Metallurgical industry waste ? A raw material for refractory production

Abstract

Exhaustion of deposits of ore and nonore minerals, the increase in costs for mineral raw materials, and increasing ecological problems have created an increasing interest in recent years in secondary resources, composite processing of raw material, and the development and introduction of low-waste and waste-free methods.The use of secondary resources makes it possible to solve problems of providing raw materials, to reduce costs for their extraction and processing, and to reduce industrial discharges into the atmosphere and hydrosphere. In addition, processing of spent materials accelerates recultivation of disturbed lands and return of them to agriculture. These are obvious advantages of use of secondary resources.For production of refractories there is interest in metallurgical industry wastes, particularly in slags formed in production of ferroalloys, which at present in many plants are shipped to the slag dump.We will present the results of a technical, economic, and ecological evaluation of methods of production of periclase-spinellide-forsterite refractories with use of magnesiasilicate slags of Serov Ferroalloy Plant, of production of high-alumina cement and dry concrete mixtues and compounds from Klyuchevsk Ferroalloy Plant, and of production of periclasechromite unfired ladle parts with use of steel plat refractory scrap.The slags formed in melting of high-carbon ferrochrome at Serov Ferroalloy Plant have a magnesia-silicate composition and include forsterite (65%), aluminomagnesia spinel (24%), glassy phase of melilite composition (5%), and ferrochrome (6%). The refractoriness of the slags is 1700~This indicates the desirability of their use as raw material for magnesia refractories [i].In Eastern Refractory Institute a method of production of periclase-spinellide-forsterite (PShF) parts, forsterite-spinellide (FSh) refractories, and unfired periclase-spinellide (PShBS) and forsterite-spinellide (FShBS) nozzles and inserts ((PShBV, FShBV) has been developed [2,3]. The experimental lots of PShF parts were produced at Panteleimonovka Refractory Plant.Tests of PShF parts in the lining of an anodic furnace of Kyshtym Electrolytic Copper Plant showed life of them equal to that of chromite-periclase parts. Forsterite-spinellide refractories (FSh) and steel pouring nozzles (FShBS) were prepared at Magnesite Compound using high-carbon ferrochrome slag with addition of sintered periclase powder to eliminate the negative influence of the glassy phase of the slag. Therefore the positive results of tests of forsterite-spinellide parts with use of Serov Ferroalloy Plant magnesia-silicate slags in different steel production equipment indicates that the refractories developed are at least as good as chromite-periclase parts and in a number of cases exceed them in life.All-Union Refractory Institute.