Resources

 

Earth has a limited supply of materials be it metal ores (aluminium, iron), minerals (limestone, chalk), precious metals (gold, silver), coke, coal, or even water. As the population continues to grow and technologically develop, demand for finite raw materials will only increase, resulting in greater competition between different industries. That is why improved efficiency in the use of raw materials is seen as key in ensuring our long-term capability to satisfy society’s ever-growing demand. In today’s dynamic and uncertain business environment, the key to achieving operational excellence lies in the effective management of resources. Being aware of the fact that efficient use of natural resources is critical to sustainability, JSW Steel is committed to responsible usage of resources and protection of the environment through innovative practices.In FY 23, our CapEx for environmental investments was INR 225.68 crores and OpEx for environmental investments was INR 145 crores. We have also carried out an in-house environmental impact assessment and economic valuation study to assess the natural capital impacts of our operations. The Company continues to be a leader in innovation and responsible consumption, thereby limiting its environmental footprint.

SDG Mapping of JSW Steel’s Initiatives & Projects

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

 

  • Responsible consumption and production mean sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources. Through circular economy, decrease of waste generation can be achieved through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse. JSW Steel has come forward with environmentally sound management of wastes by recycling and reusing them, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment.
    • In FY19, Vijaynagar recycled 89% of the solid waste materials such as sludge and collected dust.
    • Utilization of blast furnace slag, dust from bag filter and Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP), sludge from Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP) during the year 2018-19 was 100%.
    • Recycling or reuse of waste or byproducts ensures reduction of raw material consumption. Vijaynagar reuses the food waste as feed to the biogas plant which generates about 70-80 cubic-metre of biogas per day, which is equivalent to 35-40 kg of LPG
    • The Salem Plant has commissioned a paver block manufacturing unit from Waste Energy Optimizing Furnace (EOF) steel slag as part of waste utilization. During that year, 470 MT of EOF steel slag was used and 1.5 lakh paver blocks were manufactured.
       
  • Slag Sand

    JSW Steel has developed an innovative technology which can convert the steel slag as waste generated in the blast furnace operations into sand which can be used as an aggregate in construction purposes, especially in roads and pavements. The R&D team along with environment and civil department came up with this project where through a two-step process the physical properties of steel slag were changed to make it suitable for usage in construction industry. The following table demonstrates the difference between the river sand and slag sand properties.

    Since the slag sand contains no impurities like marine products, slit, clay and has uniform size as per the requirement, it is superior to river sand.
     

    Parameter (based in IS:383)

    River Sand

    Processed Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (Slag Sand)

    Size

    IS 383 - Zone II

    IS 383 - Zone II

    Density (kg/m3)

    1400-1700

    1500

    Specific Gravity

    2.6 -2.8

    2.65

    Water Absorption

    1-3%

    <3%

    Marine Products

    2-4%

    Nil

    Oversized Materials

    6-10%

    Nil

    Clay & Silt

    5-20%

    Nil

  • Vijaynagar also commissioned a 1 tonnes/day Slag sand producing unit in FY19 and sold INR 3.48 lakhs tonnes of slag sand o use as fine aggregates in construction replacing natural river sand, thereby helping conserve the river beds. Granulated slag sold during the year was INR 72.36 lakhs tonnes.

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

 

  • The Company aims to address the efficient use of resources with the aid of new and innovative technologies.
    • Efficient operations and effective monitoring of pollution control equipment have helped efficient utilization of input materials. In Dolvi, Continuous Online Stack Emission Monitoring System (CSEMS) was installed at New Stock house stack and cast house DES stack.
    • Increase in hot blast temperature after installation of high temperature hot-blast stoves has resulted in reduced fuel rate in Blast Furnace-1 in Salem.
    • Two new chimneys were also constructed for 48 ovens which improved waste heat recovery substantially.
    • Vijaynagar Works adopted the technology of ‘Tailing Beneficiation’ which helps reduce tailing losses and improves iron content in the feed to Pellet and Sinter plants.
    • Commissioning of additional Coal Injection system and relining of Stove #4 part of Blast Furnace-3 has helped reduce fuel consumption substantially in Vijaynagar Works.
    • At Dolvi Works, Raw Material Yard concreting was done to control material loss and to avoid moisture pick up.
       
  • JSW has always championed the adoption of state-of-art technologies to ensure that our ways and products are competitive. One such technology is the Pipe Conveyor for transportation of iron ore from the mines.

Pipe Conveyor

The Vijayanagar plant currently churns out 12 million tonne of steel a year, and requires about 22 million tonne of iron ore. Transportation of such large quantities of raw material contributes to the upstream GHG emissions of the company. JSW has drafted its carbon strategy which includes steps to reduce the carbon footprint of not only its own operations but also of the upstream and downstream activities. As a part of this strategy and also to secure raw material availability, JSW bought mines in the surrounding areas of Karnataka. JSW Steel’s Vijaynagar Works has commissioned a 24 km pipe conveyor, the world’s largest of its kind, to transport raw material from iron ore mining site to the manufacturing unit. This is expected to bring significant benefits in terms of reduced inbound logistics costs, contained material losses, improved safety and minimized carbon footprint. It is expected to achieve a CO2 emission reduction of nearly 3.86 kg/tonne of iron ore transported. Until recently, bulk materials such as iron ore, iron ore fines, coal, limestone and dolomite were being received through wagon tippler arrangement from where they were carried to the storage yard through trucks. With the Pipe Conveyor project, JSW Steel has been able to limit the usage of trucks, thus saving fuel and reducing carbon emissions and dust generation from the roads, while improving safety.

In addition to the conveyor system for the procured bulk materials, proposals have also been made for conveyor systems for handling raw materials such as BF return fines, coke fines, coal, coke, etc. This has helped the Company to ensure that there is no spillage of raw material while eliminating the need for diesel trucks for transportation, which has then further lowered the Company’s environmental footprint and minimized road accidents. Upcoming projects include downhill conveyors from newly acquired mines up to the ore yard and remaining segments of the pipe conveyor system to ensure improved connectivity and seamless transport of raw material.

SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

 

  • Water is the most precious yet not very effectively utilized raw material for all industries. JSW Steel aims to substantially increase water-usage efficiency across all the locations and to ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity.
    • Vijayanagar plant has put up extensive instrumentation in water flow measurement to monitor water use on an hourly basis.
    • CCTV cameras, additional flowmeters, pH meters, and conductivity meters have been installed for effective monitoring of water discharge.
       
  • Vijayanagar plant is located in an area where there is water scarcity and the unit has implemented numerous measures to secure adequate water for uninterrupted operations like the installation of the COinjection system in Steel Melting Shop-1 (SMS) which has improved in thickening of water quality in Vijayanagar further, thereby reducing freshwater consumption.
     
  • Through implementation of zero liquid discharge (ZLD) in all the manufacturing units of JSW Steel to reduce the freshwater intake, JSW contributes to SDG 6. All the wastewater generated in the unit is treated through reverse osmosis and reused as process water or in horticulture. For more details on how JSW has implemented ZLD please visit the Waste Water Framework.

 

Resource conservation by usage of Dust and sludge in steel plant process by by Micro Pelletisation

This facility effectively utilizes the micro fine dust in sinter making arising from air pollution control equipment such as bag filters, ESP, lime and dolomite plant, sludge from gas cleaning plants (SMS and Blast furnace) and BOF slag (<6mm). Use of these dusts and sludge in sinter making has resulted in drastic reduction of stack emission from the sinter plants and the utilization of solid wastes has increased in the base mix. Additionally, regular periodical evacuation of dust from all the air pollution control equipment has resulted in improved performance of the equipment enabling resource conservation. The plant efficiency has been improved with addition of different types of waste like CDQ fines and bentonite as binder. And it replaces the equivalent amount of raw material ( ore fines, limestone and coal) thus enabling  improved efficiency and resource conservation.

Advantages and Applications of Micro Pellet Plant

  • Improves sinter plant productivity
  • Minimized volume of material for land fill
  • Recovers valuable steelmaking elements such as Fe, CaO, MgO etc
  • Converts individual heterogeneous waste streams into a homogeneous lump agglomerate that can be easily recycled
  • Replaces raw materials with a recycled product – minimizes use of natural resources
  • Contributes to overall reduction in CO2 emissions
    • Ensures compliance with ever toughening environmental legislation
    • Promotes sustainable steelmaking

 

 

Resource Consumption and Conservation trend of JSW Steel

 

Through various energy conservation efforts, the specific energy consumption of JSW Steel has improved by 5.18% in FY19 compared to FY18

 

JSW discloses the data related to consumption of raw materials as well as waste generation along with methods of reuse in its integrated/sustainability reports which can be found here.