The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection is taking comment until Aug. 12 on a draft air pertmit for ArcelorMittal-Weirton to replace three gas- and oil-fired boilers at its Weirton steel plant with five gas-fired packaged boilers.
The application is for the installation of five 99 MMBtu/hr boilers to replace the three existing ones. The existing boilers were installed in the 1940-1952 period, with two at 540 MMBtu/hr in size and one at 600 MMBtu/hr.
ArcelorMittal-Weirton owns and operates the Weirton Works, which is a finishing steel mill. The Works is currently configured to finish flat sheets or coiled steel by applying a chrome or tin finish to the steel. To support this manufacturing operation, the Works has three boilers at the facility to provide process heat energy required by these manufacturing operations. These units were installed to meet the facility’s needs when the Works was being operated as a “fully integrated steel mill,” which means the Works convert iron ore into finish steel products (slabs, ingots, coils and sheets).
Manufacturing operations at the Works have significantly diminished over the last decade, with current operations centering on tin mill production, and steel pickling. These reduced operations at the works have also diminished the demand for steam (heat energy). The existing boilers were centrally located at the works. These replacement units will be located based on estimated steam demand. One unit will be located on the Strip Mill and the other four units being installed at the Tin Mill.
