Existing Recycling Operations

With the elimination of mercury from all primary consumer batteries, a less complex recycling route became available for them. Today alkaline and zinc carbon batteries can be successfully recycled within the existing metals industry. A number of options are available within this sector which can be successfully demonstrated to recycle batteries. 

Electric arc furnaces are operated worldwide at a large scale, typically 250,000 to 

The cycle time of the EAF will depend upon the size of the furnace and the power input rate. Electric arc furnaces vary considerably in size from a one tonne total charge weight up to 300 tonnes. The fastest fiimaces have tap-to-tap times of around 30 to 40 minutes and power inputs of greater than 1 MW per tonne slower furnaces may take 2 or 3 hours. This tap-to-tap time is made up of charging, power-on time , refining, sampling, and tapping. 

One common misconception of the steel industry is that it produces steel products, together with a number of waste streams including slag, dust and millscale, which require disposal. But the truth is very different. Environmental awareness and economic necessity have prompted the steel industry to seek alternative solutions to disposal. 

Furnace (ISF), thereby avoiding an entire processing phase and all of the associated environmental impacts. 

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The introduction of the German Packaging Decree resulted in the rapid accumulation of large quantities of waste plastics. The utilisation and disposal of this material had repercussions on plastics recycled throughout Europe, especially through the effects of the sale of low cost scrap plastics on the economic viability of existing recycling operations. 

Another important use of correlations is the optimization of existing unit operations. Cat cracking correlations can provide the refiner with valuable information for optimizing reactor temperature level, gasoline/distillate cut point, and feed and recycle rates. The practical application of this information can mean increased profitability for the cat cracking operation. 

A wide variety of designs and operating procedures exist in the chlor-alkali industry. These vary from once-through to recycle operation with the caustic solution, from continuous to batch addition of the caustic make-up as well as in the means of provision of a back-up reservoir of caustic for containment of chlorine-laden pressure relief and emergency shutdown streams. 

A different situation exists during battery manufacturing and during battery disposal/recycling operations where workers may come into direct contact with toxic or harmful battery components. In addition, members of a community may be unknowingly exposed to toxic battery materials due to the improper disposal of battery wastes and the injection of toxic battery materials into their ecosystems. The latter may affect both man, animal, and plant life adversely. In general, the toxic effect of a particular material depends upon the nature of the exposure and its concentration whether it be by contact, ingestion, inhalation, or a combination of these. 

The cold in-place recycling process involves specialized plants or processing trains, whereby the existing pavement surface is milled to a depth of up to 150 mm, processed, mixed with asphalt emulsion (or foamed asphalt), and placed and compacted in a single pass. There is no processing required prior to the actual recycling operation... 

The existence of markets for recycled materials is a key part of any recycling operation. It does no good whatsoever to separate and process materials if they do not find uses in new products. The packaging industry has an obligation to increase its use of recycled materials. While there obviously are applications for which only virgin materials are suitable, they should not be specified unless valid reasons for the exclusion of recycled materials exist. Writing specifications based on performance rather than material content may aid in avoiding the unnecessary exclusion of recycled maieriais. 

Identify the t3rpes of industries that may be at risk. Combustible dust explosion hazards can exist in a variety of industries, including agricrdtru e, chemicals, food, grain, fertilizer, tobacco, plastics, wood, paper, tire and rubber, fumitru e, textiles, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, coal, metal processing, recycling operations, and others. 

Specification for Particulates Feed, recycle, and product from size reduction operations are defined in terms of the sizes involved. It is also important to have an understanding of the degree of aggregation or agglomeration that exists in the measured distribution. 

Calculate the annual operating costs for the existing process that needs waste treatment, and estimate how these costs would be altered by the introduction of waste-reduction options. Tabulate and compare the process and waste-treatment operating costs for both the existing and proposed waste-management options. If there are any monetary benefits (such as recycled or reused materials or wastes), then these should be subtracted from the total process or waste-treatment costs as appropriate. The expanded cost-analysis scheme discussed in Chapter 8 is appropriate to include at this point in the process. 

Technology exists to recover heat from processes operating at all temperatures, from regenerators on high-temperature plant to heat pumps using low-temperature effluent as a heat source. The problem in many cases is to find a use for the heat recovered. The best solution is to recycle the heat within the same plant, as the supply will always be matched to the demand. An alternative is to use the heat recovered in associated plant (for example, the heat recovered from a melting furnace can be used to dry feedstock for the furnace). 

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