Valorisation of metallurgical residues via carbothermal reduction: A circular economy approach in the cement and iron and steel industry

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Florian Roman Steindl
  • Katharina Weisser
  • Joachim Juhart
  • Dominik Wohlmuth

External Organisational units

  • Technische Universität Graz
  • voestalpine Stahl Donawitz GmbH
  • Stahl- und Walzwerk Marienhütte GesmbH

Abstract

The decarbonisation of the steel and cement industry is of utmost importance in tackling climate change. Hence, steel production in modern integrated steel mills will be shifted towards electric arc furnaces in the future, in turn causing dwindling supplies of blast furnace slag, which is used as a supplementary cementitious material inter alia to reduce the CO2 emissions of cement production. Achieving a sustainable circular steel and building material economy requires the valorisation of currently landfilled steel slags and investigating utilisation options for electric arc furnace slag, which is increasingly being generated. For this purpose, different metallurgical residues and by-products were treated by carbothermal reduction in an inductively heated graphite crucible and then rapidly cooled by wet granulation, yielding a slag fraction similar to granulated blast furnace slag and a metal fraction valuable as a secondary raw material. A spreadsheet-based model was developed to calculate residue combinations to accomplish target compositions of the slag and metal fractions to fulfil previously identified requirements of the targeted cementitious and ferrous products. The results demonstrate the high accuracy of the model in predicting the properties (e.g. main oxide composition) of the generated slag and metal fraction, which fulfil the needed requirements for their use as (i) a supplementary cementitious material and (ii) a secondary raw material in steel production.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)797-805
Number of pages9
JournalWaste management & research
Volume42.2024
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Apr 2024