Researcher: Dr Eleonora D’Elia
Supervisor: Professor Eduardo Saiz
Sponsor: HORIZON 2020
The European steel industry generated about 21.4 million tons of slag in 2012 resulting from steel making. About 24% is not being reused, representing a severe environmental problem in Europe, but also a huge amount of available material for potential recycling. RESLAG will face this environmental problem by providing 4 eco-innovative industrial alternative applications to valorise the steel slag.
The main objective of RESLAG project is to valorise the steel slag that is currently not being recycled (right now it is partially landfilled and partially stored in the steel factories) and reuse it as a raw material for 4 innovative applications that contribute to a circular economy in the steel sector with an additional cross-sectorial approach. These applications will be demonstrated at pilot level and led by end-user industries. Altogether open enormously the range of possibilities of taking profit from slag not only for the steel sector but also for many other sectors.
In this project, Imperial College is a fundamental partner involved in the mechanical, thermal and optical characterization of the slag pebbles as receive and the produced refractories used in the steel industry.
Figure 1. RESLAG Project Main Concept design.