DENR urged to approve modern smelting technology

MANILA, Philippines — Former senator Nikki Coseteng is urging the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to give its seal of approval to the industrial furnace smelting technology (IFST) that has been adopted by the country’s bigger and more progressive steel manufacturers as they move to better steel-making technologies.

As chairperson of the Philippine Induction Smelting Industry Association, Coseteng defended the IFST as a better technology that has been adopted by PISIA member-companies precisely to compy with global efforts at sustainable development.

In a letter last Dec. 27 to Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, Coseteng belied claims made by the Clean Air Philippines Movement Inc. (CAPMI) that IFST was a “bad technology… linked to high levels of air pollution.”

“CAPMI must substantiate this report with actual results of studies conducted by reliable independent agencies. Otherwise, it could be taken as self-serving or with their vested interest in mind,” Coseteng said.

“There appears to be a lack of appreciation in terms of this new technology… It is public knowledge that the more advanced technology in fact minimizes air pollution and definitely lowers electricity cost. IFST technology,  developed only over a decade ago in Germany and Italy, is now being used by smelters in the ASEAN region, Middle East, Africa, China, Japan, Taiwan and some European countries,” she said.

“It is certainly a direct contrast to the obsolete electric arc furnace, developed some 150 years ago, which causes heavy pollution and is still being used by many local smelters,” Coseteng stressed. 

The PISIA is composed of Melters Steel Corp., Real Steel Corp., Wan Chiong Steel Corp., Metrodragon Steel Corp. and Davao Mighty Steel Corp.

“The organization is also confident that the IFST is the better technology in the Philippines and in the world. Today, the process is consuming less energy and generates very little pollution,” Coseteng said.