At the end of 2023, ArcelorMittal dismantled the dust removal system of its converter in Florange, France. The system is basically brand new: it was only used for a few months in 2011. The plan is to clean, move and reassemble it at the company’s Differdange site, where--in late 2025 or early 2026--it will be able to extract 80% of the dust produced onsite. The dust will be collected in filters, which will be emptied and cleaned; some of it can be recycled.

The €17.6m project--to which the state will contribute €5.2m--has been a decade in the making. It began with identifying and quantifying the sources of emissions, leading to several projects: water cannons to control dust, sealing depots to capture dust during loading, improvements to existing dust removal systems. To these will be added the super-vacuum, based on measurements taken by ArcelorMittal together with the government’s environment agency. In all, emissions were mapped across Fousbann, Niederkorn, Sanem and Differdange. This has helped the company plan, in the words of the press release, “the most coherent and effective actions.”

“This substantial investment is a further step towards meeting the expectations of our stakeholders: first and foremost our employees, the local residents living near our industrial facilities and the municipalities in which we operate,” says Henri Reding, ArcelorMittal country head for Luxembourg. “Our desire is to limit all our impacts in order to be a responsible industry, and to do this we are prepared to invest in systems that are not productive, but which are beneficial to the communities around us.”

Pierre Jacobs, CEO of ArcelorMittal Long Products Luxembourg, adds: “Our steelworks and the Grey mill in Differdange produce very high-tech steels that promote Luxembourg’s expertise around the world. We are determined to make these facilities not only better performing but also respectful of the environment.”

This article in Paperjam. It has been translated and edited for Delano.