CHARACTERIZATION, TREATMENT AND UTILIZATION OF THE IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY WASTE

Abstract

This study has been conducted to characterize the effluents, treatment and utilization of solid waste from iron and steel industry. Two mills were selected for this purpose namely Potohar Steel and Modern Steel in the industrial area sector 1-9 Islamabad. As a result of survey it was noted that both these mills use water for cooling, cleaning, lubrication, and numerous other purposes. Then by return plenty of huge volume of effluents being drained in a branch of Lei Nullah. Poor management practices and raw waste water disposal are the sources causing water pollution. Effluent samples were collected from selected mills and analyzed for different physical and chemicals parameters like pH, conductivity, TS, TDS, SS, DO, COD, Chlorides, Sulphate, Nitrate and other trace metals. pH meter, Conductivity meter, Spectrophotometer and Inductively Coupled Plasma Emissions Spectroscopy were used for these purposes. For treatment of effluent from said mills. Sand was used as adsorbent. Raw waste water was passed through sand column to evaluate the effective ness of ordinary sand as adsorbent and removal of COD. During second phase of the study the utilization of iron and steel industry waste, iron scale uses in construction industry as a raw material are discussed. Iron scale is produced about four hundred Kgs per month in these mills. This waste material was collected from Potohar steel mill and performed different tests for exploration of beneficial use of it. Different samples of iron scale using different proportion of cement, aggregate iron scale and sand was prepared. To test its compressive strength three point bending test was performed on the prepared samples using china tensile testing machine, average compressive strength was determined. Various options have been proposed for the utilization of iron scale in building industry such as in floor base, compactness of ground around septic tanks and road pavement. This would definitely help in reducing the waste volume and improve local environment.