Fresh out of bankruptcy, WCI Steel begins upgrades

The steelmaker is in the midst of spending $125 million on mill upgrades.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
WARREN -- Mill upgrades are coming quickly now that WCI Steel has emerged from bankruptcy court.
The Warren steelmaker said Thursday it will spend $29.3 million on equipment to meet new pollution standards.
Construction will start in August on a new baghouse system at the mill's basic oxygen furnace. The new system, which filters dust particles out of gas produced during steelmaking, will be operational next April.
This is the second major investment announced by the Warren steelmaker recently. WCI said last month that it was going to spend $36.7 million on a new furnace that reheats steel slabs so they can be rolled into coils.
In all, the company plans to spend $125 million in the next four years to upgrade the mill.
Spending money
Tim Roberts, a company spokesman, said WCI finally has the ability to spend money on major upgrades after spending 21/2 years in bankruptcy court. The reorganized company exited bankruptcy court in April under control of a group of lenders.
A newly appointed board of directors has approved the two recently announced upgrades.
The furnace is designed to improve productivity and the quality of steel that is produced, while the baghouse is needed for environmental reasons.
New air quality standards went into effect in May 2003 as part of the 1990 Clean Air Act.
Production will not be affected by the construction, said Patrick Tatom, WCI president. Site preparation work already has begun.
Tatom said this project will bring the company's spending on environmental projects to more than $100 million since 2000.
A baghouse is a fabric filter system that reduces the emissions of particulate matter to the air. Exhaust gases are drawn through extensive ductwork to the baghouse, where the dust is filtered out as the gas passes through the filters, or bags, before being exhausted into the air.
The filtered dust particles that accumulate on the fire-retardant bags are removed from the bags regularly.
This will be the second baghouse at the basic oxygen furnace. The new baghouse, which will handle up to 800,000 cubic feet of air per minute, will be the more powerful of the two.
WCI employs about 1,450 workers.