The pilot installation of a metallurgical furnace capable of processing iron-containing industrial waste as well as solid waste, simultaneously smelting up to 16,000 tons of metal per year, producing electricity and not harming the environment ha been launched in Mtsensk, Oryol Region. The furnace has been designed and built by the The National University of Science and Technology MISiS group together with the industrial partner Vtoraluminprodukt.
According to the latest research, more than 130 billion tons of waste have been accumulated in Russia - it equals 800 tons or 20 full cars per person. Moreover, more than 5 million tons of iron-containing industrial waste annually are being added to them in ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy chemical industry. They are stored at landfills and are not being recycled since it is technologically or economically impossible and environmentally dangerous.
The scientific team of NUST MISIS lead by the director of the Innovative Metallurgical Technology Scientific and Educational Centre, Gennadiy Podgorodetskiy Ph.D., together with its partner have built and launched a pilot plant bubbling reactor (based on the gas flushing principle) to fully process industrial waste, slag and sludge, as well as carbon-containing wastes, including MSW and efficient with environmentally friendly production of iron and concentrate non-ferrous metals.
Nikolay Shenchenko, of the Expert Mining Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation for industry and innovation said, "The advantage of this technology is that it has zero-waste and allows for simple, reliable and environmentally friendly purifying of the exhaust gases. And it also allows us to combine the processing of metallurgical waste, waste from coal preparation factories and municipal waste from places that are heated with coal. So, it is a sort of a universal technology."
