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Recycling Waste Plastics in EAF Steelmaking: Carbon/Slag Interactions of HDPE‐Coke Blends
Author(s) -
Sahajwalla Veena,
Rahman Muhammad,
Khanna Rita,
SahaChaudhury Narendra,
O'Kane Paul,
Skidmore Catherine,
Knights David
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
steel research international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.603
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1869-344X
pISSN - 1611-3683
DOI - 10.2374/sri08sp168
Subject(s) - high density polyethylene , steelmaking , coke , materials science , slag (welding) , waste management , metallurgy , carbon fibers , municipal solid waste , wetting , polyethylene , composite material , engineering , composite number
Due to the inherent limitations of current methods of plastic waste disposal, there have been concerted efforts worldwide towards developing alternative, environment friendly and economic recycling processes. With an aim to recycle waste plastics in EAF steelmaking, carbon/slag interactions for a number of blends made of metallurgical coke and HDPE (high density polyethylene) and an EAF slag (34.8 mass‐% Fe 2 O 3 ) have been investigated at 1550°C using a sessile drop arrangement. The rate of gas generation showed an increase with increasing HDPE concentration, reaching a maximum for blend #3 (with appr. 30 % HDPE) and decreasing thereafter. Among all the blends investigated, blend #3 showed significantly higher levels of slag foaming as compared to metallurgical coke. HDPE‐coke blends also showed better wetting compared to metallurgical coke with contact angles in some cases improving from 140° to 70° after 10 minutes of contact. These results have been discussed in terms of ash and sulphur contents of carbonaceous residues and dynamic changes in slag composition. Industrial trials on blend #3 showed a good agreement with laboratory results. This work opens novel avenues for the utilisation of plastics wastes as a valuable carbon resource in EAF steelmaking.