Letter 20037

Mill scale [Philippines] 

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My company generates about 400 tonnes of mill scale from its hot rolling ( of steel) operation. This waste material is becoming on environmental problem due to accumulation. Can anybody suggest an efficient way to dispose or recycle this material ?

Edgar C. Marquez
- Philippines

A fungi based biodet has the capability to solublize about 2 kg of millscale per litre. It can also be recycled once contaminated.

Edward Petermann
- Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

I suggest contacting your government agricultural ministry for assistance. This material could possibly be used as an iron-rich soil supplement. Laboratory analyses for metals such as Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn would be necessary. However, trace amounts may be beneficial in some leached tropical soils. With government approval, you may also want to investigate whether a more soluble form, as by reaction with spent sulfuric acid pickling solution, would be beneficial.

Ken Vlach - Goleta, California

Komesta Edgar,

More years ago than I care to remember, I worked in a hot strip mill, the mill scale was sent to the blast furnaces for recycling. If you don't have an iron making blast furnace you may want to briquette the mill scale and feed it back into the steel furnaces. Some binders used on ore and scrap fines were pre-jelled starch or sodium silicate in very small percentages.

Good Luck & Best regards,

Jim Sivertsen
- Alden, N.Y., U.S.A.

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