Dust suppression systems

At the end of July 2013 the dust suppression systems of the Ilva di Taranto plant were handed over. The project, carried out with the coordination of leading companies in the sector, involved the installation of 10 fog cannons in those areas of the production site with a higher concentration of dust in the air. Five systems were placed in the area of the ore stockyards, three more in the areas where ferrous materials are handled, and two in the raw sinter mix storage area. This is an effective measure to reduce the level of suspended dust produced during production processes and thus limit the environmental impact of the activities as much as possible.

The operation of this system is relatively simple: the devices are able to artificially produce a wide jet of finely nebulized water able to bind to the dust particles so as to increase their weight and facilitate their precipitation to the ground. To delineate the distribution of the equipment in the different sites and to calibrate their yield, the dimensions of the particles themselves and the variation of the meteorological conditions were taken into consideration, in addition to the range of each individual cannon.