Optimization of By-Products Reuse in the Steel Industry: Valorization of Secondary Resources with a Particular Attention on Their Pelletization

An improvement of by-products reuse contributes to reduce the environmental impact of industries and to increase their competitiveness. Within the steel production cycle, several by-products are produced: slags, sludges, scales, dusts. Some of them are directly suitable to the internal reuse, other ones can be separated in fractions that can be used internally or sold for external use. This paper shows an analysis focused on the optimization of by-products reuse in an Italian Integrated Steelworks with a particular attention on the internal recycling in the pelletization process. Starting from previous studies on the selection of suitable by-products and treatments, the paper presents, firstly, the development of a superstructure model using reMIND(A (R)) software in order to find optimal solutions, considering quality and environmental constraints, and to minimize operating costs. Furthermore, the evaluation and the optimization through laboratory or simulation tests of possible mixtures of by-products to be used in pelletization is also discussed. By-product mixtures were evaluated to the aim of achieving good pellets formation, according to the number, size of pellets and the compression test results. This study shows that a particular scenario is capable to jointly reduce costs and environmental impact as well as to obtain high quality pellets that can maximize the internal reuse in sinter plant of by-products in a particular winning formula (BOF slag 65 wt%, BOF sludge 27 wt%, dolime 1 wt%, cement 7 wt%). These preliminary results show that a good by-products management could provide important advantages to the companies by contributing to the zero waste target.