Environmental Issues and Recycling. Used-refractories Recycle Technology in Melting Shop.

The amount of used-refractories in melting shop is about 10,000 t/year (900 t/month) in Chita Plant. Demolished refractories are mainly from Ladle, EAF (Electric Arc Furnace), AOD (Argon Oxidation Decarburization) and CC (Continuous Casting). Recently, it is important to develop a new technology for recycling of used-refractories. In order to decrease the amount of the wasted used-refractories, recycling technologies have been developed to utilize the following items; (1) flux in LF (Ladle Furnace), (2) plug material of top hole in EBT (Eccentric Bottom Tapping), (3) reformed sliding plate, (4) recycle brick, (5) unshaped refractory. As a result, the ratio of recycling among used-refractories has reached 56%.