News Release: Steel Dust Recycling Starts Production at State-of-the-Art Facility
Millport, AL (June 19, 2008) –Steel Dust Recycling (SDR) officials and their supporters today celebrated the beginning of production at the company’s Waelz Kiln facility which when fully-operational will recycle 120,000 tons per year of steel mill dust (known in the industry as K061), a by-product of electric arc furnaces (EAF) used in steel making. This event marked the end of a one-year, $38 million construction project.
SDR Chief Executive Officer Russ Robinson spoke to an audience of government and economic development officials along with SDR partners and customers at the facility built on 66 acres in Millport, Alabama. Joining him were Alabama Lieutenant Governor Jim Folsom, Jr. and Judge Johnny Rogers from The Lamar County Commission.
“We know today is a great day for SDR as well as for Western Alabama,” said Robinson. “Together with our local, regional and state partners we can proudly say Alabama has a new industry that is not only impacting the economy with new jobs but also positively impacting our environment. This facility will keep over 100,000 tons of dust out of landfills every year. To use a cliché, it is a win-win for us all.”
SDR’s 42 employees will recycle steel mill dust from EAF plants across the Southern United States. The raw materials will be conditioned, blended, pellitized and cured before being charged to the rotary kiln. In the Waelz Kiln the charge materials will be 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 or as iron units for steel mills.
About Steel Dust Recycling, LLC: Steel Dust Recycling was founded in 2006 to design, build and operate a Waelz Kiln plant capable of recycling steel mill dust (K061), a waste product of electric arc furnaces. The company will serve the growing Southern United States steel industry by locating a state-of-the-art plant in Millport, Alabama. This facility will have the capacity to process 120,000 tons of steel dust annually when fully operational in the second quarter of 2008.
