Wastes from the production of metallurgy

One of the main branches of the national economy is metallurgy. It provides raw materials to many other industries. Black and non-ferrous metals are needed almost everywhere. And the prices for this raw material are growing every day. Prices for energy carriers, of course, have a significant impact on the cost of metallurgical products. But an important role in the formation of prices is also played by production waste.

And in metallurgy there are a lot of them. They occupy large areas and pollute the air, water and soil with toxic compounds. And at the same time, the costs of their placement, storage and transportation significantly affect the cost of production of metallurgical enterprises. But these products contain many valuable elements that can be used as secondary raw materials. And at the master's approach such waste of metallurgical production can be turned into a source of income.

These waste products are obtained as a result of the smelting of steel, cast iron or ferroalloys. And the content of various useful components, including iron, may be even higher in them than in the same natural ores. And in connection with the poor knowledge of the composition and properties of slimes, a problem arises with their repeated use.

Take at least steelmaking slag. Such returnable waste products at many metallurgical plants and factories are converted into enriched slag. For this, a "dry" magnetic separation of the products obtained after the crushing of the slag is used. A useful product obtained after such treatment is considered to be larger metal bumps, as well as splices of metal and silicate glass. Iron in the composition of the enriched slag is relatively small. And as a result of enrichment, about 40 kilograms of metal are received from a ton of slag in agglomeration factories. The remaining waste products, which contain only small inclusions of iron or its oxides, are sent to the dump.

But there is also a more efficient technology for enriching steelmaking slag. With its help, three products can be obtained from this waste. The first of these is a metal product. It produces about 10% of the total mass of the slag. It, in addition to metallic iron, contains minor impurities of glass, silicates and carbonates. It is briquetted and sent to secondary melting. The second is the lime-iron oxide product. It is about 22% of the total. Iron in this product a little. For the most part, it consists of various minerals. These are wustite, magnetite, maghemite, goethite, hematite, hydrated lime, iron and calcium carbonates, as well as ferrites of magnesium and calcium. This product can be used as a high-quality charge material for the production of fluxed iron ore agglomerate. And the residue, which is about 68%, falls on the silicate product. The main part of it consists of minerals: silicates, spinel, tridymite, silicate glass and products of hydration of lime. These waste products are also not wasted. A silicate product is used mainly in construction, for the production of cement or other astringent products.

You can also take the slag of ferromanganese production, which contain many valuable components. These are ferromanganese and metallic iron pellets, silicates, hydroxides, aggregates of oxides, manganese and iron carbonates, silicate glass and products of its crystallization. Scientists have developed a method by which dry gravitational enrichment of these slags is carried out. As a result, these production wastes make it possible to obtain three products.

The first of these is ferromanganese concentrate. Of the total mass of slags, it can be obtained up to 17%. This product contains magnetic and non-magnetic parts of iron, manganese, iron cogenite, various alloys with variable content of manganese and iron, as well as their hydroxides and oxides. Use this product for the production of ferromanganese.

The second product is silicate sand. Half of the total mass of slag is accounted for by it. Silicate sand consists mainly of quartz, cristobalite, tridymite, glass and silicates. From it you can produce silicomanganese or use it as a building material.

And the remaining 33% falls on clay-carbonate dust. It consists of finely divided silicates, carbonates, glass and other minerals. This dust is used for the production of cement. There are still a lot of waste of this type that can benefit people.