Integrated Refractory and Steel Recovery

Project Information

ReStoRe

Grant agreement ID: 859087

DOI

10.3030/859087

Project closed

EC signature date 23 July 2019

Start date 1 March 2019

End date 28 February 2022

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 4 073 157,50

EU contribution

€ 2 851 210,25

Coordinated by

DEREF SPA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - ReStoRe (Integrated Refractory and Steel Recovery)

Reporting period: 2021-03-01 to 2022-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The steel industry is a strategic production sector, however it exerts a strong pressure on the environment due to the nature and quantity of the materials involved, gaseous emissions and waste. Of particular concern are the huge volume of landfilled spent refractory, about 80-90% of total ladles and furnaces demolition material; and the massive lime consumption, generating large amounts of CO2 emissions.
To date, no other technology exists in the steel industry that achieves recycling rates higher than 50%, can be performed in situ and enables the use of the vast majority of treated waste within the same production cycle. These assets would significantly reduce economic and environmental costs of steel production.

Deref S.p.a. has a solid and long-lasting experience in the steel sector, and even more in steel refractory demolition, industrial waste management and metallurgical additives production. It developed a proper solution, tested it industrially at an Electric Arc Furnace plant for stainless steel production, and achieved an over 90% recycling rate with 80% reuse in the same steel shop and very high cost savings. It saw great potential to capitalise on these huge achievements by focusing on the entire steel production market, comprising over 24 relevantly sized steel mills in EU and many more worldwide.

Hereto, Deref aimed to optimise and adapt its patented and proven technology to all types of steel production cycles and steel grades and validate results within large-scale trials and demonstrations, to obtain confirmation on the suitability of the treatment cycles in different use cases and to provide for evidence to the market. It also wanted to standardise protocols and designs, and obtain an ETV certification. Lastly, it needed to broaden market awareness on its ReStoRe technology and to update its commercialisation plan.

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

Deref developed new recovery processes on materials so far without recycling routes. They concerned torpedo cars, converters and ladles screened fraction, tundish re-construction/demolition waste fractions, lances, blast furnace monolithic refractories (runners) from demolition, exhausted refractory bricks of torpedo cars, ladle and tundish shroud, spent spinel refractory bricks and dusty metallic materials. Deref characterized the materials, tested and established for each type of refractory treatment methods, lastly adding a briquetting technology for dusty materials. Herewith, most of these materials could be transformed into products to be used again in the steel process, as secondary raw materials for flux products, or for desulphurisation and deoxidant agents used during the secondary metallurgical phase in steel production. A part of refractory bricks could be valorized as secondary raw material (SRM) for refractory production.
Furthermore, to optimize ReStoRe technology to integral cycle steel production, the agglomeration of mineral additives and utilisation in Blast Furnace has been optimized and tested.

A ReStoRe recycling plant was built in May 2019 for an integral steel cycle to develop, trial and industrialise the recovery technology for carbon steel production processes, expanding the range of recyclables to materials originating from blast furnace routes. Refractory selection methodologies and technology were improved, reaching to date a 74% recycling rate.
ReStoRe technologies were applied, on-site and off-site, to the main steel plant configurations: carbon steel production with Blast Furnace (BF) route, carbon steel production with Electrical Arc Furnace (EAC) route, and stainless steel production with EAF route.
Results confirmed the technical feasibility for each of them, and showed that the use of ReStoRe offers numerous benefits, both environmental and economic: reduced consumption of primary raw materials (e.g. lime, dolo-lime), metal recovery, valorisation in refractory production, reduced landfill and significant savings of CO2 emissions. The overall recycling rate achieved for carbon steel production with BF route resulted 74% and for stainless steel production with EAF route 92%. For carbon steel production with EAF route treated materials represented 80% of total exhausted refractory of the steel shop, of which 95% could be recycled.

To standardize ReStoRe technology to facilitate a quick market penetration, an ICT program was developed to determine quantity and qualities of the materials produced by ReStoRe treatment, starting from the characteristics of the steel production process and refractory used in each interested steel mill.
Deref also realised flow sheet (P&I) designs and general layouts for five case studies, which represent an exploitable panel of configurations representative for the variety of steel manufacturing processes worldwide. To cover the main potential configurations 10 different mechanical modules were defined and realized in terms of engineering design.

Deref prioritised in its communication strategy steel-making industry players to raise awareness on ReStoRe technology and interest in the project’s demonstrations. 2 Stands were set up, at METEC 2019 and at 10th ECCC 2021, showcasing ReStoRe technology. 4 Presentations on ReStoRe were given at important conferences (i.e. ESTAD 2021, Mineral Recycling Forum 2022) and one at a professional training course of the Italian Metallurgical Association. On 7 other fairs and conferences Deref exchanged knowledge and built relations, deepened in dedicated meetings with 15 steel producers. An article was published in Refractories Worldforum and a popular one in the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. An interview on the ETV programme was also published. To support all this, Deref released a video on the technology on YouTube, created a page dedicated to ReStoRe technology on its website, prepared posters and a brochure, and opened a LinkedIn page.
As far as exploitation concerns: the commercialization plan was updated at project end based on a market study. Patents were rewarded in India, Iran, Russia and South Africa and trademark registered in EU, Russia, Iran and UK.
ReStoRe underwent a EU Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) on its achievements concerning recycling, cost saving, reduction of CO2 emissions and energy consumption, and recognized as verified technology in October 2021.

Lastly, Deref positively assessed its compliance with the H2020 'ethics requirements', concerning in particular environmental impacts and health and safety issues. Deref has a strong attention for such issues and had all authorisations and certifications timely in place.

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)

Against current best recycling rates of about 50%, ReStoRe provides the steel industry with an on-site solution that enables the reuse of 74-95% of refractory waste and a similar reduction in waste treatment costs through the reduction of eliminated volume; while saving several millions of euro per steel plant on raw material purchases by re-using basic slag former, metal and alumina products. The innovation allows for a drastic reduction of landfilled refractory and consumption of primary raw materials, and saves CO2 emissions due to avoided waste transport and lime production, as a perfect example of circular economy and climate change mitigation. Thanks to this project, the technology is now customized and optimized for any type of steel production process and steel grades and its awareness is widespread among all major players in the market.

ReStoRe Poster

ReStoRe benefits

ReStoRe Poster small