Wanted: investors for Kosovo’s feronikeli plant, where cheap energy sources and raw materials abound. TU and Kosovar engineer Bedri Mehametaj designed a construction plan for a plant bombed by the Serbs.
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Today, only scraps remain, but in 1984, 1,500 hundred people worked at the state-of-the-art plant in Glogovc, Kosovo. Before the plant was ever functioning optimally, however, the Serbs came. Political unrest caused an initial decrease in production; then, in 1998, the Serbs turned Glogovc’s iron and nickel reprocessing plant into a military base. Nato bombed the plant in 1999, but the damage to the main facilities wasn’t too severe. Bedri Mehmetaj recounts. ,,Three mines were left intact.”
Before the bombs start falling, workers used the raw iron and nickel to make a iron-nickel mixture, which is used for stainless steel production and aluminium-based products.
When stability finally returned to Kosovo, Mehmetaj began looking for ways to reactivate the plant, and his efforts led to his publishing a paper in a prestigious metallurgy magazine. ,,Rebuilding the plant would give Kosovo’s economy a tremendous boost,” Mehmetaj believes. ,,People will have jobs, Kosovo’s electric energy corporation will get a big new customer, and Europe will be interested in Kosovo as a supplier.”
Moreover, geographically, the plant is ideally located. Large European companies, requiring stainless steel to produce everything from sinks to trains, need secure, cheap sources of nickel to compete on the world market.
Mehmetaj estimates that it would cost $100 million to revamp the plant: ,,It’s a rough estimate, based on my research of the enterprise’s current status.”
Reserve
,,It’s quite simple to rebuild Kosovo’s metal industry,” Mehmetaj believes. ,,Ninety-eight percent of what you need is there: abundant raw materials, energy sources and skilled workers. All that’s missing is investors.” Mehmetaj advises potential investors to stoke the enterprise with lignite gas, because Kosovo has two percent of the world’s reserves of this energy source. In the old days, the plant’s fuel source was oil. But oil contains lots of sulphur, which has negative consequences for the advanced processing of metal. Lignite gas, however, has none oil’s adverse side-effects and is plentiful in Kosovo; moreover, there is an existing pipeline leading to the plant is already installed.
Another potential problem for the plant is the extreme emissions of carbon monoxide and dust particles. Carbon monoxide causes severe pollution and energy loss. However, research performed in 1992 revealed that the carbon monoxide can be efficiently recycled to heat the plant’s furnaces. This recycling equipment is installed, but has never been used.
In the past twenty years, demand for stainless steel has increased by 5.5 percent annually. Increasing demand is expected to continue in future. Almost two-thirds of all nickel production is used in stainless steel products. Reactivating the plant would therefore be a lucrative investment for Kosovo. Mehmetaj doesn’t want the Kosovo government to invest money in the plant, however. ,,There’s no money to invest. There isn’t even enough for education, healthcare and infrastructure. But for western companies, now’s the time to invest in Kosovo. It’s calm and stable. Stainless steel will be an important material this century. Such a large, productive plant would be great for Kosovo’s industry, which is struggling after ten years of war and international sanctions.”
Mehmetaj began his research while completing his MSc. degree in Budapest: ,,After I left Budapest, where I had collected data, I wanted to write an article about the efficiencies of the enterprise in Glogovoc, about the production and pollution, but I didn’t have the time nor the access to the literature in Budapest to do so. Once in Holland, though, I kept thinking about it, had access to literature, and met Professor Rob Boom, of the Advanced Materials and Solidification Technology department, who helped me publish it. Hopefully, some serious investors will read it.”
Wanted: investors for Kosovo’s feronikeli plant, where cheap energy sources and raw materials abound. TU and Kosovar engineer Bedri Mehametaj designed a construction plan for a plant bombed by the Serbs.
Today, only scraps remain, but in 1984, 1,500 hundred people worked at the state-of-the-art plant in Glogovc, Kosovo. Before the plant was ever functioning optimally, however, the Serbs came. Political unrest caused an initial decrease in production; then, in 1998, the Serbs turned Glogovc’s iron and nickel reprocessing plant into a military base. Nato bombed the plant in 1999, but the damage to the main facilities wasn’t too severe. Bedri Mehmetaj recounts. ,,Three mines were left intact.”
Before the bombs start falling, workers used the raw iron and nickel to make a iron-nickel mixture, which is used for stainless steel production and aluminium-based products.
When stability finally returned to Kosovo, Mehmetaj began looking for ways to reactivate the plant, and his efforts led to his publishing a paper in a prestigious metallurgy magazine. ,,Rebuilding the plant would give Kosovo’s economy a tremendous boost,” Mehmetaj believes. ,,People will have jobs, Kosovo’s electric energy corporation will get a big new customer, and Europe will be interested in Kosovo as a supplier.”
Moreover, geographically, the plant is ideally located. Large European companies, requiring stainless steel to produce everything from sinks to trains, need secure, cheap sources of nickel to compete on the world market.
Mehmetaj estimates that it would cost $100 million to revamp the plant: ,,It’s a rough estimate, based on my research of the enterprise’s current status.”
Reserve
,,It’s quite simple to rebuild Kosovo’s metal industry,” Mehmetaj believes. ,,Ninety-eight percent of what you need is there: abundant raw materials, energy sources and skilled workers. All that’s missing is investors.” Mehmetaj advises potential investors to stoke the enterprise with lignite gas, because Kosovo has two percent of the world’s reserves of this energy source. In the old days, the plant’s fuel source was oil. But oil contains lots of sulphur, which has negative consequences for the advanced processing of metal. Lignite gas, however, has none oil’s adverse side-effects and is plentiful in Kosovo; moreover, there is an existing pipeline leading to the plant is already installed.
Another potential problem for the plant is the extreme emissions of carbon monoxide and dust particles. Carbon monoxide causes severe pollution and energy loss. However, research performed in 1992 revealed that the carbon monoxide can be efficiently recycled to heat the plant’s furnaces. This recycling equipment is installed, but has never been used.
In the past twenty years, demand for stainless steel has increased by 5.5 percent annually. Increasing demand is expected to continue in future. Almost two-thirds of all nickel production is used in stainless steel products. Reactivating the plant would therefore be a lucrative investment for Kosovo. Mehmetaj doesn’t want the Kosovo government to invest money in the plant, however. ,,There’s no money to invest. There isn’t even enough for education, healthcare and infrastructure. But for western companies, now’s the time to invest in Kosovo. It’s calm and stable. Stainless steel will be an important material this century. Such a large, productive plant would be great for Kosovo’s industry, which is struggling after ten years of war and international sanctions.”
Mehmetaj began his research while completing his MSc. degree in Budapest: ,,After I left Budapest, where I had collected data, I wanted to write an article about the efficiencies of the enterprise in Glogovoc, about the production and pollution, but I didn’t have the time nor the access to the literature in Budapest to do so. Once in Holland, though, I kept thinking about it, had access to literature, and met Professor Rob Boom, of the Advanced Materials and Solidification Technology department, who helped me publish it. Hopefully, some serious investors will read it.”
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