A knowledge-based company is using indigenous technology to produce metallic goods recycled from waste from zinc factories.
One key function of Kimia Gostar-Sepehr Zangan Company is recycling zinc waste from which useful metals such as cadmium, nickel, cobalt, zinc and manganese oxide are extracted.
“Another important activity of the company is to recycle industrial catalysts that lead to the production of tungsten oxide and titanium oxide,” Farhad Qare-Baghi, the company director, was quoted as saying by the news portal of the Vice-Presidency for Science and Tech.
Regarding buyers, he said, “Since our output is mainly metals, it is used in industries such as steel, plating, etc. Oxides are also in play in industrial pigments and catalysts.”
Qare-Baghi billed high purity, reasonable prices and manageable production process as the competitive advantages of his company.
“The primary [raw] material of the company comes from other factories’ waste. No hazardous materials are used or produced in the production cycle for metals or oxides, and the risk of environmental pollution is insignificant.”
The company has created ten direct jobs.
However, the noted that “The process of granting facilities [funding] to enable knowledge-based companies to grow should be accelerated and facilitated. These enterprises need support to be able to mass produce and remain competitive.”
Over the years many companies have been recycling materials from different kinds of waste. As such, recycling is the driver of using metals for extended periods without the need to mine and process virgin ores – a pattern that has come under systemic condemnation across continents, more so by die-hard environmentalists and prominent NGOs.
Metals can be recycled indefinitely and recycling saves energy and virgin resources. Using recycled metal in industries significantly reduces the company’s carbon footprint.
Metal recycling also cuts the cost of raw materials and helps in enhancing the sustainability. For instance, metallic goods can become a part of a circular economy in this method.
According to a report published by STENA Recycling Company, using recycled metal instead of unprocessed ores helps reduce CO2 emissions by 58%. Also, recycling a ton of steel saves 1.4 tons of iron ore, 1.67 tons of CO2, 800 kilograms of coal, 300 kilograms of limestone and additives.
Environmentally-Friendly Waste Disposal
Another knowledge-based company has developed a crusher and offers services to ease electrical waste management in an environmentally-friendly process.
Kardin San’at Nutrica Company’s crusher handles disposal from all types of electrical waste, including fluorescent and gas lamps, batteries and toner cartridges. It also is in the business of mercury sampling, providing transportation and undertaking the classification, preparation, transport and burying toxic industrial waste.
The firm crushes low-energy fluorescent and gas lamps before processing them in a recycling site and curbs the release of toxic mercury vapor of used lamps into the environment. The site has a 200-liter tank that can hold 300 to 350 kg of lamp waste.
Studies show that 2-3% of lamps are broken during storage, handling, packaging and transport, therefore the use of lamp-crushing machines help, among other things, in safely and efficiently segregating/disposing industrial waste.
Mercury particulates and vapors are removed during the crushing process using built-in filters to prevent environmental hazard. Reducing the harmful effects of mercury vapor on human health and environment is one of the main advantages of such devices.
The crusher helps cut cost, save storage space for waste during waste packaging and transport. Managing waste of burnt and used lamps, recovering components, augmenting eco-friendly waste management plus improving the segregation systems of industrial units are its other important features.
Multi-Purpose Hybrid Mill
Iranian academia has produced a hybrid mill that creates nanopowder from different substances for use in research centers and industries.
The mill was developed by researchers of the University of Tehran (UT) in cooperation with the Technical and Vocational University and the Materials and Energy Research Center, the the director of UT’s Nanobiophotonics Research Laboratory said.
“By simultaneously using a bullet and ultrasonic power, the mill can produce nanopowder from ceramic and metal compounds while preserving their properties,” Mohammad Mohammadi Masoudi was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.
Nanopowders have individual particles at the nanometer scale. Due to their small size, these powders have extraordinarily high surface area-to-volume ratio that changes their physical-chemical properties compared with macroscale powders.
The ability to control nanoparticle size by changing milling frequency and time is the main feature of the hybrid mill, which can also handle mechanical alloying.
As it allows nanoparticles to penetrate into metal substrates for creating different coatings, the hybrid mill can be used in metallurgy, photonics, component manufacturing and auto industries. The device will be sold to universities and research centers with a three-year warranty.
