OREANDA-NEWS. Severstal and Rutgers Group (Belgium) announced a new joint venture: Rutgers Severtar.

The Rutgers Severtar facility will be built in place of the old coal-tar processing unit at Cherepovets Steel Mill’s coke production plant. Rutgers Group will own 65.3% of the facility, Severstal 34.7%.

The new facility has been developed with a number of technical improvements: its hi-tech equipment will process coal-tar (the by-product of coke production) more efficiently and with reduced environmental impact; automated control systems will reduce the risk of human error in the tar distillation process; and, exhaust systems will purify vapour and gas emissions, making the facility significantly more environmentally friendly.

During the ceremony, Vadim Germanov, CEO of Severstal’s Russian Steel division, said: “Rutgers Severtar will have the capacity to produce up to 300,000 tonnes per year of high quality product for the Russian and international markets. The new equipment uses a more efficient coal-tar distillation system, with four columns instead of one, which will improve the accuracy of tar fractionation. This will enable us to produce a considerably wider range of products.”

Gerry Sweeney, Chief Executive of Rain Carbon Inc. (parent company of Rutgers since 2013), said: “Rutgers Severtar will be essential to the strategic development of our companies.  Not only will this be the first Russian facility with coal-tar distillation for producing vacuum pitch, but it is being developed based on our 160 years of experience in coal product production and commitment to high ecological standards.”