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Vol. 1985/0 106 
  
 
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Conformém ent au règlement (CEE, Euratom) n° 354/83 du Conseil du 1er février 1983 
concernant l'ouverture au public des archives historiques de la Communauté économique 
européenne et de la Communauté européenne de l'énergie atomique (JO L 43 du 15.2.1983, 
p. 1), tel que modifié par le règlement (CE, Euratom) n° 1700/2003 du 22 septembre 2003 
(JO L 243 du 27.9.2003, p. 1), ce dossier est ouvert au public. Le cas échéant, les documents 
classifiés présents dans ce dossier ont été déclassifiés conformément à l'article 5 dudit 
règlem ent. 
In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983 
concerning the openi ng to the public of the historical archives of the European Econom ic 
Community and the European Atomic Energy Communit y (OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1), as 
amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1700/2003 of 22 September 2003 (OJ L 243, 
27.9.2003, p. 1), this f ile is open to the public. Where necessary, classified documents in this 
file have been declassified in conformity with Article 5 of the aforementioned regulation.  
In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom  1. 
Februar 198 3 über die Freigabe der historischen Archive der Europäischen  
Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft und der Europäischen Atomgem einschaft (ABI. L 43 vom  15.2.1983,  
S. 1), geändert durch die Verordnung (EG, Euratom) Nr. 1700/2003 vom 22. Septem ber 2003  
(ABI. L 243 vom 27 .9.2003, S. 1), ist diese Datei der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich. Soweit  
erforderlich, wurden die Verschlusssachen in dieser Datei in Übereinstimmung mit Artikel 5  
der genannten Verordnung freigegeben.  
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
C0MC85) 216 final  
Brussels, 15 May 1985
MEMORANDUM
Establishment of a Fifth ECSC Research Programme on "Technical  
Control of Nuisances and Pollution at the Place of Work and  
in the Environment of Iron and Steel Works"
(submitted to the Council by the Commission)
C0MC85) 216 final

ESTABLISHMENT OF A FIFTH ECSC RESEARCH PROGRAMME ON  
"TECHNICAL CONTROL OF NUISANCES AND POLLUTION AT THE  
PLACE OF WORK AND IN THE ENVIRONMENT OF IRON AND STEEL WORKS”
Memorandum
Table of contents
Introduction
Need for a fifth ECSC research programme on technical control  
of pollution in the iron and steel industry
Research programme
1. - Measures to combat air pollution at the place of work,
inside plants and in the environment
2. - Measures to combat fresh and sea water pollution
3. - Wastes
4. - Impact studies
5. - Noise
Execution and coordination of work  
Research results
Financial aspects and duration of the programme  
Conclusions

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I. INTRODUCTION
The fourth ECSC research programme on "Technical control of  
nuisances and pollution at the place of work and in the environment of  
iron and steel works", adopted pursuant to Article 55 of the ECSC Treaty  
and published in the Official Journal of the European Communities No. C  
147 of 13 June 1979, expired in 1984 after running for a period of five  
years. The 15 million units of account made available had been used up  
by the end of the programme.
The research and development work thus fostered in the steel works,  
research establishments and universities will have contributed  
significantly to improving the place of work and the environment of iron  
and steel plant.
Compared with previous programmes, the work carried out during the  
fourth programme will have seen a substantial extension of the field of  
activity. Whereas the second research programme (1967-73) was almost  
entirely devoted to problems of atmospheric pollution and the third  
programme (1974-78) extended to the problems of treating waste and  
liquid effluent, the fourth programme (1979-83) will have permitted,  
thanks to greater financial resources, research both in the above-  
mentioned fields and also in the fields of noise, environmental effects  
and health and safety at work.
A total of 82 projects received financial assistance under the  
fourth programme. These projects were selected on the basis of their  
likelihood to yield practicable results. Although research is still under  
way, the work carried out has in fact yielded solutions and improvements  
which are already applied or can be applied in the short term in the  
industry.
For instance, for the treatment of coking plant waste waters, a  
process for recovering of crude coal tar by centrifugation has been deve­
loped (Forges de Clabecq) as has a unique technique of biological nitri­
fication-denitrification based on the use of activated sludge (Geleen-  
BSC). As regards steelmaking effluent, a process for oil removal using a  
pretreated sand fi Iter

- 3 -
(IRH) and a magnetic clarification technique CCSM) are currently being  
developed.
A caustic soda treatment for removing zinc and lead concentrations  
from steel waste has also been devised (Cebedeau). A works based on this  
process is currently being designed for the treatment of electric furnace  
dust (France, sub-contracted to Cebedeau).
In the field of air pollution, a number of research projects  
conducted in parallel by French and German concerns, and corroborated by  
BSC research, have made it possible to optimize filter materials and  
dimensions for secondary fume collection systems. Another significant  
achievement is a comprehensive chart of N0x emissions into the atmosphere  
by all coking and steelmaking plants, compiled jointly by four  
organizations (B.B.F., C.P.M., C.S.M. and LECES).
A special series of research projects conducted in tandem in a  
number of ECSC countries, and fully coordinated, has been devoted to the  
problem of controlling noise generated by electric arc furnaces.
II. NEED FOR A FIFTH ECSC RESEARCH PROGRAMME ON TECHNICAL CONTROL OF
POLLUTION IN THE IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY
Despite substantial progress in ,  the previous programmes,  
particularly the fourth, certain major problems remain alongside other  
new ones which have emerged, the latter sometimes even having been gene­
rated by the solutions devised for the former. An example of this is the  
transfer of pollution from one environment to another (e.g. the problem  
of gypsum generated by desulphurization). All these make a fresh research  
drive essential.
Moreover, Community directives, national legislation and even  
regional regulations on the environment are becoming more frequent or  
increasingly stringent both at the Community level and at the national  
level.
72/16/VS4 EM

- 4 -
The production cycle is also changing constantly as research focuses  
on reducing pollution, increased cost-effectiveness and enhanced product  
quality. Examples are the pretreatment of pig iron in order to make the  
steelmaking shop more efficient and produce better-quality steel, scrap  
preheating in the electric melting shop, and ladle metallurgy.
There is every reason to believe that these new techniques will  
modify the pattern of pollution and nuisances both at the work stations  
and in the environment of the installations as regards gas and dust  
emissions, odours and noise.
Even in its current difficult state, the steel industry has to com­
ply with new regulations. This obligation is in line with the Resolution  
of the Council of the European Communities of 7 February 1983 on the con­
tinuation and implementation of a European Community policy and action  
programme on the environment (1982-1986) (OJ No C 46/1 of 17 February
1984) which felt that " __ environment policy is a structural policy
wh
ich must be carried out without regard to the short-term fluctuations  
in cyclical conditions...", and which is fundamentally geared to a pre­
ventive approach and to complementing environmental requirements in every  
other Community policy.
However, in view of the fact that anti-poi lut ion measures will have  
increasing repercussions on the production cost of steel products, it is  
of capital importance, particularly in the current recession, to help the  
steel industry solve its problems by optimum allocation of the means  
available. To neglect this impact could in the medium or long term have  
very considerable consequences for the competitiveness of European  
enterprises at the international level.
Will these considerations in mind, and whatever the nature of the  
pollutiu.-, research to deal with pollution in the steel sector will, in  
the fi!U programme, have to be based on the following principles as a
matter of priority:

- 5 -
- compliance with the general objectives of the Commission of the Euro­
pean Communities as regards the environment, and, particularly, of the
t Community directives which will gradually be incorporated into the
various national laws and of the third action programme on the  
environment ;
- the quest for the best ratio between efficiency, safety and reliability  
of the anti-pollution equipment on the one hand and its cost on the  
other, with a view to maintaining the competitiveness of the Community  
steel enterprises and, consequently, safeguarding jobs;
- achievement of savings in raw materials and energy for environmental  
reasons ;
- avoidance of the transfer of pollution fom one physical environment to  
another (water/air/soil);
- innovation in the field of 'clean technologies', i.e. low- or non-  
polluting;
- improvement of the treatment techniques applied to industrial effluent,  
reduction in the volume and the pollutant charge of effluent by more  
efficient management and increased recycling, and, lastly, steering a  
course towards the lowest possible discharge or at least the optimum  
discharge from the point of view of safeguarding the environment;
- development of techniques for managing and exploiting waste  
(facilities and benificiation), waste dumps and slag heaps in order to  
ensure a better environment ;
- quest for solutions which can be applied directly to the production  
cycle rather than as an ancillary part of the process;
- exploitation of the progress achieved through new technologies, parti­
cularly biotechnology and robotics, and information dissemination tech­
niques.

-  6 -
The work will therefore have to be focused both on problems already
identified for which satisfactory solutions have not yet been found, and
on new problems, including those generated by increasingly stringent  
directives and legislation and by the headway made in production  
technology.
III. RESEARCH PROGRAMME
An analysis of the proposals from national experts indicates that  
the fifth programme should be based essentially on priorities. These  
priorities have been established as a function, on the one hand, of legal  
requirements set by Community directives and national legislation, and,  
on the other, of technological advances (new production methods and
introduction of clean technologies) and the increasing scale of the  
problem of the transfer of pollution from one environment to another.  
They dovetail with the guidelines set out in the Council Resolution of 7  
February 1983 on the continuation and implementation of European
Community policy and action programme on the environment (1982-86).
III.1 Measures to combat air pollution at the place of work, inside
plants and in the environment
Priority is given to the research made necessary in the wake of the  
Commission proposal for a Council Directive on the combating of air  
pollution from industrial plants of 15 April 1983 (OJ No C 139/5 of 27  
May 1983) and adopted on 1 March 1984 by the Council. In this context,  
additional studies on reducing emissions of oxides of sulphur and  
nittogen, of heavy metals and dangerous organic compounds are a matter of  
priority.
In a c : : : " » r • ' ■ ‘ . ' . ’ ■nee with the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on  
the proposal for a Council directive on the combating of air pollution  
from industrial plant (OJ No C 23/30 of 30 January 1984), the problem of
7246/5/64

- 7 -
odours will be taken into account. "The effect of odours on the internal  
and external environment of the works is increasingly notable".
Research to clean up the atmosphere at the place of work and inside  
plants remains essential, since it constitutes an on-going objective.  
Research on the reduction of emissions during the carbonization of coal  
and on the collection of secondary fume in blast furnace shops, oxygen  
steelmaking plants and electric furnaces, and on the control of aerosols  
and of dust generation during handling, transport, preparation and  
stocking of fine raw materials and dusty wastes, whether recycled or not,  
should be a matter of priority.
III.2 Measures to combat fresh and sea water pollution
Priority is given to the research made necessary pursuant to the  
phased implementation of Council Directive 76/464/EEC of 4 May 1976 on  
pollution caused by certain dangerous substances discharged into the  
aquatic environment of the Community (OJ No L 129/23 of 18 May 1976).
Taking into consideration the pollutants or groups of pollutants  
listed in Annexes I and II to the above-mentioned Directive, priority  
should be given to those substances which could give rise to risks  
because of steel industry and coking plant activities.
Against this background the most urgent research should be focused
on:
1) specific aspects of coking plant waste water treatment (e.g. biolo­
gical nitrification);
2) the treatment of gas scrubbing waters, at blast furnaces and elsewhere  
(e.g. Zn and cyanides);

-  8 -
3) the treatment of hot and cold rolling mill effluent Ce.g. emulsions);
4) the treatement of effluents from surface treatment installations (e.g.  
heavy metals).
Ill .3 Wastes
Generally speaking, the problem of wastes, including the reduction  
of volumes, treatment, recycling, beneficiation and stocking, is a  
source of priority concern. The problem covers a very wide span of  
residual products ranging from blast furnace dedusting sludge, rolling  
mill oils, sludge and oily scale to steelmaking slag and dust generated  
throughout the production cycle.
Special attention will be devoted, however, to the toxic and  
dangerous waste mentioned in the Council Directive of 20 March 1978 (0J  
No L 84/43 of 31 March 1978).
The problems involved in the management of waste and slag dumps,  
the beneficiation and taking out of stock of products stored or dumped  
will be examined as part of overall measures to combat pollution of the  
soil, underground water and air (fine dust generation).
III.4 Impact studies
In a view of the proposal for a Council Directive concerning the  
assessment of the environmental effects of certain public and private  
projects, submitted by the Commission to the Council on 16 June 1980 (0J  
No C 169/14 of 9 July 1980), and of Council Directive 82/501/EEC of 24  
Ju te 19C or; the major-accident hazards of certain industrial activities  
CO' No i  230/1 of 5 August 1982), the impact studies, the relevant  
émission 'inventories, the models for forecasting dust fallout and for  
pollutant diffusion and transformation in steelmaking plants and the  
environment are of the utmost importance and will be given special  
attention, as will prevention of technological hazards.

- 9 -
In this context, and although the measurement of pollutant emission  
and diffusion was the subject of considerable attention in previous  
programmes, particularly the third, it is very important to encourage  
work on the harmonization of sampling methods and of qualitative and  
quantitative measurements of pollutants peculiar to the steel industry.  
The impact of such pollutants on people and the environment of steelworks  
should be assessed. Similarly, attention will be given to techniques for  
pinpointing major sources of pollution.
Sampling and continuous monitoring techniques in particular will be  
promoted.
III.5 Noise
The problem of noise in the steel industry has specific implications  
because of the size of the plant generating it, certain manufacturing  
processes and materials handling methods, the resonance characteristics  
of the materials handled and the fact that this plant is frequently  
located in urban areas.
In view of the work already carried out, particularly on measuring  
sound energy, the answer to these problems now lies in exploiting the  
results obtained and implementing the best solutions available.
The objectives will thus be to improve current sound dampening  
techniques. At the same time, special attention will be devoted to the  
detection, pinpointing and identification of noise sources which can  
jeopardize workers' health and the quality of the steel environment.
7246/5/84 M

-  10 -
IV. EXECUTION AND COORDINATION OF WORK
Following acceptance by the Commission, the previous programmes were  
managed in a way which has proved its worth. The Commission is advised on  
the promotion of projects by three consultative committees - the Research  
Committee, the Committee of Producers and Workers on Industrial Safety  
and Medicine and the Committee of Governement Experts, all of whose  
members are suitably qualified.
When the Commission accepts a project it concludes a contract with  
the party concerned which makes it compulsory to submit technical reports  
on the work carried out. These are examined and discussed by experts'  
working parties which submit reasoned opinions to the Commission. Where  
necessary, these working parties meet at research centres or in the works  
where the research is being conducted, and they are thus able to gain a  
first-hand impression of the project on which they are called upon to  
comment.
Similarly, an effort is made to encourage Community research  
projects, in which case the Research Committee is responsible for coor­
dinating the work.
The 4th Programme saw a number of major research themes being  
undertaken simultaneously and fully synchronized in several Member  
States. This approach is wholeheartedly encouraged in that it offers  
considerable advantages :
- more efficient use of financial resources and avoidance of  
duplication of effort;
-  solution of problems encountered by all enterprises or at least
several of them ;
,-;;ker transition from theoretical solution to practical  
application by gearing specific aspects of the research to real problems  
encountered in situ;

-  11  -
- coordination ensures an uninterrupted flow of information on  
results emerging during the research.
In view of the proven merits of this formula, it is expected that  
the present programme will also be organized in this way.
V. RESEARCH RESULTS
Details of projects and of the results obtained will be passed on to  
those concerned. Research reports are made available as early as possible  
to the members of the experts' working parties. These experts are all  
specialists in the iron and steel industries of their respective  
countries, and thus the research findings can be passed on quickly to  
these industries.
To ensure that information on research undertaken reaches a wider  
public, details of projects or a summary of the final reports are
published in Euro-Abstracts.
Furthermore, in accordance with the provisions of the communication  
concerning the granting of financial aids (OJ No. C 159 of 24 February  
1982, Annex II, Article 7.2), "where the beneficiary has not applied for  
or obtained rights of industrial property in respect of the research  
results, it shall place the research results at the disposal of any  
person concerned who shall so request for such person's own use, and  
shall likewise place the experience obtained and the improvements to be  
obtained thereafter in the field in question".
Lastly, in order to abide by the aforementioned provisions, other  
means of information dissemination will be used, e.g. off-prints of  
articles on research projects, conferences, etc.
The Steel Industry Safety and Health Commission contributes towards  
safety and health in the industry by organizing exchanges of experience  
among the Member States. This organization will derive benefit from the  
research findings.
7246/5/84 EN

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VI. FINANCIAL ASPECTS AND DURATION OF THE PROGRAMME
The previous programmes on industrial health and safety and  
pollution control in the iron and steel industy ran, in principle, for  
five years. This has proved sufficient for positive results to be drawn  
from the projects, and in many cases it has also been possible to apply  
the results under practical conditions with little delay.
The projects have usually lasted two and sometimes three years, as  
will be the case in the present programme, which is proposed to run for  
five years.
The funds to be allocated to the programme include not only the  
financial aid for the projects but also the related costs of implementing  
the programme and disseminating the results, fees paid to experts called  
in for studies or summary reports on the results of research fostered by  
the ECSC, as well as the costs of publication, translation, typing,  
conferences, patent rights, etc.
In assessing the funds required, account was taken of the cost of  
previous projects, average cost increases, the annual budget for social  
research in the coal and steel sector, the equipment required by  
institutions and the staff available and needed for the satisfactory  
organization of the programme. In addition, the transition from the  
research stage to a phase which is one step short of industrial-scale  
application (prototypes) sometimes involves increased expenditure.
In view of the above, financial aid granted by the Commission of the  
European Communities may attain 60% of the total costs. However, for  
research of a Community character, i.e. projects to be carried out at the  
same lime and involving collaboration by the various research institutes  
of he i . cal and steel industries, financial aid could amount to 75% of  
the total costs depending on the opinion of the advisory committees.
Under these conditions, it is considered that a satisfactory and  
effective programme for improving industrial hygiene at the workplace and  
in the environment of plant calls for a research appropriation of 20  
million ECU, spread over five years and beginning in 1985.

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VII. CONCLUSIONS
The Commission of the European Communities
~ considering that it is necessary to help the steel industry
comply with the provisions of such directives as affect it 
and use the best techniques available for preventing 
pollution;
- considering the need to encourage research on industrial 
hygiene at the workplace in the iron and steel industry and 
on the improvement of the environment;
- taking into account the favourable opinions and agreement 
expressed concerning research by the professional, govern­
ment and scientific consultative committees;
- having regard to Article 55 of the Treaty establishing the 
European Coal and Steel Community;
intends, subject to budget availabilities, to make available a total 
appropriation in the region of 20 million ECU for the implementation of a 
fifth research programme on the 'Technical control of nuisances and 
pollution at the place of work and in the environment of iron and steel 
works' starting in 1985 and probably lasting five years.
7246/5/84 UK