Sam Baker from the IChemE writes: Process engineers Nick Popov and Rhian Howlett were fresh out of Swansea University when they went to work at Port Talbot steelworks in September 2023, just a few months before decommissioning began. Around December that year, they were assigned to the remaining coke ovens, over 50 of which had already closed, to oversee their safe shutdown. Popov says the assignment was a “baptism of fire”, with the coke ovens being in such poor condition.

“I was quite fortunate to see the plant operating at the time,” Popov recalls, describing the coke ovens as an example of “proper chemical engineering”. He points to the ammonia scrubbers, benzole washers and distillation columns used to clean the coke oven off-gas as textbook staples of the discipline.

Popov always thought he would leave south Wales after university, but he “fell in love” with the area – the coast, the rolling hills and the magnificent steelworks separating them. “I could have gone somewhere else and worked at something shiny and smaller, but I really wanted to work with the big toys.”

For natives of south Wales like Howlett who grew up in nearby Pembroke, Port Talbot steelworks was always somewhat mystifying. When the opportunity arose to work there, she thought: “I’ve driven past it so many times. I need to know what is going on in there.”

Much of the Port Talbot site will remain unchanged once the new electric arc furnace is operational. Tata plans to place the EAF inside the plant that currently houses the basic oxygen furnace. Other plants on site, including the hot and cold rolling mills and continuous casters that turn molten steel into coils and flat products, will also stay. As large-scale steel recycling ramps up, Tata Steel’s most pressing challenge will be one largely beyond its control: the sorting and processing of scrap.

Read the full article here:Steel’s New Chapter in the Race to Go Green - Features - The Chemical Engineer