Symposium on utilisation of metallurgical wastes-A review

Abstract

The control of industrial wastes is a problem of great significance, a proper solution of which involves economic, technical and legal factors. The rate at which the world's natural resources are being exhausted can be visualised from the fact that consumption of minerals and metals in the last half a century has exceeded what has been consumed in the previous 200 years. The rapid depletion of essential raw materials affects the industrialised countries much more than the relatively under-developed countries. From the standpoint of farsighted national economy, it is essential to conserve and efficiently utilise the raw materials and manufactured products including by-products. Large-scale expansion of industrial and mobilisation programmes continues to create critical shortages of various raw materials and brings into play the crucial role of the so-called waste material. The strategic importance of the use of waste products is forcibly brought up during times of war when the drive for self-sufficiency is of paramount importance. (Mr. J.E. Mannar, Senior Scientific Officer and Mr. V. Muthukrishnan, Senior Scientific Assistant, National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur)