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Extracting value from ferro-alloy plant waste
Titaco Projects Limited, a BATEMAN subsidiary, has a complete waste
management system available to enable ferro-alloy plants to comply with
all environmental regulations. This will not only protect the environment,
but could extract value from those process streams previously considered
to be waste material.
Projects are generally approached by aiming for zero effluent and then,
if necessary, compromising in order to meet the requirements within
budgetary restrictions. Key factors considered are effluent quality,
solid residue quality, toxicity and the best available process routes.
The normal solid / liquid waste management process currently involves
chemical treatment, de-watering and dumping of inert solids, with only
the effluent water being recycled. Titaco’s approach is to also
maximise the recycling of these solids without detrimentally affecting
the process.
In the case of ferro- and silico-manganese waste products, the process
water is recirculated and the generated solids can also be re-introduced
into the smelter to add value to the process. Most manganese dusts are
fairly high in manganese and low in iron and can be used as raw material
for either silico-manganese production or, in cases where the manganese
content is sufficiently high, as a replacement for special ‘high
grade’ ores which normally have to be imported. These are, however,
generally very fine and not easily handled in traditional smelters.
Titaco now has a novel means to process these dusts, as well as other
metal fines, directly into saleable products.
Titaco’s approach also encompasses maximum utilisation of process
off-gas, e.g. by closing the furnace roof and recovering and cleaning
the unburnt gas. The calorific value of the clean gas can then be employed
to improve the overall energy efficiency of the plant. This use not
only improves the plant’s energy efficiency, but reduces the cost
of cleaning large volumes of burnt gas.
Further details are available from George Farmer, General Manager, Bateman
Ferrous, on +27-11-899-2531 or email ferroalloys@batemanengineering.com
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