Abstract

Refractory materials are essential for the production of iron and steel. They are used in the direct reduction modules, coke oven batteries, blast furnaces, hot metal transport and pretreatment, oxygen converters, electric furnaces, steel ladles, recirculation degassers, tundishes, casting systems, reheating furnaces, heat treatment units and other downstream equipment.

Global demand for refractory materials hs been estimated in 46 Mt for the year 2016. The steel industry consumes about two-thirds by weight of refractory production. It is estimated that the refractory material remaining after use is 30% of the material applied. This means that around 9 milions tons of spent refractories per annum are avilable for recycling or land refilling.

Taking the second half of the twentieth century as a parameter, while steel production quadrupled, the total consumption of refractories fell by half. This has been influenced by the adoption of new processes for the production of steel and improvements in the quality of refractories and application technologies.

The generation of millions of tonnes of refractory waste materials is a major challenge for the environmental performance of the steel and the refractories industries. The adoption of recycling practices, due to their complexity, is site-specific. Experience has shown that strong internal or external incentives are required for them to be put into practice.

This paper discusses the current characteristics of the recycling of refractory materials for steel use and presents various successful experiences of recycling in steel companies of Europe, Asia, the USA. and Latin America.