The carcinogenic benzene does not leave the sky of Taranto. The curse on the city by the former Ilva was re-reported in a letter that Arpa Puglia sent to the Ministry of the Environment and Ispra. The news is from Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, which reports that "the by-product area of coke oven plants is a significant source of benzene emissions". The wounded industrial giant - not yet completely dead - continues to cause fear due to the health effects. The discomfort also grew when a few days ago one of the commissioners of Acciaierie d'Italia failed to define the former Ilva "the cleanest factory in the world”. No, things aren't like that.
The benzene leaving the steel mill has risen steadily since 2019 and only in 2023 have there been 155 overruns. It doesn't take long to understand this when you cross the Tamburi neighborhood where steel and premature deaths have been together for too long now. We walk away quickly and our thoughts turn to yet another game of goose and goose around the largest steelworks in Europe. Anger rises when you think of today's players as yesterday's spectators, unsuitable for both roles.
Steel production is growing
The dice of the game are in the hands of politicians, unions, associations and local authorities. They defend jobs with governments of all colors, but that benzene that kills always revolves around the same question: can steel be produced without polluting? When and if it will happen? “Steel is the most important activity hard to abbot, as well as one of the major causes of the greenhouse effect, accounting for 8% of global emissions,” he says Alberto Clo, director of the Energy magazine, economist, former Minister and one of Europe's leading energy experts.
Cló published one studio on the conversion of the former Ilva. “Emissions from the steel industry derive from the extraction of iron, its main component, in blast furnaces at temperatures that can exceed 2.800 degrees Farhenheit,” he explains. The problem-not problem is that steel is consumed all over the world. Since the post-war period, world production has increased tenfold, reaching 2 billion tons in 2023. But can Taranto be reconverted? “The investments necessary for the conversion of Taranto for the production of steel from coal blast furnaces to green hydrogen technology have been estimated at approximately 11 billion euros" the former Minister replies.
After a long, but also painful series of circumstances, we would all like it to start again. Leave the disaster behind us contract with Arcelor Mittal wanted by Giuseppe Conte , (never) prime minister. Free yourself from the crazy ideas of his supporters or improvised Ministers. From the former CEO of Acciaierie d'Italia Lucia Morselli, gone investigated for environmental pollution. A disturbing succession of facts and characters emerging from a sporadic one horror. The center-right has gathered all this while the strength of workers and citizens to regenerate the factory shows signs of tiredness. Is that so, Professor Clò? ” I argue that more advanced alternatives to reconvert the factory are there replacement of coal with fossil gas associated with carbon capture, up to green hydrogen.” But we don't talk about it enough... ” Yes, and I'll mention the case of the Swedish H2 Green Steel. It is investing over $5 billion to build the world's first green steel mill. It will use carbon-free renewable sources and plans to use green hydrogen through the construction of electrolysis plants.”
Hydrogen as a solution?
Why aren't similar projects being made for Taranto too? The government does not listen to health alarms and thus generates sensational nonsense among public structures. “We must avoid sensational mistakes made in the past,” continues Clò. “About ten years ago, previous commissioners blocked a green plan developed by another commissioner, Enrico Bondi. That plan called for converting the steel mill cycle from hard coal to natural gas using pre-reduced technology. The plan would have allowed a cut in CO2 emissions and less damage to everyone's health." Nope, we've reached 2024 and the local authorities continue to report to the Ministry that the factory spreads cancer. Technologies are the engine of global innovations, mysteriously prohibited in Taranto. Possible ?
How long can the government pretend not to listen to the proposals of experts? “He made an interesting proposal Giovan Battista Zorzoli, a highly appreciated manager, who envisages a biomethane + photo/agrivoltaic solution to produce the hydrogen required to complete the decarbonisation of the reduction of iron minerals. The new commissioners could take it into consideration”, says Clò again. To conclude, let's go back to investments and a environmental perspective serious. “I don't know how likely it is for the company or the public coffers to face billions in investments as we said. We are waiting to see what energy, industrial and financial solutions the triad of commissioners will propose based on the experiences of other countries and other companies". Yes, we still have to wait for the largest steel mill in Europe to truly become the cleanest in the world. Giorgia Meloni he will have to do his part.
