NLMK has upgraded its aspiration system in the refractory shop at Lipetsk to improve the efficiency of its gas cleaning equipment to the level of best available technologies.  This project, worth RUR57 million, is part of the Company’s plan to minimize the impact of steel production on the atmosphere and to improve local ecology.  
The complex revamp of the gas cleaning system, which includes the installation of a new type of filter installation and a more efficient end-of-pipe technology, has reduced emissions of dust generated by the initial material preparation process by almost 80%. All entrapped dust is recycled. Levels of residual dust in outgoing air will be reduced more than 6-fold.

Currently, as part of its Technical Upgrade Program, Novolipetsk is upgrading the central aspiration system of sintering machines Nos. 3 and 4. Through the commissioning of new environmentally friendly equipment in 2011, Novolipetsk aims to achieve a 3.5-fold reduction of dusting from sintering machine No.3. Similar levels of reduction are expected to be achieved at sintering machine No.4 in 2012. A mixer department upgrade project and the construction of a secondary emission collection and cleaning system in BOF Shop No.2 are also under way.