Recycling in the production of mineral wool

Abstract

The main heat-insulating material used in Russia is mineral wool. One of the problems of waste reclamation of mineral wool products is returning of chips and globules back to the solid fuel furnace. To solve the problem, it is proposed to briquette waste before feeding it into the furnace. The author suggests using alumina cements of Russian production as a binder. The choice of the binder is conditioned by the chemical composition of the cement. The second factor that was considered when choosing the binding material was its strength in the early stages. Samples of a mixture of waste and binder were pressed into cylinders and then heat treated for an hour. As a result of the study, the dependences of the impact strength of the samples on steam curing temperature and the humidity of the samples have been obtained. It has been revealed that an increase in humidity has a greater effect on the rise in impact strength than an increase in temperature. Results: the dependence of the impact strength of briquettes made of the mineral wool industry waste and alumina cement on humidity and curing temperature has been revealed, which will make it possible to select optimal conditions for returning of waste to the furnace.