Alumino-silicate Refractories cover a wide spectrum of applications in metallurgy, such as steel manufacturing, aluminium, copper and ferro-nickel industries and other industrial sectors, as well, such as cement and glass industries, refineries, power production units, ceramic industries and lime plants, incinerators and industrial ore production units.
For the production of this specific category of refractory materials, a range of alumino-silicate raw materials are used, which Greek Refractories must import all necessary quantities from abroad. Given the current European policy and strategy on raw materials issues and recycling and focusing on the needs of MATHIOS REFRACTORIES SA, the effort to recycle used refractory materials (which are considered to be solid, non-toxic wastes) from different sectors of the Greek and European Industry is considered obligatory. The main objective of this research proposal is the development in the laboratory, initially and in an industrial scale, at a later stage, of novel refractory masses and bricks, with the use of recycled refractory materials, with properties that meet the requirements, which are determined by the operating conditions of the industrial furnaces, for which they will be used as lining.
This way, a large amount of technology and specialization in the use of recycled refractory materials will be acquired, for the production of end refractory products. At the next level, the potential of using recycled refractory materials, in order to produce products other than Refractories, will be investigated in this research project. This research will reach the stage of laboratory testing trials and will not proceed to pilot production of products. Additionally, during this project, a system for the evaluation of the environmental imprint regarding the production and utilization of refractory materials will be designed and developed.
Project Τitle: REFRACT: Recycling of used refractories from various industries to produce Alumino-silicate refractories ceramics and masses
Project Duration: 48 months (19/9/2019 – 18/9/2023)
Project URL: http://refract.uniwa.gr
Project Framework & Funding: ESPA 2014-2020, Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Scientific coordinator (UNIWA): Athanasios Spyridakos, Professor
Consortium – Partners: MATHIOS S.A., University of West Attica, Technical University of Crete
Budget : 983.653,33€ (UniWA.: 257.770,00€)
