Kingfield Galvanizing invested $20million in developing a state-of-the-art hot dip galvanizing (HDG) facility in Victoria. The new plant was designed to deliver a commercially viable Australian benchmark for the future of galvanizing. To achieve this, we developed initiatives under three key sustainability criteria; Recycling, Reducing Environmental Impacts and Improved Workplace Safety.

The plant build combines innovative manufacturing processes and Koerner equipment to deliver the following sustainability results that set Kingfield apart from traditional galvanizing plants.

Recycling:

• The enclosed Pre-Treatment area cleans acid from the air and re-uses it in Pre-Treatment tanks to reduce waste and minimise water use.
• Heat from the furnace used to heat zinc in our HDG bath is recycled and re-used to heat our Pre-Treatment chemicals.
• Our Baghouse collects Zinc Fume Emissions to reclaim zinc particulates.
• We recycle all the zinc ash and dross formed in the galvanizing process.
• We capture water run-off and re-use it across our site.

Reduced Environmental Impacts:

• The enclosed Pre-Treatment area captures acid emissions in the air. Once collected we treat these corrosive emissions via a Scrubber and exhaust clean air to the environment.
• By heating and re-using chemicals we reduce chemical usage and waste.

Improved Workplace Safety:

• Bunded areas and advanced plumbing systems minimise worker’s exposure to chemicals.
• Superior materials handling systems include 30 jigs, 6 lifting & lowering stations, distribution crane and monorail. This equipment operates in safety zones and removes manual handling on the galvanizing line to protect workers from injury.
• Our remote-control galvanizing system controls the angle and speed at which steel is dipped in the HDG bath for greater worker safety.

Kingfield’s plant transformation includes staff free zones and automated materials handling systems, which reduce the risk of injury from moving steel objects. The enclosed pre-treatment room & fume extraction systems further reduce the potential for injury or exposure to hazardous chemicals. Collectively the plant’s sustainability initiatives also deliver commercial benefits as they minimise downtime, maintain a high quality, consistent galvanizing finish and increase throughput of galvanized steel components.