Greening the foundry sector by an innovative method of energy conservation and emission reduction

Abstract

Foundries are known for their energy intensiveness and environmental pollution. More than 50 % of the energy consumed by the foundries is spent in melting the raw materials and this energy goes waste while molten metal solidifies in sand molds. This paper aims at harvesting that waste heat liberated from molten metal, using the harvested heat to preheat the scraps that are embedded into the sand molds. This preheated scraps when melted for the next batch, the energy consumption in the furnace is reduced by 12 %. This energy conservation is a novel approach and readily gives rise to environmental benefits by reducing energy-related emissions. This method also improves the recyclability of the foundry sand, since the peak sand temperature reduces by more than 100 K, making this method doubly environmental-friendly.