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Reducing the Environmental Impact
As part of its environmental management policies, the Kobe Steel Group is committed to "environmentally friendly manufacturing," and pursues this commitment on a variety of fronts, including improvements to sustainable manufacturing processes, updates to equipment, introduction of efficient state-of-the-art equipment, and introduction of pollution control equipment, working to reduce environmental impact to the atmosphere and water.
In the future, Kobe Steel and its Group companies will strive to reduce impact even further.
Air Pollution Measures
Air Emissions
In addition to measures that are meant to reduce energy consumption and limit production of SOx (sulfur oxide) during manufacturing processes, such as reductions to fuel consumption, use of low-sulfur fuels, and switching to municipal gas, we also implement exhaust-related measures, such as desulfurization.
Likewise, in order to reduce NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions, we also implement efforts such as the use of low NOx combustion technology and energy-saving measures.
SOx Emissions (Kobe Steel)
NOx Emissions (Kobe Steel)
Measures to Counter Dust at the Kakogawa Works
At the Kakogawa Works, voluntary targets for dustfall in three neighboring locations have been set at less than 3 tons/km2/month, with a variety of measures set in place to maintain this goal.
In July of fiscal 2013 we failed to meet this target at one location. After introducing new dust countermeasures the target was once again met in August.
Steelworks Influence Values (Kakogawa Shinko Building)
Water Pollution Measures
Water Recycling Initiatives
(Kakogawa Works)
The Kobe Steel Group reduces water consumption through measures such as improvements to manufacturing processes and wastewater recycling. Additionally, drainage from manufacturing processes is purified using specialized treatment systems in order to reduce the impact on public waters.
Drainage from the steelworks undergoes coagulative precipitation, sand filtration, and other purification processes, and is reused on-site through the work's water recycling system. As a result, a 97.1% water recycling rate is achieved at the Kakogawa Works and Kobe Works.
