New developments in microwave treatment of steel mill sludges
- EPRI Center for Materials Production, Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
- Carnegie Mellon Research Inst., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
Steel mills in the US generate approximately 1 million tons of sludge annually. This is mainly a residue of cooling water, lubricating oils, and metallic fines from hot strip rolling mills and other operations. Currently, the separation of sludge from the liquid requires large settling tanks, takes several hours of time and produces a residue that must be disposed of at high cost. The EPRI Center for Materials Production, sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), has supported development of a microwave-based treatment system. This new process, developed by Carnegie Mellon Research Institute, and patented by EPRI is 30 times faster, requires 90% less space and eliminates land-filling by producing materials of value. Electricity usage is only 0.5 kwhr/gal. A review by the American Iron and Steel Institute Waste Recycle Technology Task Force concluded that further work on the microwave technology was justified. Subsequently, additional work was undertaken toward optimizing the process for treating metallic waste sludges containing lime and polymers. This effort, cofunded by EPRI and AISI, was successfully concluded in late 1994. EPRI/CMP is proceeding to license and commercialize this technology, and to continue research to improve efficiency. A follow-on project is now being organized by CMP to confirm long term recyclability of the oil-release agent and to conduct a large scale (25-ton sample) test of the process.
- OSTI ID:
- 212227
- Journal Information:
- Iron and Steel Engineer, Vol. 73, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: Feb 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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