AK Steel builds recycling plant at Ashland Works

AK Steel builds recycling plant at Ashland Works

Middletown-based steelmaker AK Steel announced yesterday that it built a new recycling facility at its Ashland, Kentucky Works. The new facility, which will process and recycle waste materials from the plant's blast furnace, coke-making operation, and continuous caster, has recycling capacity up to 250'000 tons of waste per year. The new recycling facility will process waste materials to transform them into cold-bonded briquettes. These briquettes will be used as feedstock for the Ashland Works blast furnace. The use of briquettes as a feedstock will significantly lower the amount of purchased raw materials needed for Ashland Works. “Installation of this recycling facility at Ashland Works is another step in AK Steel's long-term raw materials strategy,” said James L. Wainscott, President and CEO of AK Steel. “The new facility will provide AK Steel with an economical way to recycle valuable raw materials which will reduce operating costs and result in a significant benefit to the environment.”