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Innovative Upcycling of Aluminium Waste in Steel Production Shows Promising Results
In a significant advancement for the steel industry, Swerim, in partnership with Stena Aluminium, has demonstrated a breakthrough by successfully utilizing upcycled salt slag—a hazardous waste byproduct from melted end-of-life aluminium scrap—in steelmaking. This innovation could mark a step forward for sustainability in aluminium industry by creating useful products for steel industry from aluminium production waste.
The pilot initiative is a part of the RecAL-project, a robust research effort funded by Horizon Europe, aimed at transforming process in metal production and enabling circular economy in the sector.
The industrial tests involved adding the pre-melted slag to ladles of crude liquid steel before final alloying and temperature adjustments. This entire batch of innovative slag was utilized during the tests, showing no negative operational outcomes thus far. This development not only supports a sustainable circular economy linking the aluminium and steel industries but also represents a shift towards the regular production of environmentally friendly slag from hazardous waste.
“In a first development step more than 40 tons of salt slag was upcycled in June 2024 using a pilot rotary furnace at Swerim’s facility. The resulting pre-melted synthetic slag has now been tested as a second step in industrial conditions at SSAB’s steel plant in Luleå, Sweden. 71 full scale industrial tests have been done using the synthetic slag as an additive for secondary steelmaking. Production data from steel and slag samples verify the function of the new product, which has a lower melting point compared to conventional additives.”, says Ulf Sjöström, Swerim
“Sustainable processing of salt slag is a major challenge for us as a producer of aluminium products based on scrap. The conducted activities within the RecAL-project have given us a possibility to improve our current handling and process for recycling. The promising results from the industrial tests encourage us for further development activities for upcycling of salt slag to a more valuable product. ”, says Ola Falk, Stena Aluminium
RecAL at a glance:
- Funding: 10.9 million euros from Horizon Europe under the call: CL4-2023-Twin-Transition-01-42.
- Duration: 2024–2027.
- Partners: The project includes 19 partners across 8 EU countries and the UK.
- Coordination: AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and LKR Leichtmetallkompetenzzentrum Ranshofen