What is foundry sand?

Used sand- this is the name of a byproduct, used mostly in the foundry industry. Tons of used sand are generated every year in the aggregates sector.

But what exactly is foundry sand? It is a byproduct, which contains silica, olivine sand, clay and binders. It is not dangerous and its color is black. This type of sand contains a huge amount of fines. The basic foundry sands in US are olivine and silica.

The usual practice in the foundry business is re-usage of molding, as well as of the core-making sand. Due to this re-usage there is one product, who calls for brand new recycling system- a system, which would be available for recycling this used sand.

In Washington State nowadays is this type of strategy is needed under the condition that the aggregates industry could reuse the foundry sand. The authorities in this area are clear, that recycling of the foundry sand will have to conquer many problems in order to result in successfully recycling the material.

One of the challenges, which will complicate the eventual recycling, is the fact, that the used sand is estimated at 22K tons per year, which is not such a large quantity compared to the other industry residue. Washington state is only one of the states experiencing the issue on a larger scale .

What are the beneficial options of re-using the foundry sand? The aggregates business is the biggest opportunity, because the sand could be transformed successfully into asphalt concrete, bricks and pavers, compost additive, flow able fill, Portland cement and mineral wool products due to the amount of silica inside it.

A research by American Foundrymen`s Society informed that Portland cement could be produced with nearly 13 percent of used foundry sand.

The experts are stating that this material would be extremely useful for recycling, if the technologies of its re-usage would become more productive. And it is reassuring dor the construction industry that with every single year the opportunities for better foundry sand recycling are growing.