After usage, foundry chromite sand is recycled to reduce production costs and comply with environmental regulations. Thermal and mechanical reclamation are the most prominent methods of sand recycling. The sand reclamation techniques used in the foundry sector are typically not evaluated through the green alternative or environmental sustainability concept’s lenses. When contrasting mechanical and thermal reclamation, operational costs are the main factor to be taken into account. Therefore, this study compares mechanical and thermal reclamation of chromite sand by replicating the industrial processes in simulated laboratory tests. The methodology is designed to quantify the production of fine particles during reclamation, which has an array of negative effects on the environment, human health, the economy, and society. The findings show that, in general, mechanical reclamation produced more fine particles than thermal reclamation. The disparity in terms of fine percentage between the two processes could occasionally be as high as 15%. Therefore, mechanical reclamation was a less effective procedure than thermal reclamation when considering environmental sustainability, especially the impact on human health, which goes against conventional wisdom in the foundry sector. Keywords sand recycling; chromite sand; environmental sustainability; green process

In a post-pandemic world, health and environmental safety will become a more important issue than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Several fields of engineering, including the foundry industry, have already adopted health and safety measures in the workplace. The risk of pulmonary disease caused by the inhalation of fine particles of silica sand, the main moulding material used in the foundry industry, is rampant in that industry. In terms of environmental protection, the new regulatory restrictions on the disposal of used sand create the need for moulding aggregates to be more recyclable than silica. Chromite sand is an alternative refractory sand for metal casting applications, and is abundant in South Africa. The present study investigated whether this aggregate has better overall reusability than silica. The focus of this study is on the use of chromite sand in foundries as a contribution to improving health in the workplace and to reducing the environmental impact of foundry sand.