Circular economy solutions for the valorisation of low-quality scrap streams, materials recirculation with high recycling rate, and residue valorisation for long term goal towards zero waste (Clean Steel Partnership) (RIA)

In the medium-term scenario, new technologies will enter in the iron and steelmaking production process, e.g. higher amount of scrap in basic oxygen furnaces (BOF), more electric arc furnace (EAF) based steelmaking, as well as more directly reduced production capacity are foreseen. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the influence of the feedstock quality, of the new production technologies and of the composition of the by-products generated on the present model of circular economy for both, economic, and environmental aspects.

Recycling of steel scrap (no matter if it is home-scrap, industrial scrap, or post-consumer scrap), the increased consumption of scrap, the recovery of iron from residues and the use of low-quality iron ore materials are vital to diminish the need for additional primary resource extraction and hence to decrease the environmental impact of steel manufacturing. This is also contributing to a wise and sustainable management approach of iron resources. Applying circular economic principles to product design (thus, designing for remanufacture and recycling) will allow ferrous and non-ferrous metals, such as copper, to be more easily separated and recycled.

Proposals should consider higher utilisation of low-quality iron-bearing materials, in particular, but not limited to, low-quality scrap with higher amounts of unwanted elements (residual and alloying elements, such as Cu, Sn, Sb, As and Bi, but also Cr, Mo, B) that prevent the production of many steel grades and a higher utilisation of internal residues; all focused on the recycling of its metal contents. Where appropriate for the study proposed, analytical research infrastructures, such as synchrotron facilities, should be considered as capable of providing large amount of statistically relevant data. The aim is to obtain a sustainable vision of reduced virgin raw materials use.

Moreover, the existing recycling and reuse solutions for today’s steel industry will be affected and new solutions need to be developed to maintain a sustainable development of the steel industry in the future. Projects should aim at the selection and integration of best available and applicable technologies supported by digital smart tools. These are key elements to improve and adapt circular economy solutions for the long-term goal towards zero waste increasing the use of scrap, the materials recycling rate and the residue valorisation by targeting to achieve the same quality of the finished product and at the same time reducing CO₂ emissions due to lower energy need with respect to iron-ore.

Multidisciplinary research activities should address one or more of the following:

• New technologies for reduce / reuse / recycle of residues and by-products in the next generation iron ore and steelmaking process:
  • Increasing reuse and recycling of steelmaking and foundry slags;
  • Recycling and valorisation of dusts, and sludges;
  • Recovering iron and metal-fractions from in-plant residues;
  • Conditioning processes for the use of residues and low-quality iron ore grades, like agglomeration or pelletisation;
  • Implementing Circular Economy and Industrial Symbiosis for long-term goal towards zero- waste.
• Sustainable and efficient scrap management and recycling aiming high-grade steel production with increased scrap rates including:
  • Improved mechanical scrap preparation coupled with scrap analyses at various levels;
  • Continuous analysis and monitoring of the scrap bulk composition using sensor systems with accompanied model-supported Big Data analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques for scrap classification;
  • Scrap yard management and charge preparation for quality upgrading;
  • Optimised and more flexible primary and secondary steelmaking processes considering enhanced scrap rates.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on Clean Steel.