There are lots of waste elements generated by the casting process, creating a waste stream that requires specific handling in order to minimise the risk of land contamination, both through the handling process and the storage and disposal of raw materials and waste.
Waste is generated from several sources and at different stages of the process including, but not limited to, green sand, core sand (core butts & different resins, unusable core sand containing resin), baghouse dusts, scrubber water from cupolas and other sources, universal wastes (fluorescent light bulbs, batteries, mercury-containing equipment), used oil and used oil filters, used lead acid batteries, packing materials with remains of toxic chemicals, waste paints or lacquers, grinding dust , slag, unusable shot bead, empty containers, spill clean-up materials, packaging from raw materials, rags, and wastes from ancillary processes not directly connected to metal casting. Clearly not all of this waste will be suitable for incineration, but it can be effectively utilised to recover some materials that would otherwise have been sent to landfill.
For example, if waste pellets contain zinc they can be melted in suitable incinerators, vapourizing the zinc through the thermal process and leaving waste pellets that are safe to reuse.
Where there may be a danger of land contamination at foundries waste incineration ensures that there is complete destruction of the waste, leaving ash which can be safely disposed in accordance with the relevant guidelines.
Waste management in foundries is gaining a higher ecological and economic importance. Waste is an increasingly traded product which can generate a revenue stream, and to cut down on waste management costs companies need to regenerate and safely reuse waste as a resource as much as possible. Using a waste incinerator can be part of an environmentally friendly waste disposal system, enabling heat recovery, electricity generation and other benefits, all the time reducing gate fees for disposal of remaining waste through landfill.
