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by Barbara Quinn, ContributingEditor

Geneva Steel: From Dinosaur to Modern Mill

s hokey as it lion and, perhaps most produced an astronomical that captures sulfur dioxide sounds, this daunting, the giant steelmak- reduction in particulate.” emissions and converts them started out largely er set a brutal deadline by The open hearth furnace into solid elemental sulfur, as a community which the plant would be was replaced with $80 mil- which is then sold to manu- service project,” said Joe sold. Until that deadline, lion Basic Oxygen Process facturers of fertilizer and Cannon, CEO of Geneva U.S. Steel agreed to keep its (Q-BOP) furnaces. The new other products. Each day, five Steel and former U.S. Envi- coke ovens operating in a furnaces employ oxygen, tons of sulfur are produced ronmental Protection Agency “standby” mode. If the ovens rather than air, to virtually by the system, producing a (EPA) assistant administrator were allowed to cool, they eliminate the conversion of 95 percent reduction in the for air and radiation. “This” would be so severely nitrogen from the combus- plant’s daily sulfur emis- was the 1985 purchase of a damaged that bringing the tion process into nitrogen sions. While these two new that sprawls across plant back on line would be oxide and, eventually ni- systems successfully pre- some 1800 acres of Provo, financially impossible. vented the release of massive and employs some The eventual purchase of volumes of PM10, other sys- 2000 people. And, what the mill by Cannon and a tems also contributed to the started out as a community group of investors is one of plant’s overall emissions re- service project has evolved the David-and-Goliath sagas duction, including the bag- into an exceptional example of American business, but house filtering system - a of pollution prevention and the pollution prevention part “widget” - attached to the industrial modernization. of the story begins when the sinter plant, which lowers The story of Geneva Steel new owners of Geneva Steel PMlO emissions by 43 per- is an industrial Cinderella set to work transforming a cent and an $8 million ben- tale. Built during the Second steel dinosaur into one of zene gas blanketing system, World War and owned since North America’s most envi- which traps and contains 1946 by USX and its prede- ronmentally responsible benzene emissions. Since the cessor, U.S. Steel, the Utah steel mills. systems were completed in plant was by the mid-80s 1991, Geneva’s benzene one of the dinosaurs of the Controlling discharges emissions have sunk to below U.S. steel industry. The The first issue Cannon and the detectable limit, repre- plant’s open hearth furnaces his partners faced was com- senting a drop of 98 percent. spewed thick red smoke into pliance with the PMlO limits Similar improvements have the , but it also imposed by the Clean Air been demonstrated in the employed thousands of Utah Act. The situation was prop- control of pollution in other workers who saw their finan- erly ironic, admitted Cannon, media, particularly waste- cial futures “going up in “It was probably one of the water. The “Bug Plant,” a smoke” when U.S. Steel few times when the person biological wastewater treat- announced it would shut who was responsible for ment plant, was the first down its Geneva plant. developing the regulations major environmental facility There was little to recom- found himself on the other trates. The furnaces also brought on line at the Geneva mend the Geneva plant to side, having to figure out how are totally enclosed and site after the plant’s purchase new owners, Cannon admits. to comply with them.” The equipped with a vacuum sys- from US. Steel and, ironical- “Everything needed modem- Geneva plant’s ancient open tem that captures and filters ly, employed a proprietary izing. Everything,” he said in hearth furnace lay at the heart particulate. The result: Gene- treatment process developed an interview with Pollution of the problem, and, accord- va’s Q-BOP furnaces have by U.S. Steel. According to Engineering. The site was lit- ing to Cannon, “We knew we reduced nitrogen oxide emis- Cannon, the new owners tered with contamination - were going to have a PM 10 sions by 95 percent. But, negotiated with U.S. Steel to the predictable legacy of the problem, so we started think- PMlO is not controlled by license the technology and plant’s 40-year life - and ing about ‘widgets’ - Q-BOP alone. employ it in its first full-scale future plant operations would baghouses, strippers, tech- Produced as is con- application at the Geneva fall squarely under environ- nologies - to control the verted into coke, sulfur diox- site. The treatment process mental protection regula- problem.” That quick think- ide also contributes to the relies on microorganisms to tions, some of which Cannon ing gave way to a more fun- formation of PMlO - and consume pollutants, especial- himself had been instrumen- damental focus. Explained required control. That control ly ammonia, in plant waste- tal in developing. U.S. Steel’s Cannon, “Instead of control- came in the form of Geneva’s water, allowing the recycling price tag for the Geneva plant ling the problem, we wiped coke oven gas sulfur removal of some five million gallons was a tooth-rattling $58 mil- out the open hearth, and that system, a $20 million system per day of water back into the

OCTOBER1996 POLLUTIONENGINEERING 27 ...... plant. Said Cannon, “The water has to be place. Putting that premise into practict clean, not only for environmental reasons, meant setting priorities for the plant’s mod but in order for it to be reused in the plant.” ernization program. Said Cannon, ‘‘Wl we bought the mill, we were all 37 years old. could have done other projects first, ano Integrating environmental We were way young, and our perspective there was some pressure from some of OUI awareness toward environmental issues was pretty well investors to pay more immediate attention to The nuts and bolts of Geneva’s evolution developed. We bought this mill and every- strict production issues instead of looking at from dinosaur to modern steel mill are evi- thing needed to be fixed, so we had a unique the broader picture.” Instead of succumbing dent in the new facilities and treatment sys- opportunity to integrate that environmental to that pressure, the new partners took a long tems. But, underlying those nuts and bolts is perspective into modernizing the plant.” view of the plant, its needs and its future. a unique perspective toward environmental Key to that perspective was a basic “We planned on being around for a long responsibility, according to Cannon. “When premise: don’t generate pollution in the first time.” Instead of patching up this system or that piece of equipment, Geneva’s owners set priorities that incorporated a strong envi- ronmental perspective. Said Cannon, “You can’t take that approach unless you’re com- mitted to the long term, and you can’t put the approach into practice without the commit- ment of the workforce.” After 10 years in the steel industry, Cannon reflected on his tenure with EPA, noting, “Then, I believed the ‘command and control’ approach was stupid. I haven’t changed my views on that. In fact, my feel- ings have intensified during the past 10 years. Government ignores the expertise it has in the people who work in industry, and technology-based standards play right into that. My perspective is to set goals, and then to let the genius of the people come up with solutions. I used to preach that at the Agency, and, at Geneva, we have dozens of examples of our workers coming up with ideas that have made dramatic improve- ments in operations.” It deserves note that Geneva’s “improved operations” translate into more than environmental compliance: the mill makes money, 10 years after it stood Why Nothing Equals Separators Performance Our Fiberglass at the brink of becoming one of Utah’s Xerxes fiberglass oillwater That Stands the Test of Time. biggest brownfield sites. separators meet strict storm water Unlike steel separators, run-off regulations with innova- our fiberglass separators are tions from the inside out. Our lightweight and eliminate the Please circle the appropriate number on the unique, patented polypropylene possibility of internal or external Reader Service Card to indicate the level of vertical tube coalescer” provides corrosion. With Xerxes unique interest in the article. greater surface area to integral rib design and the highest- attract oily water and quality resin and glass, Xerxes High 173 Medium 174 Low 175 reduces the need for oil/water separators are built for maintenance. The long-lasting performance. inlet diffuser and * Potented by AFL Industries, Inc effluent clean water I SEPARATE US FROM THE REST I intake niiiiiinize turl)ulenc:oand The Xenes Fiberglass OiVWater Separator achiwt: clean water tlisc,harne. I These and other bovations allowY Xerxes oil/water separators to removc free-floating oil droplets to Or greater 2o microns than See Xerxes oihater separator brochure for more details and attain a minimum effluent quality of 10 ppm. I For a fiberglass solution without equal, call Xerxes today [612-887-1890]. Then see for yourself what separates us from the rest.

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