NUST MISIS creates a unique furnace for industrial waste recycling

More than 95% of the world's pig iron is still produced in blast furnaces. Modern blast furnaces are powerful plants that produce tons of pig iron every day, but they require high quality finished raw materials such as sinters, steel pellets and iron. Hundreds of millions of tons of waste in the form of sludge, dust, slag, etc. are accumulated annually as a result of metallurgical activities with ferrous and non-ferrous metals. This waste contains a large amount of metal, which is currently not recovered due to the lack of effective industrial technologies capable of separating its useful components.

The NUST MISIS research group, led by Ph.D. Gennady Podgorodetsky and the head of the research and educational center NUST MISIS IMT, together with Vtoraluminumproduct, one of the industrial partners of the University, created and launched a unique experimental unit (based on a gas cleaning approach) for efficient and environmentally friendly production of concentrates from cast iron and non-ferrous metals from waste sludge.

A unique experimental unit, developed in Mtsensk (Oryol region, Russia) in the STALKRON premises, is intended for the disposal of industrial waste, slag and sludge from the production of pig iron, as well as for the production of carbon gas from carbon, including waste of solid household products. The reactor has already attracted the attention of domestic power engineers and producers of ferrous metals. Successful testing of the developed technologies and further replication of blocks is a step towards creating a waste-free production of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, as well as a positive and powerful future factor for environmental protection.