Case Study: Utilization of solid waste at JSW Steel Ltd.

: Challenges & Opportunities

1. Background:

JSW Steel, Vijayanagar Works is an integrated steel plant and produces both flat and long products. A
substantial quantity of process wastes are generated during the iron and steel making processes such as
dust, sludge, mill scales & slag. The process of producing 1.0 ton of liquid steel generates around 0.73
tons of solid wastes in the form of dust, sludge, mill scales & slag. Substantial amount of tailings, dust,
sludge, slag are being generated from the beneficiation, agglomeration, ironmaking and steelmaking
processes. Waste utilization to be given top priority for sustainable production, conservation of natural
resources and protection the environment (Fig 1). Disposal of process is harmful to the environment and
also involves heavy penalty and legal obligations from the govt. agencies.

It is necessary to recycle these materials to avoid disposal and to increase vaporization through circular
economy (Fig 2). Most of the iron-bearing wastes materials are being recycled through briquetting, micro
palletisation, Iron recovery plant, Slime recovery plant, iron ore Sintering & pelletization as a
replacement of iron & carbon sources (Fig 3). In spite of having many waste recycling plants at JSW
VJNR, substantial quantities of the waste contain high zinc, alkali & gangue contents causing them not
to recycle in the current process. Zinc & alkali have harmful effects on iron-making furnace process
operation and the product qualities due to their low melting characteristics and impurities. This limitation
constraint uses of some of this waste in the existing system, Therefore, there is a necessity to develop an
alternative technology to utilize all these waste without hampering the process as well as product. The
present proposal describes details of several of waste being generated, current technologies available for
recycling, their limitations and future perspectives to improve the recycling methodologies to maximize
the recycling along with improved cost-effective operations along with increased de-carbonization
practices.

Fig 1: Waste recycling strategy pyramid

 Fig 2: Concept of circular economy Fig 3: Details of various waste recycling plants

25000
Waste generation in JSW Vijayanagar (TPD)
22048
12MT 18MT 24MT
20000 18381 17918
Waste Generation (TPD)

15000
12410
11459 11419 11660

10000 9072

5000 4268
3633 3189
2162 1387
2066 1283
14711900 11991328 963
837 7111089 643 570762
323
0
Iron Slag Steel Slag Tailings Dust Sludge Dry Pit Mill scale Flyash Hazardous
slag waste

Fig 4: Generation of solid waste.

2. Objective:
To maintaining a sustainable development in steel industry i.e. reduce, reuse, recycle and restoring. To
cut down on garbage going to landfills, retrieve important materials, reduced expenses for operations.

3. Current scenario:
Types of solid waste currently generating & their current recycling techniques are mentioned in Table
1.
Table 1: Details of process waste and its current recycling application
 Technology for
Type of waste Applications
utilization
Paver blocks, Clinker
Marine applications like break water
Converting steel slag
 Steel Slag (LD/BOF) block,
into products
Ferro form, artificial rock and making
algae base
Replacement of river sand in
 BF Slag Slag Sand making plant
construction
 CRM Dusts
 ESP dusts
Mill Scale Briquetting Secondary coolant in steel making
 BOF Sludge
LHF slag briquetting Replacement of iron ore in converter
 DRI fines
 LHF & KR slag
 Bag filter dusts
 Lime fines
Sinter making
 Dolomite fines
Micro pelletization Economical substitute for low grade
 SMS, DRI sludge iron ore
 BOF & KR slags
 Oily sludge
 Iron ore Tailing /Slime Slime recovery plant Pellet plant

3.1 List of waste recycling plants available at JSW VJNR

1 Millscale briquetting (750 tpd): A substantial amount of mill scale, CRM dust, Bag filter dust,
and similar high iron containing wastes are generated during processing in an integrated steel plant.
2 Micro pelletization (2000 tpd): Recycling of dust (bag filter dust, ESP dust, Lime & dolomite
fines, CDQ fines), sludge and LD slag fines in sinter making through micro-pelletization.
Contributing to cost savings in raw material, energy and environmental mitigation. The new
process has helped in reduction of airborne dust emissions and reduction of solid fuel by 2 kg/T of
sinter.
3 Iron recovery plant (500 tpd) : Corex, BF sludge are treated in this process to enrich the iron
content through magnetic separation process there reducing the impurities to make it suitable for
use in sintering & pellet making as a iron source.
4 Slag briquetting ( 200 tpd): LHF slag which is treated as waste generated from the secondary
steel making process briquetting as a synthetic slag replacement
5 Slag sand plant (1000 tpd) : Developed a technology to convert blast furnace slag into slag sand
useful for construction as a replacement of river sand. All the standards of the slag sand are
approved by the [Link]
6 Iron ore tailing beneficiation plant /SSRP (2000 tpd): Iron ore tailing being generated from the
beneficiation plants will be treated for further beneficiation to enrich the iron content to make to
suitable for pellet making thereby saving the equivalent amounts of iron ore.
7 BOF /LD slag steam aging process (100 tpd): Steel slag generated from the BOF process
containg free lime of 5-6% due to which this cannot be used directly in the road making due to its
expansion nature. Accelerated steam aging process is being introduced to make it useful for the
road making process as a replacement of natural aggregate. This can also be used in land filling.
3.2 Various waste recycling technologies available at JSW VJNR:

(a) Mill Scale Briquetting:

(b)Micropelletization

(C) Fe recovert at Waste to Wealth Plant (WWP)

 (d) Green sand making (Slag to sand plant)

(e)Steam ageing of Steel slag

(f) Slime recovery plant (Fe recovery from

iron ore tailing)
4. Economic Analysis (Derived from R&D Projects):

Better recycling methods of process waste will give substantial cost benefit by saving the raw
materials used in the process. Details of the cost benefits of 2 projects delivered by R&D in waste
recycling areas are mentioned in Table 1&2 for reference. Table 1 provides the cost-benefit details
of DRI fines briquetting and use in steel making as a scrap replacement. Table 2 provides the cost
benefit sheet by using flyash as a replacement of bentonite in micropellet plant.
Table 1: Cost saving analysis of DRI fines briquetting to use in steel making

Table 2: Cost saving analysis of Flyash as binder for micropellet replacing bentonite

5. Key Deliverables
 New technology developments through innovation on waste recycling
 Developing innovative recycling techniques to improve operations and lower down the carbon
footprint.
 Conservation of natural resources of iron ore & coal through recycling the iron and carbon present
in process wastes.
 Creation of Circular economy model : Revenue generation through Reduce/Reuse/Recycle
 Process optimizations to reduce the waste generation at the source itself
 Better practices through ESG to enhance a company’s sustainability and operational efficiency
 Use of digitalization tools to optimize the process, better supply chain management to reduce the
waste generation through IOT, Sensors, and automation