Even though cast iron is considered to be one of the oldest materials in the area of engineering, it has witnessed a revival of fortunes in today’s industrial era in terms of sustainability and environmental impact. This short blog will deal with the environment impact of cast iron:

With regard to the environmental impact, it must be noted that cast iron does not generally rust as it does not oxidise quickly. This process releases carbon-based iron ashes which does not harm the living environment around. They bring about the growth of plants and raises planktonic life in the ocean, thereby fighting global warming. A lot of research studies in recent times points to the fact that the addition of iron dust to the oceans could have a significant positive effect on the health of ocean life, raising the oxygen levels of our oceans and seas, therefore lowering emission of greenhouse gasses. Practically speaking, the result of slow oxidisation gives it a highly durable structure.

Furthermore, cast iron is also completely recycled and recyclable; the recycling can be done indefinitely without any loss in their physical and chemical properties.

Most foundries casts out of a mixture of recycled steel mostly from the engineering and automotive industries, automobile scrap iron and in-house returns. This means that wastage out of the industry’s manufacturing process is fed into the furnace and melting is carried out to produce ‘new iron’.

The important material that is made use of in the mould-making process is sand. In many foundries there is a plant for the recycling of this sand in the process of green sand casting in which 100 percent of the sand is subjected to recycling, and in the case of furan resin sand casting process, 85 percent is either recycled or reclaimed.