NATIONAL

TECHNOLOGY OF
MEXICO

SALTILLO TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE

“Sand Recovery System”

Metal Department - Mechanics

Materials Engineering

Subject: Molding Sand Technology

Dr. Benito Izquierdo Mendoza

Presents:
María Isabel Briones Juárez

Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico June 9, 2021

Recovery of Foundry Sands
In foundry industries, molding sand is the main waste, being in the case of iron foundries around 65 to
85%. Most foundries reuse a certain portion of the residual sand for the manufacture of cores and molds;
In many cases, most of it is reused.
There are two ways to revalue non-hazardous foundry waste sand:

a) Reuse.
b) Recycling.
While the first corresponds to the recovery stage, the second consists of giving the residual sands a
different use.
There are multiple uses that can be given to non-hazardous residual foundry sand, including the
manufacture of cement and asphalt, the coverage of landfills and agriculture. Assuming that there is
“non-hazardous foundry sand”, that is, it does not cause harm to health or the ecosystems of the region,
the way in which it could be revalued (reuse or recycling) is determined. Alternatives can now be defined
such as cement manufacturing, landfill coverage, agriculture, compost, etc.
Generally, if the sand is contaminated with metallic inclusions, the sand is passed through an
electromagnet that removes them.

Types of sand
▪ Disaggregated discarded sands: Those that after the production process have lost the ability to
hold the sand grains together. Usually, the fraction of molds that undergo thermal degradation
processes is in contact and/or close to the cast material. The sand in a mold made with a binder
will suffer differentiated degradation depending on the thickness of the mold, temperature of
the cast material, volume cast in relation to the volume of sand in the mold and expected time
for demolding.
▪ Discarded conglomerate sands: those that after the production process have not lost the ability to
hold the sand grains together.
▪ Fines: Some companies have fines separators in the demolding or recycling areas (usually cyclones
and bag filters) that retain part of the degraded binders and remains of silica fines generated by
the breakage of sand grains.
Discarded foundry sands, as waste from the foundry industry, may contain metals and metalloids
potentially harmful to humans and the environment in general.

The possibility of using ADFs in other processes is broad, so much so that some landfills with material
discarded in the past have been analyzed to be exploited for sand mining and the extraction of metal
remains.
 Figure 1 . Flow diagram of foundry sand.

Why bother recovering the sand?

Acquisition Costs

For many years, sand was cheap and easily available for foundry applications. Over time, we have seen
the cost of sand increase due to higher extraction costs, increased transportation costs, higher quality
assurance costs, more profitable alternative applications (such as Frac sand), etc The recovery of sand
will allow it to be reused, thus reducing the amount of new virgin sand that must be provided to maintain
production.

Disposal Costs

Disposal Costs For many years, most cities, districts and even many foundries had their own landfills
where they dumped used sand. Over time, many changes occurred in safety regulations, health codes,
etc. which greatly decreased the number of dumping sites for used sand and increased regulations for its
disposal. With this came an increase in the cost of pouring. The recovery of sand will allow it to be
reused, reducing the amount of sand to be discarded.

Environmental responsibility
The less new sand we use, we help maintain the Earth's resources. More sand reuse reduces waste. It's
simply the right thing to do, both economically and environmentally.

Sand Recovery Systems

There are 2 main types of sand recovery systems:

▪ Mechanics
▪ Thermal
A mechanical recovery system uses kinetic energy to physically break up clods of used sand down to a
clean, usable sand grain size.

A thermal recovery system takes sand that has already been brought to grain size in a mechanical
recovery system and adds heat energy to burn off any remaining resin from the sand.

In most cases, the mechanical recovery system is a requirement before a thermal recovery system can be
added. Historically, most foundries evolved like this:

▪ No recovery – all used sand is discarded.

▪ Adding a Mechanical Recovery System and becoming proficient in its use.
▪ Later add a thermal recovery system to further increase savings.
There is a small percentage of foundries that add a new molding line and include mechanical and thermal
recovery systems from start-up.

Mechanical Recovery System

A typical mechanical recovery system will include the following sequence of components:

▪ Demolding Platform (Shake-out)

▪ Attrition Mill
▪ Lifting Device
▪ Hopper Surge Hopper
▪ Magnetic separator
▪ Agglomerate screen
▪ Fluid Bed Classifier (Optional Cooling)
▪ Pneumatic Lifting or Transport Device
▪ Mechanically recovered sand bulk storage silo
▪ Dust Collector
Thermal Recovery System
A typical thermal recovery system will include the following sequence of components:

▪ Supply Hopper Emerges

▪ Magnetic Separator (If it was not already included upstream)
 ▪ Measured feeding mechanism
▪ Warming Zone
▪ Cooling Zone
▪ Pneumatic Lifting or Transport Device
▪ Thermally recovered sand bulk storage silo
▪ Dust Collector (probably at high temperature)
If a sand thermal recovery system is included, there are different schools depending on the foundries
regarding its sizing and use. Some smelters will thermally recover all the sand. Others will only thermally
recover a portion of the sand and then mix it into the system in order to control LOI (loss on ignition)
measurements. This choice will affect the total list of equipment components included in a typical system
and will affect the exact point where the sand stream leaves the mechanical recuperator and enters the
thermal recuperator.

Benefits of Thermally Recovering ALL the sand:

▪ All sand that goes into the mold is consistent
▪ No worry about LOI
▪ Mixing, storing and transporting equipment is generally simpler as there is no need to have holding
tanks to feed both mechanically recovered and thermally recovered sand up the mixer.
▪ The operator simply feeds one sand to all the molds instead of changing from new sand to
mechanically recovered sand at a specific point in the mold

Disadvantages:
▪ The thermal recovery unit must be larger to process all the sand
Benefits of Thermally Recovering only a Portion of the Mechanically Recovered Sand:
▪ The Thermal Recovery Unit will be smaller than the size it would have to process ALL the sand
▪ Lower electricity/LP/Natural Gas costs
Disadvantages:

▪ It will be up to the operator to decide when to change the new contact sand for the recovered fill
sand – this brings variability in the mixture proportion.
▪ Variability in mix ratio leads to need for tighter controls and LOI monitoring
▪ The equipment is more complex since two sand tanks, two gates, separate conveyors, separate
silos, etc. are needed.

Recovery by Vertical Grit Pump

The molding sand to be recycled is stored in a suitable tank, preferably made of steel and of sufficient
size for the operation of one shift. The sand is fed in a constant flow into the recirculation system. The
wet sand can be stored in a suitable tank and sent to the circuit by means of a pump.
There is a vibrating screen to separate the oversized material. The vibrating action serves to break up
clumping and usually a spray of water is added to repulp the sand before it is introduced into the sand
washing unit.

The screened sand is fed to the washing unit and dropped directly on top of the lower propeller. Enough
water is added to maintain a pulp density of 40 to 50% solids. This density and the violent action of the
propeller with controlled recirculation through the deposit, loosens the material stuck on the surface of
the sand grains by attrition. To ensure complete attrition, two of the attritioners or scrubbers are
operated in series reducing the short circuit to a minimum.

Figure 2 . Flow diagram for foundry sand recirculation.

Lost Foam Process

The lost foam casting (FEP) process is one of today's preferred casting processes when it comes to
manufacturing parts with intricate geometry, close dimensional tolerances and good surface finishes.
Casting processes that use sand molds without binders are alternative and different routes to
conventional molding processes with green sands. Within this set of new processes, the lost foam casting
(FEP) or Lost Foam Casting (LFC) process stands out, which has begun to gain importance thanks to the
possibility it offers in the manufacture of complex geometries and close tolerances.
The FEP process consists of generating a metal part from a model of expanded polystyrene foam (EPS).
The initial stage aims to obtain the models of the parts to be manufactured in EPS, which will then be
assembled into a model tree. The term tree refers to the set that contains the models attached to the
feeding system and the inlets that are also made of EPS, in this way several pieces can be cast in a single
cast.
Then the assembled tree is covered with a layer of refractory paint (See figure 2), which must
subsequently be dried in an oven at a controlled temperature between 50 °C and 60 °C for a period of no
less than 2 hours. Subsequently, the models are introduced into a molding container where they are
covered with unagglomerated sand, which is compacted and distributed uniformly throughout the
geometry of the pieces molded by vibration. Once the sand is compacted, the liquid metal is poured into
the mold without ever removing the foam model coated with refractory paint. When the emptying is
done; The molten metal evaporates the foam, the gases generated are released through the sand and
the metal solidifies taking the place where the model was located. Finally, the sand is removed by tilting
the container; at which time the tree with the cast parts is also removed for cleaning and initial control.
The sand goes to a cooling system to be recirculated.

Gemco Dry Mechanical Regeneration Treatment

The Gemco process is applied at Globe Foundries, located in Weert (Holland), and consists of a dry
mechanical treatment for the recovery of foundry sands for the production of cores through the cold box
process. The regeneration treatment is based on the crushing of individual sand grains to free the
particles of binders and other compounds and on the recovery of fine particles through a dedusting and
filtering system. The environmental advantages of this process are as follows:
➢ Exhaust gas treatment is not necessary.
➢ The production of waste materials is relatively low compared to other processes.
➢ The treatment is advantageous from an economic point of view and the recovered silica grains
have a rounded shape that determines a lower percentage of casting defects.
Unfortunately, the process is not continuous. The heart of the process is the sand cleaner: the dry grains
of sand are fed between drums of metal blades that rotate at 1 rpm and a stone grinding wheel, which
rotates at 40 rpm, thus obtaining the breaking of the political shell and the rounding of silica particles.
Figure 5. Gemco plant layout. 1 / influx; 2/ drier; 3/cooler; 4/sand cleaner; 5/pneumatic cyclone; Coarse S1/cyclone
particles; 6/bag filter; S2/bag filter particles; 7 / final product.

Sasil Wet Mechanical Regeneration Treatment

The Sasil plant in Brusnengo (VC), located in northern Italy, typically processes materials from granite
mining for the production of glass and ceramics.
The treatment cycle for green molding sand recovery is as follows:

▪ Start screening to remove the d/100 mm particle size fraction.

▪ Wear treatment with water.
▪ Separate fine particles (d B / 0.1 mm) using an screw conveyor.
▪ Drying phase.
▪ Sieving to remove the d/0.7 mm particle size fraction.
▪ Magnetic separation.
▪ Leaching with sulfuric acid.

Drying phase.
 Figure . Sasil plant design. 1 / influx; 2 / vibrating screen 100 mm; S1 / particles d / 100 mm; 3/wear cell; 4/screw
conveyor; S2 particles/scrubber (d <0.1 mm) 5, 11/dryer; 6, 12/pneumatic cyclone; S3, S6 / coarse fraction
cyclone; 7, 13 / bag filter; S4, S7/bag filter particles;
8 / vibrating screen 0.7

Safond Wet Mechanical Regeneration Treatment

The Safond plant in Montecchio Precalcino (VI), located in northern Italy, carries out wet mechanical
treatment for the recovery of molding sands from various iron and steel foundries. This treatment is
structured according to the following phases:
▪ Start magnetic separation;
▪ Disintegration and homogenization of the non-magnetic fraction in a mixing drum;
▪ Screening to remove the d/1.6 mm particle size fraction;
▪ Mix the resulting fraction with water, in a solid-liquid ratio of 1: 9;
▪ Cyclone that separates the fine and coarse fractions;
▪ Conditioning of the fine fraction of the cyclone using ferric chloride, lime and anionic
polyelectrolyte to obtain coagulation of the solid phase, which is then transferred to a decanter
from where the clarified water is recycled. There is also a final filter press that reduces the
water content of the sludge to below 25% pv.;
▪ Transfer of the coarse fraction of the cyclone, consisting of 80% pc of solids and 20% pc of
water, to ten wear cells. Then, the output product is sieved and the particle size fraction d > 0.1
mm is dried in a rotary dryer and magnetically separated to obtain the final treatment product.

Figure . Safond plant design. 1 / influx; 2/magnetic barrel separator; M1 / fraction

magnetic; 3/mixing barrel; 4 / vibrating screen 1.6 mm; S1/d fraction > 1.6 mm; 5/mixing pond
(10% by weight solid, 90% by weight water); 6/hydraulic cyclone; 7/conditioner; a1 / ferric chloride; a2 /
lime; a3 / anionic polyelectrolyte; 8 /settler; 9/filter press; 10/10 parallel wear cells; 11 / sieve
 vibratory 0.1 mm; S2/ d <0.1 mm fraction; 12/rotary dryer; 13/barrel magnetic separator
rotary; M2 / magnetic fraction; P / final product; 14/pneumatic cyclone; Coarse fraction of S3/cyclone; fifteen
/ bag filter; S4 dust / bag filter.
 REFERENCES
1. Zanetti, M. C., & Fiore, S. (2003). Foundry processes: the recovery of green molding
sands for core operations. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 38(3), 243-254.
2. Retrieved from: 2020_SS_Spring_Palmer_SP.pdf (palmermfg.com)

3. Lost Foam Casting Process for the Manufacturing of Auto Parts. Patricia Fernández M.,
Vladimir Martínez, Andrés Duque, Javier Cruz. Research Group on New Materials,
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana. March 21, 2006.