Spain’s Befesa to build two steel dust treatment plants in Turkey

Spain-based Abengoa, an international company that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainable development in the energy and environment sectors, has announced that its industrial residue recycling division, Befesa, will invest around $120 million in two steel dust waste treatment plants in Turkey.
 
Befesa, which operates in Turkey through a joint venture with Canadian-listed company Silvermet Inc., will build two plants for steel dust recycling based in Izmir and Adana with a capacity for the treatment of 110,000 mt of steel dust at each plant, in addition to Befesa's existing plant in Iskenderun with a treatment capacity of 60,000 mt per year. The facilities will produce over 80,000 mt of Washed Waelz Oxide, a zinc-rich final product that will be fully exported.
 
According to Abengoa's statement, the plants are expected to go into operation in the second half of 2014.  The plants of Befesa will use the safest and most environmentally-friendly technologies in order to recycle steel dust, a hazardous waste generated in production of steel from electric arc furnaces, and will therefore minimize landfilling. Turkey currently produces approximately 500,000 mt of steel dust per year.