From Waste Management in Iron and Steel Sector to Zero Waste
Aslan ÜNAL Prof. Dr. Mustafa ÖKSÜZ Prof. Dr. Onuralp YÜCEL Esma YILMAZ
AbstractThere is no doubt that the iron and steel sector plays an important role in the determination of the development level for countries. Especially the production and export values of this sector has the key role of progress for countries. According to year of 2016 data, the annual production of iron and steel in the world is 1.6 billion tonnes. On the other hand, Turkey is a remarkable spot in the iron and steel industry in the world with an output of 33 million tons.Raising profit margins by lowering production costs has become the most important issue all over the world, given the progress of the industry and the decline in available resources. For this reason, waste management will be one of the leading factors for both reducing manufacturing costs and bringing other new profit items. In addition, the developing environmental consciousness has brought new concepts and trends in waste management. In this context, "zero waste" is taken seriously in many countries and many commercial or non-commercial institutions. Especially in Europe, it is predicted that these countries and institutions will switch to zero-waste production technologies after a certain period of time.According to the year 2016, when iron and steel sector is evaluated in terms of waste production, it will be seen that the slag production is 0,375 tons in the integrated system and 0,075 tons in the electric arc furnaces. Attempts to restore these wastes to the economy must be made in accordance with the waste hierarchy. This is also important in terms of sustainable development. Reducing slag production, investigation to utilization in different application should be analysed considering to scope of zero waste.This study is focused on especially the EAF slags. First of all, the ways of recovery metal and then the utilization of these slags in alternative applications were investigated.