POSCO Future M Achieves Carbon Reduction by 100% Recycling of Waste Refractories

"Annual Carbon Emissions Reduced by 30,000 Tons and Processing Costs Saved by 1.4 Billion KRW"

POSCO Future M announced on the 16th that it has succeeded in 100% recycling of waste refractory materials. Refractory materials are industrial basic materials widely used in petrochemical plants, power plants, and others, made primarily from magnesia extracted from seawater and formed into brick shapes. They are installed inside various furnaces, such as blast furnaces, to protect equipment from the high-temperature molten metal.

POSCO Future M previously mainly landfilled waste refractory materials generated during steel mill renovation works or recycled them only as raw materials for regenerated refractory products. Recently, to promote resource circulation and carbon reduction, the company has expanded the scope of utilization to cement raw materials, foundry sand, and cover materials, increasing the recycling rate from 40% in 2020 to 72% in 2021, and maintaining 100% since last year.

Refractory Installation Site
Photo by POSCO Future M>

POSCO Future M explained, "The 17,000 tons of refractory materials recycled last year correspond to a reduction of 30,000 tons of carbon emissions annually (Scope 3/social reduction standard, self-calculated), which is similar to planting 3.75 million trees. Additionally, it saves 1.4 billion KRW in processing costs."

Foundry sand is sand used in the process of melting metal, pouring it into molds, and solidifying it to make products, making it suitable for utilizing heat-resistant waste refractory materials. Cover materials are used to cover landfill sites to prevent dust and odors.

POSCO Future M is also conducting various shared growth activities with related domestic industries using waste refractory materials. Since 2021, it has signed an ESG partnership MOU for resource circulation with domestic cement companies and has been supplying waste refractory materials containing useful components such as silica and alumina as cement raw materials.

For refractory raw material suppliers, the company provides not only waste refractory materials but also technologies for crushing waste refractory materials and preventing volume expansion and cracking, supporting their regeneration into high-quality refractory raw materials.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.