Norilsk Nickel launched the largest environmental project in Russia

Norilsk Nickel has launched a sulfur program at the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant (NMZ), which will become the largest environmental project in Russia. Its task is to radically reduce sulfur dioxide emissions in Norilsk and make the air in the city clean.

As Rosbalt was told by the company’s press service, construction lasted more than three years. Its main transport artery was the Northern Sea Route – icebreaker assistance was used to deliver equipment and materials. As a result, another plant with an area of ​​seven football fields was built in Norilsk, for the stable operation of which about 500 jobs were created.

To launch the program, the company carried out a partial reconfiguration of metallurgical production, built a complex technological complex for the utilization of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and the necessary infrastructure. Up to 4,000 workers and specialists were involved in the construction of sulfur program facilities, and more than 400 units of special equipment were used. The size of Norilsk Nickel’s investment in the sulfur program at NMZ after the full implementation of the project will amount to more than 180 billion rubles. These costs are purely environmental in nature.

During the implementation of the project, Norilsk Nickel faced restrictions due to the refusal of certain foreign companies to supply critical equipment to Russia. However, with the support of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, alternative manufacturers and suppliers were found, as a result of which the share of equipment produced in Russia or in friendly countries amounted to more than 90%.

Sulfur dioxide emissions from metallurgical plants in Norilsk amount to about 1.8 million tons per year. Norilsk Nickel’s flagship environmental project is not only part of the Russian federal project “Clean Air”, but is also its largest event. The complex at NMZ is planned to be put into full-scale operation in stages. The project’s achievement of technological parameters will make it possible to fulfill the legislative requirements to reduce the total volume of pollutant emissions in Norilsk by at least 20% in 2024. During 2025, sulfur dioxide emissions from city enterprises will decrease by 45% from the base level of 2015.

The project being implemented at Nadezhda is based on the technological process of converting sulfur dioxide into sulfuric acid and its neutralization with limestone, producing gypsum waste, for the safe disposal of which a specialized gypsum storage facility has been created. This technology takes into account the characteristics of the ore base of the Norilsk industrial region, the pyrometallurgical processes used, as well as logistics restrictions of Norilsk (lack of external railway communication, limited navigation period along the Yenisei, inter-navigation period during which only air traffic is carried out, logistics conditions along the Northern Sea Route).

“For many decades, the Norilsk plant has been an air polluter in the Arctic. From its founding in the 1930s until recently, the environment was not a priority. And there were no appropriate technologies either,” noted Norilsk Nickel President Vladimir Potanin, commenting on the start of the sulfur program. — When our team came to manage the company, we decided to radically change the environmental situation. The huge scale, difficult polar conditions and logistics, the Covid epidemic and the changed geopolitical situation – all this led to the fact that Norilsk Nickel’s sulfur program was seriously transformed and changed its configuration. Today we are launching the first stage of the program at the Nadezhda plant. This is a project of an all-Russian scale, affecting the entire Arctic. For the Norilsk Nickel team, this launch is a symbol of fulfilling our obligations, first of all, to the residents of Norilsk.”