Influence of waste plastic utilisation in blast furnace on heavy metal emissions

The results of further analyses indicate that the emissions of heavy metals to the atmosphere and the hydrosphere are completely independent from their input into the blast furnace. Thus, the usage of transfer coefficients to predict emission levels is (at least for minor flows such as emissions) inadequate. It has been shown that constant emission factors (describing the specific emission load of a heavy metal per unit hot metal), which are independent from the input of heavy metals, describe process emissions at least as well as transfer coefficients, which require detailed information about the input flow to predict emissions. This finding also implies that a certain increased input of heavy metals into a blast furnace does not necessarily increase its emissions, and thus, the usage of transfer coefficients would result in a significant overestimation of environmental burdens associated with plastic utilisation.