Handbook of Solvents - George Wypych - ChemTech - Ventech!

14.13 Iron and steel industry 951
The tables show that the industry, which operates almost 1,500 plants and employs
over 110,000 people, has minimal impact on global emission of VOCs. Consequently, the
industry does not have any major initiative to deal with solvent emissions or wastes. Future
safety improvements concentrate on non-solvent issues.
REFERENCES
1 EPA Office of Compliance Sector Notebook Project. Profile of the Inorganic Chemical Industry.
US Environmental Protection Agency, 1995.
2 EPA Office of Compliance Sector Notebook Project. Sector Notebook Data Refresh - 1997.
US Environmental Protection Agency, 1998.
Table 14.12.1. Reported solvent releases from the inorganic chemical plants in 1995
[Data from Ref. 2]
Solvent Amount, kg/year Solvent Amount, kg/year
benzene 33,000 hexane 2,000
carbon tetrachloride 3,000 methanol 574,000
chloromethane 2,600 methyl ethyl ketone 460
dichloromethane 12,500 N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone 180
ethyl benzene 110 toluene 12,000
ethylene glycol 1,800 xylene 1,500
Table 14.12.2. Reported solvent transfers from the inorganic chemical plants in 1995
[Data from Ref. 2]
Solvent Amount, kg/year Solvent Amount, kg/year
benzene 780 methyl ethyl ketone 9,000
carbon tetrachloride 6,400 N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone 8,700
dichloromethane 5,000 toluene 6,000
ethylene glycol 12,000 xylene 96,000
14.13 IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY
George Wypych
ChemTec Laboratories, Inc., Toronto, Canada
With almost 1,400 plants, the US iron and steel industry is very diverse industry having total
sales of $100 billion and over 400,000 employees. Figure 14.13.1 is a schematic diagram of
the iron and steel making process. Only one stage − finishing − employs solvents. The finishing
stage includes processes to remove mill scale, rust, oxides, oil, grease and soil prior