4th PBEC Environmental Award
Bronze-Level Winner
POSCO
 Project Name:
POSCO’s Efforts for Recycling Slag into High Value-Added Resources
Objective:
POSCO generates blast furnace and steel making slag in abundance, and more than half of the solid raw material becomes solid waste/byproduct. Despite the efforts of the iron and steel industry, considerable amounts of waste are still disposed of in landfills. POSCO’s efforts are aimed toward recycling more slag into high value-added resources in order to minimize the amount of slag sent to landfills.
For that reason, POSCO developed new uses for the two types of blast furnace slag: air-cooled slag and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS). Air-cooled slag is mostly used as aggregate for road construction, and ground granulated slag is cooled quickly in water and used for high value-added resources such as an additive for cement and fertilizer.
Benefits:
The conservation benefits include minimizing the amount of landfill, saving limestone resources, and preventing carbon dioxide emission. Efforts since 1997 yield a 62 percent increase in the recycling rate of steel-making slag. Other waste/byproducts utilized in addition to slag are dust, sludge, and refractory bricks. Business benefits have also emerged from the development of new slag uses. The total profit from recycling slag (after considering all costs) is anticipated to show an increase from US$ 42.3 million in 2001 to $56.9 million in 2002.
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