Recycling Carbonaceous Industrial/Commercial Waste as a Carbon Resource in Iron and Steelmaking

Abstract

Carbon bearing industrial/commercial waste is difficult to recycle and a significant fraction is generally landfilled. With an aim to utilize such waste as carbon resources for iron and steelmaking, high temperature pyrolysis investigations are carried out on three waste polymers: waste CDs (compact discs), carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs), and Bakelite. These materials are heat treated in the temperature range 1000–1550 °C for 15 min in argon atmosphere and are subsequently quenched. Detailed structural and compositional characterization is carried out on recovered chars using a variety of analytical techniques: LECO, X‐ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, and BET surface area measurements. Significant differences are observed in various chars recovered from these three waste polymers under investigation. With carbon contents in chars from 65 to 98%, surface areas from 2.2 to 274 m2 g−1 and structural order from amorphous to graphitic, these chars present a wide spectrum of carbon characteristics. These properties are evaluated toward their utilization during lower temperature carburization of iron.

Review on the Use of Alternative Carbon Sources in EAF Steelmaking

“…Mansuri et al [68] investigated the high temperature pyrolysis of waste CDs (compact discs), CFRPs (carbon fiber reinforced polymers) and bakelite to prepare a carbon source for iron carburization. After pyrolysis, the three waste polymers show different characteristics with regard to carbon content ranging from 65% to 98%, surface area, and structure.…”

Introductory Chapter: Recycling and Reuse of End-of-Life Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers

“…Low temperatures as well as pressures are used sometimes in conjunction with various solvents; polyester resins require lower temperatures than epoxy resins for degradation Figure 1. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images on pyrolysis residues from CFRPs heat treated at a range of temperatures [19]. Low (left) as well as high (right) resolution images have been presented.…”