Dusts,scale, slags,sludges... Not wastes,but sources of profits

Historically, the steel industry has focused on the need for and the many benefits of recycling steel that is discarded either in its own or in its customers’ manufacturing processes, as well as in recovery and reuse of steel scrap that arises after the product has served its intended purpose. In fact, modern steelmaking relies on the use of recycled iron units for at least half of its production. The other side of the story is the fate of the non-steel by-products (e.g., oxide dusts, sludges, scales, slags, spent refractories and the contained “low grade” energy units that are generated as natural adjuncts to iron and steelmaking processes). These valuable by-products often are classified as “wastes” and are discarded to landfills, at significant cost, although in reality they offer significant potential for cost savings or profit if reintroduced into the industrial arena via well planned programs. Examples of such instances will be presented, including energy credit issues, in the hope of pointing the way for future expansion of benefits from these opportunities. Preparing for a challenge and honor such as the Howe Memorial Lecture, one has to stand in awe of the accomplishments of the predecessor we honor in this forum. He worked in the early days of our industry without the benefits of the many technological improvements he and his successors brought to play as the years went by. John Stubbles, in his Howe Memorial Lecture in 1997,_[1] presented a masterful and entertaining biography of Howe and his very active and prolific life. Perhaps the most telling quotation he attributed to Howe is very pertinent to the topic we will address presently: “Metallurgy lives by profit, not logic,” to which I would like to add a comment that bears on the topic of this lecture from the 1991 Howe lecturer, my friend and mentor Bill Dennis, “Where there is muck, there is money.” There are numerous examples of “one hand washes the other” in this business; that is, of the synergism between needs and capabilities. We will address some of these situations, such as in a new process under development for dezincing of post consumer scrap, and in the use of iron units in by-product oxides and recycling of ladle slags and of spent refractories. Peter J. Koros, the Iron and Steel Society’s 77th Howe Memorial Lecturer (2001), is Principal of Koros Associates, Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA), a consultancy he founded following retirement from the former LTV Steel Company where he worked for nearly 41 years, retiring as Senior Research Consultant. He earned the Bachelor of Science degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Drexel University, and his master’s and doctoral degrees in Metallurgy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1958, he joined Jones and Laughlin Steel (which became LTV Steel Company), where he held positions in research (Director, Process Metallurgy), Technical Services and Quality Control, with most activities focused on steelmaking and related areas. He was responsible for J&L’s development work in injection technology for desulfurization of hot metal and steel, was the inventor of the patented co-injection concept now in use worldwide, and had the lead role in LTV Steel’s programs for degalvanizing scrap and for recovery and utilization of by-product oxides. He led the AISI Opt-In program for degalvanizing scrap and the LTV-USS pilot program for processing “by-product” oxides. Koros has authored more than 75 publications and presentations, and holds eight U.S. patents, the latest issued in 2000. Dr. Koros was elected a Distinguished Member and Fellow of the ISS in 1984 and a Fellow of ASM International in 1988. Other honors include the ISS Distinguished Service Award (1998), ISS Electric Furnace Honorable Mention Citation (1987), International Magnesium Association Design and Applications Award (1978), AISI Gold (1977) and Silver (1969) Medals, ISS Herty (1963), McKune (1963), and Toy (1962) Awards. Koros served on the Technical Advisory Committee of the AISI-DOE Direct Steelmaking Program and its follow-on Waste Oxide Recycling Program. He was chairman of the AISI Task Force on Degalvanizing Steel Scrap and of the Industrial Advisory Panel to the Argonne Lab-MRI Program on Dezincing Steel Scrap. The 2001 Howe Memorial Lecture, titled “Dusts, Scale, Slags, Sludges ... Not Wastes But Sources of Profits,” as well as an invited Keynote Lecture for an International Recycling Conference in Sweden (June 2002, “Iron Units in Search of a Home: New Steel”) were based on the experience from these programs. Koros has been an active member of the ISS Advanced Technology Committee for which he participated in and chaired several symposia, including New Melting Technologies II (October 2002) and the first New Melting Technologies Symposium (1997). He was Director of the ISS 2000 Short Course on Injection Technology, a lecturer in the 2000 ISS/AISI Course on BOF Steelmaking, lead Co-chairman for the Elliott Symposium (1990), and Chairman of the Program Committee for the Fifth International Iron and Steel Congress (1986). Dr. Koros served on the Industrial Advisory Board of MIT’s Materials Processing Center (1995–98) and the AISI’s Iron and Steel Research Subcommittee (1976–86.) He was chairman of the ISS National Science Foundation Advisory Committee, the Advisory Council of the U.S. Bureau of Mines Generic Minerals Technology Center for Pyrometallurgy Research (1983–85), and of the Advisory Board for Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Iron and Steel Research, for which he served as chairman (1991–1992). Service included participation in the NRC-NAS Alternative Energy and Development Strategy Study (1989–90.) Koros was very active in the creation of the ISS, having served as Chairman of the predecessor TMS Iron and Steel Division in 1972–73 and on the AIME Board of Directors (1974). Professional Society memberships: ISS (elected Distinguished Member and Fellow, Life Member), TMS (Senior or Life Member), ASM International (elected Fellow, Life Member), and AISE.