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U.S. Department of Energy
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Recycling, king of the trash heap

Journal Article · · Insight; (USA)
OSTI ID:6736029
Across the nation, state governments, municipalities and industrial organizations representing the makers of steel, paper, glass and plastics are working together to create markets for recycled materials. This article describes a number of recycling projects. Since this paper is the most abundant refuse, businesses already have begun to capitalize on it. As a result of a newspaper glut, a new industry is springing up, one populated by firms seeking to convert old newspapers into new energy sources. Firms are working on ways to extract ethanol from cellulose. In one case newsprint is pelletized and added to coal, making a mixture that can be burned like coal alone. So many resources go into the manufacture of steel that in addition to material recycling efforts, Bethlehem Steel Corp. has embarked on an energy recovery program to recapture heat lost in the production process and return it to the cycle. At the company's Sparrows Point mill, near Baltimore, an economizer recaptures heat normally lost in the waste gas smokestacks. The gases circulate through the economizer, heat a core filled with circulating water and generate steam that is either piped to the mill's power plant to make electricity or returned to the production process.
OSTI ID:
6736029
Journal Information:
Insight; (USA), Journal Name: Insight; (USA) Vol. 6:9; ISSN INSIE; ISSN 0884-9285
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English