Heavy Metals Flows Induced by Plastics Utilisation in the Blast Furnace Process
Waste plastics can be utilised as an alternative reducing agent in the blast furnace process. There they are substituting for reducing agents such as coke, crude tar or heavy crude oil, for example. However, the utilisation of waste plastics as an alternative reducing agent is also associated with an additional input of heavy metals in the process. These heavy metals are not only relevant for the process stability and the product quality but also from an environmental Point of view. To which extent gaseous emissions or waste water from furnace gas cleaning may be influenced by feedstock recycling of waste plastics has been hardly investigated so far.
Therefore, heavy metal flows (Zn, Pb, Hg, Cd) in the blast furnace process and its satellite processes (e.g.top gas scrubber) have been analysed. More over, it has been analysed to which extent the usage of waste plastics affects the emissions in environmentally relevant output flows (e.g. cleaned topgas). For this purpose environmental monitoring and process data, which are collected by the voestalpine Stahl GmbH, have been utilised. These data include concentration as well as massand volume flow measurements respectively. The results of the performed Material Flow Analysis (MFA) demonstrate that the contribution of waste plastics to the total input of heavy metals is for Zn and Pb below 15 %, where as for Cd and Hg waste plastics are among the main input sources. Detailed investigations of the heavy metal emissions observed in the cleaned top gas and the waste water (originating from the wet top gas scrubber) demonstrate that the emissions are not affected by the amount of waste plastics utilised.
| Copyright: | © Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben | |
| Source: | Depotech 2014 (November 2014) | |
| Pages: | 6 | |
| Autor: | Verena Trinkel  Professor Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Helmut Rechberger Ass. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. techn. Johann Fellner Dipl.-Ing. Thomas-Heinz Bürgler Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.techn. Thomas Kienberger | |
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