PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The EU's foundry industry employs more than 290,000 people. In addition, foundries play a key role in other industries, providing various cast components for the automotive, shipbuilding, and construction sectors. The application of modern sand-moulding systems based on inorganic binders would have a significant positive environmental and economic impact and make Europe's foundries more competitive.
OBJECTIVES
Green Foundry LIFE aimed to introduce novel technologies for sand-moulding systems to cut emissions, improve indoor air quality, and support the circular economy through the re-use of foundry sand that is normally landfilled. This would involve replacing organic binders with inorganic binders when making sand moulds and cores for the casting process. Organic binders emit hazardous casting fumes and fine particles such as binder aerosols. By accelerating the uptake of inorganic binders, the project would have a significant impact on reducing hazardous emissions and improving indoor air quality for foundry workers. The new process would also use less sand, water, and energy. Results from pilot foundries in Finland and Italy would be shared with the industry, including through practical tools for the implementation of best practices. Green Foundry LIFE aimed to publish its best available techniques for the introduction of inorganic binder systems in iron and steel foundries and submit them for inclusion in the next iteration of the EU Smitheries and Foundries BREF (Best Available Techniques Reference document).
This LIFE project directly relates to the section of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) that refers to projects developing and testing pollution prevention and abatement techniques. Green Foundry LIFE involved partners in Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain.
RESULTS
During this project, small-scale tests were carried out comparing organic and inorganic binders in Finland and Poland to measure the emissions of the casting processes. Larger total emission tests were also carried out in five pilot foundries around Europe.
A full production-scale test series with three inorganic binder system moulds was completed in three ferrous foundries in Finland, Italy, and Estonia. Surplus foundry sand recycling and cleaning techniques (thermal reclamation, composting, washing, hydromechanical, and ultrasound) were demonstrated.
The results demonstrate, according to the small-scale chamber tests carried out in lab-scale tests and pilot foundry conditions, that transfer to inorganic binders in the ferrous foundries could reduce hazardous airborne emissions by about 50-95%. This includes ambient air improvement, reducing local health risks, and reducing odour nuisances. Indoor health was shown to be improved by approximately 70-80% and waste was limited by recycling 70-75% of the foundry sand used in these experiments.
Three pilot foundries implemented the inorganic binder system in production-scale tests and two of them are interested in starting to implement inorganic binders in their production soon.
The results of the project were actively disseminated, and the results were used to produce a BAT publication describing the implementation of inorganic binder systems from a technical, economic, and environmental perspective.
