The biennial FEB environmental awards for industry

The FEB environmental award was created by the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium to encourage companies to keep up their good work in the field of the environment. ArcelorMittal Gent has won this prestigious award no fewer than four times, making it the industry’s record holder.



1991-1992
First Prize for Belgium in the Clean Technology Category for “Improved biological purification of coking plant waste water”

During the cokes production process, organically polluted waste water is formed. The pollutants are broken down microbiologically in oxidation basins, after which the nitrates from the effluent are converted into nitrogen. By balanced and gradual loading of the sludge basins and by strictly controlling their oxygen concentration, sludge load, temperature and acidity, 90% of the COD load (= the oxidising components in water) and 75% of the nitrogen load is removed from the effluent. This facility is in fact one of the most efficient water treatment facilities in European industry.


1993-1994
First Prize for Belgium in the Clean Technology Category for “The production of demineralised water from polluted and brackish surface water by means of reverse osmosis”

With a modularly extendable unit, we produce pure water from the brackish water of the Gent-Terneuzen canal.
Given the level of pollution and the changing chemical composition of the canal water, the surface water is first pretreated using a technology developed in-house by the company itself. The water is then treated using reverse osmosis membranes. This efficient facility is unmanned and produces no waste products that are harmful to the environment.

For the same project, the European Commission awarded us the “European Better Environment Award for Industry” in the Clean Technology Category.


1997-1998
Honourable mention in the Clean Technology Category for “Sustainable water consumption by means of industrial symbiosis”

The alkaline water from steel production was found to be an excellent alternative to the chemicals that were used in the past to neutralise the acid water of the blast furnace gas scrubbers. Initially, the two blast furnaces had their own water treatment units. These circuits have been converted so that the scrub water can be recycled after the scrubbed blast furnace dust has been removed in a settling tank. The acid water fraction that is discharged is then neutralised in a second sedimentation basin with the water from the steel shop. As a result, the water consumption and the waste load released have been significantly reduced.


2001-2002
The Environmental Award for Belgium in the Technologies for Sustainable Development Category for “Combating dioxin emissions by the sinter plants”

After three years of intensive research (from 1998 until 2001), we have found a way to drastically reduce - by 97% -  the emission of dioxin by the sinter plants in comparison with 1997. The developed technique consists on the one hand of process-integrated measures, like adding burnt lime to the sinter mixture and discontinuing the practice of recovering fine ferrous recycled products in the sintering process, and on the other hand of building facilities as an extra end-of-pipe measure to inject activated carbon into the flue gases of the sinter plants. In the field of dioxin prevention and reduction ArcelorMittal Gent can be called the benchmark in the global steel industry.



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