Giving use value to part of the waste generated from industrial processes, in order to promote a positive environmental and economic impact, is a priority for the Acinox Las Tunas Stainless Steel Company in this eastern territory.
Specialists of the entity have worked on a project that will allow the use of one of its residues, black slag, for an extremely necessary activity: the recovery of the vials.
On the perspectives and benefits of the project, he spoke with Granma Alexander Rodríguez Guerrero, head of the technical group of steel mills of that company. “Black slag is a solid waste that is generated from the smelting of steel, and which is widely used around the world in the construction of roads, as base and sub-base. The process is as follows: this material is ground, the metal particles are magnetically separated and classified according to their particle size. From this classification, the thickest fractions are used for the sub-base, that is, for the road embankment, and the smallest fractions are mixed with the gravel, at a rate of 10%, and are used as bearing layer.
“We have prepared a project, aimed at local development, that requires financing to build the plant. The design is already approved, based on prototypes that are currently working and that with some modifications can fulfill this function. In February we are going to present the project, with the aim of obtaining financing and, if so, we plan to recover the investment within a year ».
The materialization of this initiative has several benefits. First, from the environmental perspective, because pollution would be reduced by using high volumes of solid waste. Second, it would have an economic and social impact in an activity as important as road repair.
If the efficient management of black slag can be included among local development projects, there is already material to work initially, as the specialist stated: «With the product that we have in stock at Acinox Las Tunas, it is possible to pave approximately 220 kilometers of road. However, we must point out that for each steel casting, between 700 and 800 kilograms of slag are generated, which speaks of a sustainability of this resource ”.

More information in:
Granma newspaper: http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2020-02-01/proyecto-para-la-recuperacion-de-lo... -2020-01-02-57? Fbclid = IwAR3QqNX_PEwSTS46D_JlRgJrL37RH_X8atiLXD9sS0z_SVC4yDFf-EJMWwQ