Programme

The programme

The steel eco-cycle is an eight year environmental research programme which encompasses the entire life cycle of steel.

The result of this is more resource-friendly production of steel, product grades targeted for specific applications and also greater ease in the recycling of scrap metal.

The steel eco-cycle uniquely combines traditional research projects within process and product development with new techniques for environmental impact assessments, both from the perspective of companies and society as a whole.

The steel eco-cycle contributes to the realisation of a vision of "A closed-loop production and use of steel in society". This creates expertise in increasing the exchange of iron and alloying materials and also in keeping these materials within the steel eco-cycle.

Read more>> Scientific report 2004 - 2008

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Project

The steel eco-cycle projects encompass the most important stages in the lifecycle of steel. Working simultaneously with all aspects of the project creates a unique opportunity for the development of new methods for environmental evaluation and assessment. Combining these new research areas benefits both the environment and the industry. As quickly as results are received, they are applied to the production, use and recycling of steel. The projects have been selected to span the entire steel cycle and are based on key criteria which incorporate the combination of research, industrial concerns and environmental issues.


Project overview

The programme has been developed to ensure that each project and subproject are a fully integrated part of the steel eco-cycle. Common environmental goals of reducing waste loads, emissions and raw material demands are combined with the objectives of developing product and technological advances for the industry and integrating cross-research and cross-learning within the competence areas to benefit society as a whole.


Further information

Göran Andersson, Assistant Programme Director
E-mail: goran.andersson@jernkontoret.se

Shredding
... is a technique for the separation and sorting of scrap prior to the end use of re-melting into new steel. Through mapping and development of product streams going through scrap shredders, scrap quality varations can be reduced and the scrap becomes better defined. This leads to lower energy consumptions, reduced virgin material consumption by the end users and a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
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Laser analysis
... is a technique that is being developed to rapidly determine scrap metal compositions and surface contamination. The steel industry hopes to have access to a technology that can reduce the need for virgin metals by complementing with scrap metal for the production of new steel.
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Recycling of steel within society
... is believed to be little documented. With better knowledge of recirculation rates and mechanisms, conditions are created for increasing recycling rates and better control of scrap sorting for optimized scrap use. This makes it possible for the steel industry to reduce their energy expenditures, which is of large economical value, and also to reduce environmental loads.
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Surface cleaning of steel scrap
... is a technique that will allow for a broader end use of painted and coated or galvanized steel scrap. For the steel industry, this means preheating the scrap to high temperatures with a small off gas flow, in addition to removing the surface contamination. Increased reuse of scrap means an overall reduction in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
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Increased metal exchange during steel melting
...is the development of a theoretical system for metallurgical manipulation during steel processing. The goal is to create conditions where the metals transfer to the steel instead of the slag. This leads to a reduced need for virgin metals and also the opportunity for less-contaminated slag to be reused for more diverse applications.
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Recycling of slag
... may become possible through the development of new methods for separating out different metals such as vanadium from the slag. Treated slag finds prospective uses as insulation material or as cement raw material. This metal-free slag can also be re-used during steel production as a new process slag, which reduces the need for new lime addition. Recycling and re-using slag from steel production reduces both the need for depositing waste and consumption of natural resources.
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Preservation of materials in scrap metal
... is a study that will investigate how the trace materials in scrap metal can be manipulated to optimize materials properties in the finished steel product. If 'self-alloying' becomes a practical option, the trace metals in scrap and normal background process metals can be preserved in the steel. This would reduce the metals lost during the steel production cycle.
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New high strength steel products
... is a research project that aims to identify the process parameters that have the biggest effect on material properties during heating and rolliing. The findings can give the steel industry the opportunity to produce advanced steel grades with increased precision and similarly to determine more energy efficient techniques to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels.
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Methods for lighter steel products
... is a development for advancing the use of high strength steel by introducing a new method for optimising the environmental effect when designing light steel structures.
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Evaluation of environmental values

I. Methodology for evaluation of environmental impact
... is a central part of The Steel Eco-Cycle  and will demonstrate the environmental value of the programme with consideration to ecological and  technical factors of the projects. This provides the opportunity for integrating tools and models for describing the process and product development, as well as broadly assessing environmental impacts for the entire steel eco cycle.
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II. Conjoint analysis as a decision tool for evaluation of environmental performance of for instance experts and consumers preferences
...the project develop a decision method by clarifying peoples', factories, experts etc. attitudes towards environmental impacts, that can be used for e.g inspire new products or communication activities.
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