Circular economy will be one of the main drivers to significantly reduce CO2 in the refractory industry, as the energy-intensive primary raw material production has by far the highest impact on the product's carbon footprint. So far, automated sorting solutions could not consolidate in refractory recycling because the development is extremely complex and requires combination of different sensor technologies. The ReSoURCE project will innovate the full process chain of refractory recycling with an AI-supported multi sensor sorting equipment as its core technology. Combining laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, hyper spectral imaging with optimized pre-processing and automated ejection will lay the foundation to set a new state of the art for refractory sorting starting of particle sizes down to below 1 mm. The continuous monitoring of the economic and ecologic benefits by techno-economic and life cycle assessment will ensure the green and digital transformation of the refractory recycling value chain. Reaching the ReSoURCE objectives will lead to massive annual CO2 reductions (up to 800 kilo tonnes) and energy savings (up to 760 GWh) in the European Union. Naturally usage of secondary raw materials is related to a reduction of extractive processing in the raw material mines (reduction of 1 million ton). Simultaneously, it will give access to currently unexploited raw material sources within the European, therewith strengthening EUs resilience by fostering refractory material autarky, particularly as some of the refractory base materials are listed on the EU's critical raw material list (bauxite, graphite). The two demonstrators built in course of the ReSoURCE project, will ensure the straight-forward exploitation and implementation of this revolutionising recycling process chain in the European industry.
