Steel Dust Recycling Facility

     The Steel Dust Recycling plant consisst of conditioning, blending and pelletizing facilities for the      EAF dust to be processed, a Waelz Kiln for processing the steel dust, storage and loading      facilities for products to be sold, and the latest environmental control systems. The facility is      located on 66 acres near Millport, Alabama. The SDR site has direct access to four major rail      carriers and is near multiple Interstate highways.

     Developed in 1910, the Waelz Kiln is a proven technology for high-temperature metals recovery      (HTMR) of EAF waste. The result is more highly concentrated zinc oxides which are used as raw      materials for zinc smelters. While many other technologies have been successfully tested for      processing steel dust, none have proven as economically feasible as the Waelz Kiln process, which      remains the best demonstrated available technology for recycling steel dust. The SDR plant is      the first greenfield Waelz Kiln plant in the United States designed and constructed for the purpose      of recycling EAF dust and will feature the latest environmental control technologies.

     The Waelz kiln at the SDR plant is capable of processing up to 120,000 tons of EAF steel mill dust      annually. The raw materials are conditioned, blended, pellitized and cured before being charged      to the rotary kiln. In the Waelz Kiln the charge materials are heated to temperatures above      1300 degrees Centigrade and the Zinc contained in the charge will be reduced, vaporized and      re-oxidized. The gas containing the oxidized zinc is cooled and the Waelz Zinc Oxide is collected in      a product bag collector. The Waelz Zinc Oxide goes to zinc smelters as a raw material, and the      remaining material -- called Waelz Iron Product -- can be used in the manufacture of cement and      asphalt.