the sleeve filter, the electric arc furnace’s fourth opening flue, the circular exhaust hood pipeline, and the LF’s semi-closed pipeline are equipped with a vacuum pressure regulating valve. This valve allows for adjusting the proportion of gas-dust mixture and dynamic pressure difference, which also ensures safe and reliable operation of the equipment.
In the TJMC impulse sleeve filter, the gas-dust mixture passes through the main dust extraction pipe, after which it moves to the exhaust pipe through an exhaust fan for atmospheric discharge.
Waste Management
Currently, waste management from ongoing enterprise operations is conducted according to the plan agreed with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia. According to technological cycle changes, an updated waste management plan will be prepared during the EIA process and agreed with the Ministry as established.
Notable additions include dust captured in air-dust collection systems. Dust from the collection system bunker is transferred to a closed storage near the electric steel-melting workshop for temporary storage and further management, specifically: accumulated dust will be transferred to appropriate contractors for use in construction materials production or permanently stored at Rustavi Steel LLC’s scrap and slag processing workshop territory.
According to research results, dust generated in the enterprise is not classified as hazardous waste and therefore acceptable for placement in the scrap and slag processing workshop territory.
The operational changes result in quantitative changes in waste generation but no changes in waste types. With the 35 t/h furnace activation, slag quantity from melting process increased from 40,000 tons to approximately 80,000 t/year. Secondary scale quantity increased from 2,700 to 3,200 t/year.
Dust quantity from air-dust collection system is approximately 1,450 tons.
Management of slag (10 02 02), scale (10 02 10), and dust from collection system (10 02 15) will be conducted according to the plan agreed with the Ministry.
Slag and scale are temporarily stored for further processing in the free territory east of the electric steel-melting workshop.
Stored slag will be processed to obtain metallic and non-metallic fractions. Metallic fraction will return to steel-melting workshop as raw material, while non-metallic fraction will be sold for further use or stored in the scrap and slag processing workshop territory.
*For more detailed information about the enterprise, you can review the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) report, which you can find at this link. Also, please review our prepared materials about the planned activities of the enterprise, including public discussions held at different times and other news – Link 1; Link 2; Link 3; Link 4; as well as the report on “Rustavi Steel” violations.
*The information in the catalog is current as of the EIA report dated 11.01.2024.