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Solid wastes generation in steel industry and their recycling potential

Conference Paper · March 2015

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Sushovan Sarkar
Heritage Institute of Technology
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Abstract: Solid waste management in steel industry is aimed to extract the maximum practical benefits

from waste products and to generate the minimum amount of waste to comply with Environmental

legislation and regulations and the economics of disposal in the present scenerio. To achieve this goal

and for maintaining a sustainable development in steel industry, “4Rs” i.e. reduce, reuse, recycle and

restoring the materials are being considered as strategies of solid waste management. Proper reuse and

recycling the entire solid waste generated in steel manufacturing process can meet the demand of a

potential resource for fulfilling growing shortages of energy and materials, In view of its uncertainty,

volatility and speculation due to world competitive standards, rising input costs, scarcity of raw materials

and solid waste generated like in other sectors., solid waste management has gained importance in steel

industry. The requirement of a sustainable development by meeting the needs of our present generation

without compromising the ability of future generations is really a challenge to the steel Industry today. A

new process, a better social awareness and more restrictive legislation have generated new ideas and

new technologies for better re-using of all of them in manufacture of conventional products as well as for

conversion of same into completely new products.

Key Words: Reuse; recycle; solid waste; sustainable development; steel industry; zero waste.

1
Assistant Professor (Selection grade), Civil Engineering Department, Heritage Institute Of

Technology, Anandapur, Chowbaga,Road, P.O. East Kolkata Township, Kolkata-700107,E-mail

: sushovan.sarkar@heritageit.edu.

2
Associate Professor, Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and

Technology, Shibpur, P.O. – Botanic Garden, Howrah – 711 103, E-mail :

debabrata@civil.iiests.ac.in, dmazumder@hotmail.com.

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INTRODUCTION

Natural resources used by industrial units generate byproducts during processing is

termed as a waste so long as no use for this product is found. In fact there is no unique

system which is perpetually perfect to prevent generation of a waste, but it can be

treated as a process of continuous improvement to reduce the waste generation to a

bare minimum level. Efforts have been put to find out a use for the byproducts of the

process, so that they can be used as a resource for some other products.

Steel is manufactured from iron ore mostly using blast furnace (BF) and basic oxygen

furnace (BOF) and using electric arc furnace (EAF) in case of manufactured from scrap

materials. In BF molten steel is produced in presence of coke and in BOF it is produced

in presence of oxygen. By smelting and refining process through carbon reduction in BF

molten iron is produced and decarburization of molten iron yields molten steel. After

controlling the targeted composition and temperature, molten steel is processed into

continuous casting machine to produce slabs, billets etc. Finally the castings are rolled

to the required dimensions in the rolling mill to get finished steel product.

Sources of solid wastes for steel industries may thus be identified as coke oven by

product plant, sinter plant, refractory materials plant, blast furnace, basic oxygen

furnace, steel melting shop and rolling mill. The main solid wastes in steel industry are

classified as coke and coal dust, BF slag, SMS slag, mill scale, scrap, oil sludge, fly

ash, acid sludge, refractory wastes etc. Dumping solid waste in open space and

excavated land not only creates environmental pollution in the form of dusts and

leachate but also create huge financial liability due to scarcity of land. The scope of

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reuse of these solid wastes is thus found .essential to sort out this crisis. The production

of solid wastes per ton of production of steel is around 1.2 ton in India compared to

around 0.55 ton of that practicing in abroad due to inferior quality of raw materials used

and an absence of proper solid waste management practices. Out of total solid wastes

generated in the steel plant in our country around 63% are dumped which needs to be

recycled or reused to target a zero solid waste as being done in many developed

countries.

PROCESS OF STEEL MANUFACTURING

Steel is manufactured from the molten iron through the blast furnace into the basic

oxygen furnace in presence of oxygen. Oxygen through molten pig iron reduces carbon

content of the alloy and changes it into steel. Alternatively steel can also be made in an

electric arc furnace (EAF) from steel scraps. Scraps along with fluxes (e.g. limestone

and/or dolomite) are heated to a liquid state by means of an electric current. During the

melting process the fluxes combine with non-metallic scrap components and steel

incompatible elements to form the liquid slag. Slag floats on top of the molten bath of

steel due to its lower density. The liquid slag is ultimately converted into crystalline slag

by process of air cooling. Crude steel is refined prior to casting and the various

operations are normally carried out in ladles. To ensure the production of high quality

steel after casting, certain alloying agents are added, dissolved gases in the steel are

lowered and impurities are removed in the process of refining. Suitable billets, beam

blanks, and near-net shape profiles are produced through the continuous casting

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operation. Finally structural sections are produced from these semi finished steel in the

rolling mill.

A typical flow-sheet of materials in Steel manufacturing is shown in Figure 1.

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The chemical composition of Steel slags from different furnaces is also presented in

Table 1.

From the table 1, it is observed that the steel slag from BOF for the production of carbon

steels is very similar to that from EAF. However, the slag from EAF for the production of

alloy or stainless steels is quite different. It has a lower FeO content and a very high

content of Cr, which leads to classifying the slag as a hazardous waste. It is also

evident that the Ladle furnace slag yields maximum amount of Alumina (Al2O3)

compared to others, which can be reused commercially.

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TYPES OF SOLID WASTES GENERATION

The solid wastes generated in steel industry are of two types, i.e., ferruginous wastes

and non ferruginous wastes. The ferruginous wastes, i.e. the iron bearing wastes are

generated from steel making viz., mill scale, flue dust, sludges from Gas cleaning plants

of Blast Furnaces and Steel Melting Shops, Blast furnace slag and SMS slag. The non

ferruginous wastes are lime fines, broken refractory bricks, broken fire clay bricks,

acetylene plant sludge etc. A list of solid wastes along with their source of generation is

depicted in Table 2. The chemical composition of various categories of solid wastes is

also presented in Table 3.

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Blast furnace flue dust and electric earth furnace dust are mixture of oxides and coke

fines. It also contains silicon, calcium, magnesium and some undesirable elements like

zinc, lead and alkali metals.

Rolling Mill sludge is mainly contaminated with oils and inorganic particles. Dry slag

exhibits stable performance, small density, high strength and high temperature

endurance, making it suitable as concrete aggregate.

REUSE POTENTIAL OF SOLID WASTE

Blast furnace slags, the major solid waste in steel industry (around 70% of total solid

wastes in steel industry) are used for the manufacture of cement, road base, railroad

ballast, light weight concrete block, glass and artificial rock, high performance concrete

admixtures. Slag from BOF having high fluxing capacity is charged into the B.F for easy

melting and better utilization of calcium values. Filling in the low lying area may be done

with the slag generated from EAF at SMP. Segregated refractories generated at source

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in manufacturing process of steel can be used as one of the constituents in manufacture

of new bricks/mortars.

For the production of new steel products requiring much less energy compared to the

production of iron or steel products from iron ore, recycling of iron and steel scrap plays

an important role and finds as a vital raw material for production of the same. Flue dust

from BF and EAF after duly extracting zinc and other metals can be used as a source of

lime and phosphorous in fertilizers. The scrap generated from rolling mills may either be

recycled or may be sold in the market. For the utilization of BF Slag, the installation of

captive cement plants may be a decision criteria in case of high capacity Steel Plants.

Equal amount of flux in Sinter Plant may be replaced with SMS slag of particle size up

to 5 mm .LD slag having 5 - 10 mm and 10 - 40 mm particle size may be used as

repairing materials in roads..Conventional stone ballast in railway track. can also be

replaced by LD slag with 20 - 65 mm particle sizes. Pavement construction can be

done using the rejected refractory bricks. Fly ash is one of the major constituents in

cement manufacturing plant. In building constructions now-a-days fly ash bricks are

found much more economical than the traditional clay burnt bricks..

LATEST TECHNOLOGIES IN SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

Now-a-days, for the production of slag cement, partial replacement of clinker by EAF

slag is being practiced in the industry. Small round balls, used as a blasting material as

well as cement admixtures are basically derived from molten slags. Slags generated

from both EAF and SMP can be used for manufacturing of vitrified tiles. .Lime is

manufactured by ladle slags. There is a multipurpose usage of the dry slag products in

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construction industries, like concrete roads, floors and blocks, cement admixtures, new

fossil cotton products etc. In the application of composite admixture, dry-mix mortar etc

steel slag finds its good progress in construction. The steel slag can also be applied in

the field due to its high allowable bearing pressure and low cost. It is proved that steel

slag as floor materials gives resistance higher than that of ordinary aggregate concrete.

Apart from the recycling of steel slag into the blast furnace, a major portion of the same

is used in road construction (e.g. asphaltic or unbound layer) due to its very high

stability, superior skid and high wear resistance. .

Application of fly-ash in construction projects are growing day to day like backfilling, in

earth work, road engineering, concrete or mortar projects, bricks and insulating

materials. Due to excellent flow ability and low hydration heat the grinded ash and

compound ash have become the essential components of the pumped concrete. The

converter slag containing substantial amount of lime and iron after properly crushing

and screening finds its application to sinter plant, and thereby replacing limestone. The

balance lump fraction is charged into blast furnace as a replacement of limestone. In

modern construction ground granulated BF slag (GGBFS) and air cooled BF slag are

used as aggregates for construction and thereby enhancing the BF slag utilization. Oxi-

cup, based on self-reducing agglomerates containing iron oxide fines and carbon in the

form of brick is found a process of aiming zero waste.These bricks are made up ESP

dust, skulls/ rubble, iron ore fines, coal fines, processed slags, mill scale sludge, mill

scale, flue dust ESP. dust, sponge iron fines, bag filter dust which are charged into a

shaft type furnace called Oxi-cup for smelting to deliver sustainable hot metal to

EAF/BOF shop.

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TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE AND BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Due to inferior quality of raw materials like high ash in coal, high alumina and silica in

iron ore etc, slag generation rates at Indian Steel Plants are comparatively higher than

that of the developed countries. Proper blending of different indigenous and imported

coals and increased use of washed low alumina Iron Ore in Sinter Plant and in Blast

Furnaces are essential to reduce coke ash percentage thereby reducing the

metallurgical slags from the process units. Alternatively, Coal Dust Injection (CDI) and

Coal Tar Injection (CTI) system can also reduce BF slag. Furnace operating parameters

need to be optimized and improved for reducing the coke rate ensuring 100% screened

iron ore and sinter.

Slag waste in BF can be reduced by introducing High top pressure and oxygen

enrichment in BF. Ore beneficiation plant also finds its relevance in its installation for

reducing the impurities in raw materials. Installation of in-house slag granulation

facilities is required to solve the problem of spillages on roads during transportation and

Slag solidification. Granulated BF slag is sold to cement industry which produces

Portland slag cement(PSC).

Generation of solid wastes can also be reduced by optimizing charging practices,

reducing furnace heat time, and optimizing operating cycles through the operation of

EAF. By controlling proper atmosphere and soaking time in the reheat and annealing

furnace, formation of scales can be avoided. By proper control of limes, silicon and

sulphur excess slag volume and iron losses in the blast furnace, BOF and EAF can be

avoided. To recover steel metals from variety of materials like steel slag, ladle slag, pit

slag, and used refractory material slag processors need to be developed in the vicinity

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of those materials. For full utilization of the granulated slag in cement plant., cast house

slag granulation plant may be installed in all furnaces ensuring 100% granulation.

Magnesia-Carbon spent refractories can be used as slag conditioner in electric arc

furnace steel making as well as liner material for the eroded portion of BOF. In many

countries, most steel slag can be used up as asphalt concrete aggregates. However , in

Indian scenario, the best use of steel slag should be considered for use as a cementing

component from technical, economical, and environmental point of view.

CONCLUSION

With growing shortages of energy and materials, waste is now treated as a potential

resource complying with Environmental legislation and regulations and the economics

of disposal. Government should encourage everyone; Steel Industry ,ready-mix

concrete companies, builders, contractors, engineers, and architects, etc, to use waste

by products producing better cement, concrete and other building materials as well as

saving energy and reducing the CO2 emissions in the environment.

In Indian steel industry most economic management practices for minimizing the

generation of solid wastes and maximizing the recycle of collected wastes can be opted

in the following ways:

• Identification of sources, quantities and types of solid wastes generated from

different sub-processes of steel manufacturing process including hazardous

wastes.

• To find out the reasons of generation of solid wastes.

• An advanced technology for minimizing wastage of natural resources with

economical feasibility options to be evaluated.

 
 • Should strive to make improvements in yield losses.

• To treat the waste as raw material of related industry on the base of avoiding

secondary pollution.

• To build up series of integrated utilization programs, from the industry system

technologies and products systems.

• To develop technology focused competitive products based on deep processing

of wastes and by-products.

Conservation of potential resources and fully reused of wastes can lead to a zero waste

management. which is really a challenge to the steel industry today.

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