The Origin of Mineral Waste from Constanta Port and the Necessity to Introduce it into the Circular Economy

Constanta Port is the largest port on the Black Sea. Only here are operated the largest ships that have access through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits. Of these, the largest tonnage is operated in berths 80 – 84 belonging to COMVEX SA. In the port there are also terminals for operating bulk cargo belonging to SOCEP and Minmetal.

During the operation of ships, transport and storage of bulk cargo, basic activities of the terminal, losses of bulk materials occur, which periodically collected are waste because they no longer meet the original characteristics of the goods.

According to GD 111/2002, these quantities of materials are called technological losses and are a mixture of iron ore, bauxite, coke and coal. The mineral components of this waste, defined as mineral waste, are from the handled materials, and which are of the highest quality.

This quantity cannot be shipped to customers and therefore the respective quantities of goods represent operating and storage losses. Periodically, this mixture must be removed so that the land surfaces on which the stacks of materials are formed remain clean.

The production of mineral waste is closely linked to the activity of the Ore Terminal. The mineral mixture from cleaning operations is stored in temporary storage dumps. In addition to the fact that these quantities of goods represent losses, they also represent an impact on the environment.

The storage of this waste involves occupying important, available, adjacent areas and sometimes production areas. This also has implications for the operator's handling capacity as it requires additional operations involving energy consumption, labour consumption, vehicle use, etc. In conclusion, this scenario negatively affects the economic and social development of the company operating with bulk materials.

Due to the specificity of the bulk cargo handling terminal, between 1991 and until now, significant quantities of mineral waste valued at approx. 650.000 t.

Similar wastes are a characteristic of large ports, which transit such bulk goods, such as: Rotterdam – EMO operator – Netherlands, Dunkirk and Sollac sur Mer – France, Tianjin – China.