Foundries
The
U.S. foundry or metalcasting industry is comprised of approximately
3,000 facilities, with concentrations in the Midwest, Southeast,
and California, and with the majority of the capacity (77%)
located in 10 states: Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
More than 90 percent of all manufactured goods and capital
equipment use metalcastings as engineered components or rely
on castings for their manufacture. Metalcasting industry
sales in the United States have been in the range of $25
to $28 billion annually for the past several years. Major
end-use applications for castings include automobiles and
trucks, farm and construction equipment, railroads, pipes
and fittings, valves, and engines.
To
implement the foundry sector project, NCMS has partnered
with the American Foundry
Society (AFS). AFS was founded in 1896 and is based in
Schaumburg, IL. AFS has grown to an international organization
of approximately 10,000 members in 47 countries.
Foundries
produce metal castings by pouring molten metal into molds,
usually formed by packed sand. The most common metals cast
are grey and ductile iron; however, other metals such as
steel, aluminum, copper and zinc are also used. The most
significant environmental concerns of this sector are:
 used
sand, (typically non-hazardous),
slag,
organic
air emissions,
emission
control dust (from bag houses), and
energy
consumption (estimated to be 200 to 250 trillion Btu annually
for US foundries).
The
focus of the current environmental benchmarking project is
beneficial use of spent sand. Approximately 6-10 million
tons of spent foundry sand is generated annually from the
nation’s 3,000 foundries. Of that total, it is estimated
that only about 1/2 million tons is reused, leaving ample
opportunity for new recycling partnerships. In addition,
some large foundries have on-site monofills which could be
mined for certain types of reuse projects in the future.
The greatest volumes of recycled foundry sand (RFS) are currently
used in geotechnical applications such as road bases, structural
fills, embankments, general fills and landfills. The high
quality of the sand makes this industry byproduct an excellent
aggregate for manufactured products such as Portland cement,
flowable fill, asphalts, and concrete products. In more limited
instances, RFS is being used in manufactured soils and other
agricultural applications. Source: Foundry
Industry Recycling Starts Today (FIRST).
In
cooperation with AFS, an environmental benchmarking survey
is being conducted during 2005, to collect 2004 sand usage
and production data. A copy of the survey form can be downloaded
below. Although the survey process is not yet complete; some
preliminary results were prepared, based on 52 responses,
and presented at the AFS Environmental Conference in Dearborn,
MI on August 22, 2005. A sample of these preliminary results
can be accessed below. The results will be updated as additional
survey responses are received.
More
Information:
Download Foundry Industry Benchmarking Survey.
Access preliminary results from benchmarking survey, 2005.
Access preliminary results from benchmarking survey, 2006.
Foundry Industry Solid Waste Benchmarking Survey—Results and Analysis, 2006
Foundry Industry Solid Waste Benchmarking Survey—Results and Analysis, 2007
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