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Sumitomo Starts up Second Dust Recycling Unit at Kashima Senko
06/08/2009 - Kashima Senko and Sumitomo Metal Industries start operation of the No. 2 Resource Circulation Furnace, their second rotary kiln for dust recycling.
Kashima Senko Co., Ltd. and Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. have started operation of the No. 2 Resource Circulation Furnace, their second rotary kiln for dust recycling.
The new furnace, which has been under construction since November 2007, will allow both companies to expand their industrial waste dust recycling business.
Sumitomo Metals began reclaiming iron and zinc from their steelworks dust, including dust collected from the blast furnaces and steelmaking processes, in 1975. To reclaim these elements, Sumitomo uses a resource circulation furnace that heats the dust to 1300°C. At these temperatures, iron in the dust is reduced by carbon that is also contained in the dust to form direct reduced iron that can be used in the steelmaking process. During processing, zinc contained in the dust is evaporated and reduced, then is collected by a dust collector and later sold to zinc smelters as crude zinc oxide.
The resource circulation furnace has been referred to as the Perfect Recycle System because it reclaims iron and zinc from dust without generating secondary waste. The direct reduced iron produced as a result of the process requires less energy for steel production vs. iron ore, and zinc reclaimed by the process is a higher in grade than natural zinc. Thus, the system also helps to reduce CO2 generation and consume fewer resources.
Sumitomo Metals has accepted electric furnace dust and industrial waste dust from other industries, in addition to dust generated within its own steelworks, since 1987. Growing demand for industrial dust processing from customers including automakers ultimately led to the construction of No. 2 Resource Circulation Furnace.
Capable of processing some 200,000 tonnes of dust/year, the new resource circulation furnace (No. 2) doubles Sumitomo’s total dust processing capacity to 400,000 tonnes/year, yielding 220,000 tonnes of DRI and 11,000 tonnes of zinc per year. The increase in dust processing capacity also will facilitate the use of less-expensive zinc-containing scrap in steelmaking plants, which will result in cost reduction at the steel works.
The new furnace, which was constructed at a total investment of approximately 6 billion yen, is located at Sumitomo Metals’ Kashima Steel Works along with the No. 1 Furnace (fully invested by Kashima Senko. No. 1 furnace is owned by Sumitomo Metals.)
Kashima Senko Co., Ltd. was established in March 1970 as an outsourcing company for recycling scrap, dust, and other materials at Kashima Steel Works at a capital investment of 100 million yen. The facility employs approximately 200 and is fully owned by Konoike Transport Co., Ltd.
