Heavy and Extractive industry wastes PHAsing out through ESG Tailings Upcycling Synergy

Project Information

HEPHAESTUS

Grant agreement ID: 101058696

DOI

10.3030/101058696

EC signature date 20 May 2022

Start date 1 June 2022

End date 31 July 2027

Funded under

• Digital, Industry and Space

Total cost

€ 16 046 783,75

EU contribution

€ 11 966 323,00

Coordinated by

RINA CONSULTING SPA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - HEPHAESTUS (Heavy and Extractive industry wastes PHAsing out through ESG Tailings Upcycling Synergy)

Reporting period: 2023-12-01 to 2025-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The HEPHAESTUS project adopts a comprehensive approach to address dusty wastes from metallurgic processes, creating a circular economy. These wastes pose environmental challenges due to the annual production of steel in the European Union countries. Approximately 40% of this steel, is produced through Electric Arc Furnace (EAF), generating hazardous dust categorized as special waste. Current disposal methods are problematic, and recycling is restrained by the pyrophoric nature of the dust. The project's objective is to develop scalable and tuneable operational units, integrated into a processing plant capable of treating multiple wastes from primary mineral and metallurgical streams. Targeting small-scale applications, the project aims to divert dangerous EAF fine dust from landfilling, recovering valuable materials, and producing added-value products like mineral wool and methanol. The process is expected to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions per ton of dust processed. The proposed solution involves the following operational units:
• the CleanTech electric furnace to transform steelmaking and other fine by-products into recyclable metal alloy,
• the EZINEX process which extracts zinc from furnace dust for metallurgical applications,
• the Fiber drawing which is employed to manufacture mineral wool insulation from process slag,
• the Carbon Capture and Transformation (CCT) solution implemented to produce methanol using CO2 from the furnace flue gases,
• the Hydrometallurgical processes, based on ammonia-ammonium carbonate (AAC) and methanesulfonic acid (MSA), that selectively extract zinc and produce an Fe-rich residue for direct recycling in steelmaking.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Work performed by Work Package for the second reporting period [M19-M36]
WP2 – "EU sites and wastes assessment" aims at providing a complete mapping of waste resources in Europe, gathering quality, costs and availability information on all possible wastes suitable for feeding the HEPHAESTUS integrated process and to identify and select the most promising geographical regions for its implementation. D2.1 and D2.2 have been successfully completed in M24 and M26 respectively.
WP3 – "Process modelling" aims at optimizing the process conditions for the smelting of fine EAF dusts. This is achieved through the development of a thermodynamic model of the process and also thanks to the creation of a detailed mass, energy and exergy flow sheet diagram. Moreover, predictive models of the AAC and MSA hydrometallurgical processes are also developed. WP3 activities started at M1 and have been completed in M24. D3.2 which was due in M24 has been resubmitted in M36 to include lab results for the lab scale EAF
WP4 – "Process integration design and performance forecasting" aims at design and integrate the operational units to be realised in in the following WP5. WP4 activities started at M9 and have been concluded in M30. The results have been collected in two deliverables D4.1 and D4.2 in M30.
WP5 – "Plants Technologies Piloting Demonstration and Validation" has the objective of validating various technologies that will be part of the HEAPHAESTUS process, D5.1 have been successfully completed while the other tasks are all ongoing
WP6 – "Sustainability assessment" focused on economic, Socio-economic and environmental Sustainability assessment and i ongoing in the second reporting period
WP7 – "Standards, dissemination, communication, exploitation, IPR management" aims to develop activities for the exploitation, dissemination, and communication of project results, manage and distribute the knowledge to maximize the return on research investment, grant the maximum exploitation potential to the partners, preventing disputes related to results ownership, manage IPRs for the innovations developed, and consequent exploitation path, and promote standardization facilitating acceptance and utilisation of the HEPHAESTUS technologies. The activities of WP7 last from M1 to M54.
WP8 – "Project Management" aims to guarantee effective and coherent project coordination and management activities.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The impacts resulting from the HEPHAESTUS project are based on certain foundational assumptions:
abundant and easily accessible availability of steel and mineral wastes for project partners. Project partners such as AST and LARCO, claim to have established contacts with steel manufacturers and the mining industry, ensuring access to these waste streams for trials and future business endeavours.
being in competition with procedures that do not yield favourable economic returns. For instance, the Waelz process is only economical when Zinc Oxide (ZnO) concentrations are higher than 30% because it is known to leave behind a waste volume equivalent to the original dust processed.
capability of the 1.5 MVA and 5 MVA pilot plants located in Greece and Italy, respectively. With estimated outputs of 8.6 kilotons of metal alloy, up to 10.6 kilotons of mineral wool, and up to 560 tons of zinc, these capacities translate into worldwide conversion capacities of 4 and 16 kilotons annually.
20% more mineral wastes than dusts formed from steel. It is said that the amount of mineral dust produced in Europe is greater than that produced by the manufacturing of electric steel, thus there is a constant supply of raw materials at low cost. Depending on the stoichiometric composition and slag performance requirements, this mineral waste stream, which has a variety of compositions (marble, dolomite, and silica), can be utilized in the CleanTech furnace. The project's requirements can be met by cooperation with LARCO and other mining sources, made possible by a multiplier such as ADMIRIS. The metallurgical plant of LARCO, which produces a substantial amount of dust containing nickel as a byproduct, serves as an example of how such waste streams can be used in the project to generate both a business opportunity and addressing environmental concerns.
The aforementioned assumptions will be carefully examined and incorporated into the Business Plan which will be elaborate in T7.2.
Finally, the activities connected to the construction of the demonstrators will start in M18 for the Greek one and in M20 for the Italian one. Therefore, when they will enter in operation and experimental data will be available, the impacts of the HEPHAESTUS integrated process within the steel making and the mining tailing industry, will be verified against the initial provision reported in the DoA.

CleanTech process

Process flow diagram