Waste and by-products management follows the traditional 3R logic (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) which, for steelmaking processes, can be expanded to:
- Eliminate generation;
- Reduce generation;
- Reuse/recycle;
- Dispose temporarily.
One of the priorities for ArcelorMittal Brazil’s Long Carbon units is investing in research to enable the reuse or recycling of waste generated, transforming what would be a problem into an asset, making it possible to provide alternative raw materials for other industrial processes and avoiding the extraction of natural resources.
For the Long Carbon segment, some applications for its by-products are:
- Scale – used by manufacturers of counterweights, ferroalloys and clinker (cement).
- Aggregate - used in paving (base and sub-base) and to manufacture concrete artifacts.
- Blast furnace slag – widely used in the cement industry.
- Steelmaking dust - rich in zinc, it is used by the zinc bar manufacturing industry.