Under environmental protection policies, the recycling, research, and production of waste refractory materials will become a growing trend.

High-temperature industries like steel, cement, and glass, as well as various industrial kilns, consume a lot of refractory materials and also generate a huge amount of waste refractory materials. Refractory material manufacturers also produce a lot of scrap and waste materials during production. Before 2015, these discarded refractory materials were not only enormous in quantity but also very difficult to handle. Except for a small portion that could be reused in the production line, most waste refractory materials were typically either buried or downgraded for use. Since 2017, with the significant rise in the prices of various refractory raw materials, old refractory materials have become a hot commodity, with some companies even digging up previously buried waste for reuse.

As companies increasingly pay attention to old refractory materials, demand is rising, and the market price for waste refractory materials has gone up accordingly. Take converter waste magnesia-carbon bricks as an example: in 2016, the market price was around 700 yuan per ton, but now the quote is basically 1700-2000 yuan. If you can purchase converter waste magnesia-carbon bricks, they can basically replace over 97% fused magnesia and over 95% graphite, which shows the price difference clearly.

Many countries, especially developed ones, attach great importance to the reuse of waste refractory materials, and the reuse rate is generally high. Some steel plants have reached over 80%. Japan started early in this field and has relatively mature technology. At Chita Steel in Japan, the reuse rate of used refractory materials has reached 50%-100%. In Japan’s steel industry, old refractory materials are mainly used as substitutes for slag-making mixtures and mold sand. Some steel mills use waste bricks as the main raw material to develop materials for ladle bottoms and surroundings, ladle casting materials, and shaped products.