Jersey Shore Steel in the news: 'Green' Steel

'GREEN' STEEL - Jersey Shore mill among world’s eliteJuly 20, 2011

By JESSICA WELSHANS (jwelshans@sungazette.com) , Williamsport Sun-Gazette

AVIS - The phrase "green building" may bring to mind renewable resources and solar energy. It doesn't usually conjure up the image of a steel mill.

But, according to Penn State officials, Jersey Shore Steel may be the "greenest" steel mill in the world.

Established in 1938, Jersey Shore Steel has been "going green" for years, with 17 "green" initiatives in place - some of which began when the mill was established.

"The 'green' thing isn't new to us," President and CEO Marshall Welch III recently said. "We have been doing this stuff for 10, 15, 20 years."

"It's just an untold story," said Thomas Tillman, vice president of sales.

The mill makes a variety of products, but all of them start with 100 percent post-consumer recycled ingredient.

"From 1938, we have been using recycled rail, which is the main part of the story," Welch said.

When it's time to replace railroad rail, companies sell the already-used product to businesses such as Jersey Shore Steel to mold into new.

In addition, almost 100 percent of the scrap produced is recycled, too, he said. It includes everything from the ends of sheared-off rail, steel scales cleaned off of the rails and the steel dirt swept right off the floor of the mill.

Methane power

For the past 10 years, Jersey Shore Steel and the Wayne Township Landfill have had an environmental relationship.

The landfill pumps its methane gas, which is produced from the waste there, through pipelines to the steel mill. The gas goes into the furnace that heats the rails to 2,300 degrees. The heating process is an important step for the mill to make its products.

"We are actually taking methane off that landfill and destroying it," Tillman said. "There is a 100 percent utilization of the landfill gas."

The furnace doesn't melt the steel into a liquified state. Instead, it heats the product to a high temperature so it may be split and cut to specific measurements to suit the projects on which the mill is working.

"That is the beginning of the key difference between us and other folks in the steel business," Welch said. "We have no process of melting. You skip all the energy it takes to do that."

Energy conservation

Motors on the various machines inside the mill even are considered to be part of the green initiative.

By using variable speed motors, which Welch said drives the whole process, they conserve energy. The motors do not run all the time. The only time the motors are in use is when a machine is needed.

The plant runs on one 10-hour shift, which helps with an energy curtailment program in which the company participates.

"We work from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m., so at 3 when the rest of the East Coast needs energy ... Jersey Shore Steel is shut down," Welch said. "It helps save money because we are off the grid at 3 o'clock. We have shifted schedules in order to accommodate the power grid."

Jersey Shore Steel's production process also uses less energy than procedures that produce wood, composite and plastic products, Welch said.

Within the company's offices, procedures are in place to recycle office paper for animal bedding and recycle printer cartridges.

"There is no residual waste that goes out of here other than what may show up under your desk in a trash can," Tillman said. "This is recycling at its finest."

No carbon footprint

Jersey Shore Steel, which employs about 300 people, has been proven to have a negative carbon imprint, officials said.

A carbon imprint, or footprint, refers to how much carbon is produced during an activity and expelled into the atmosphere, affecting the environment.

" 'Negative carbon footprint' is a big buzz word, but for me it's pretty cool," Welch said. "You can talk about using less energy, but when I tell people there is actually a steel mill with a negative carbon footprint, that's when they really perk up and say, 'Excuse me, how is that possible?' "

Earlier this year, the company worked with Penn State University on a project involving rail steel value.

Rose M. Torielli, Penn State graduate researcher and instructor for metal-casting process group, said she was brought into the study through Dr. Richard Hoover Jr., director of research and development, at the Materials Research Institute, and Dr. Richard C. Voigt, professor of industrial engineering and co-director of the Quality and Manufacturing Management Program at Penn State University. Both of the men are considered experts in the materials field.

Voigt was struck by Jersey Shore Steel's unique process, Torielli said.

"Because he has done many successful projects with the metals industry in making environmental improvements, he recognized that Jersey Shore Steel's material might be unique in more than just material properties," Torielli said.

Voigt asked Torielli to join forces with Hoover and present the carbon and energy study proposal to Jersey Shore Steel.

The company was anxious to learn more about its environmental impacts.

"It wasn't until I visited the plant for gathering data that we realized just how much more 'green' their process was," Torielli said. "Their use of landfill gas to heat the steel rails in place of natural gas is a huge environmental benefit. Additionally, they use energy-efficient furnaces."

When the calculations were done, she said, she determined the company had a negative carbon footprint.

The mill's negative imprint is made possible by several features, largely the fact that the products produced inside it are local or national and there is no need to import anything.

Torielli said she reviewed published information on other steel manufacturing processes to "look for comparable carbon dioxide and energy footprints."

"They backed the research and our numbers will stand up to any academic rigors if anyone wants to challenge them," Tillman said.

Green for customers

Besides initiatives in practice inside the plant, Jersey Shore Steel offers its customers a way to stay green.

"All these things add up to a unique process, which uses less energy than conventional steel processes," Torielli said.

When a product is bought and used from the mill, businesses can accumulate LEED points, which refers to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design practice.

LEED is a green building certification system that provides verification by a third party that a building was designed and constructed using strategies to improve energy savings, water efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, or stewardship of resources.

Welch said these points are very important to their customers, as more businesses are becoming environmentally friendly.

LEED provides proof that a business or company is just that and is following energy efficient ways.

"The furniture industry is growing more environmentally friendly," Welch said.

When a piece of furniture's green value is measured, the whole product is weighed.

Since the steel is what weighs the most, a customer gets more LEED points for using a Jersey Shore Steel steel product.

"You can't get any higher value (LEED points) than Jersey Shore Steel," Tillman said.

Companies such as Knickerbocker Bed Co., which makes advanced bed support systems, reaps the benefits of the green initiative.

Knickerbocker has been a Jersey Shore Steel customer for three decades.

Richard S. Polevoy, president of Knickerbocker, said the companies are locked at the hip, and they always have looked at Jersey Shore Steel product as a pinnacle.

"We have always viewed Jersey Shore Steel as a green story from day one," he said.

"When you have a story to tell, (a green one) with a product like this, that blends in with the times and is made and manufactured in America, this is the kind of story that doesn't get out enough."

Article reprinted with the permission of the Williamsport -Sun Gazette.  Photo by Mark Nance, Williamsport-Sun Gazette, used by permission. Photo copyright Williamsport Sun-Gazette.