Sustainability & Circular Economy at voestalpine High Performance
Metals Division
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Sustainability is a focus topic in the High Performance Metals (HPM) Division of the voestalpine group. Within inSPire, our sustainability framework, we are setting goals for sustainable production and reducing our carbon footprints. Circular economy is an important divisional strategic field for two years now and deals with 4 fields of action: Alternative raw material sources, Recycling of by-products, Material & scrap cycles and Zero waste. Two challenges concerning the recycling of by-products are presented in this article to show the difficulties we face when we want to recover alloy elements from our production wastes: EAF-dusts and scales. Valuable elements are lost by landfill or downcycling. Finding solutions for these challenges is part of our focus on Circular Economy in the High Performance Metals Division.
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Sustainability is a focus topic in the High Performance Metals (HPM) Division of the voestalpine group. Within inSPire, our sustainability framework, we are setting goals for sustainable production and reducing our carbon footprints. Circular economy is an important divisional strategic field for two years now and deals with 4 fields of action: Alternative raw material sources, Recycling of by-products, Material & scrap cycles and Zero waste. Two challenges concerning the recycling of by-products are presented in this article to show the difficulties we face when we want to recover alloy elements from our production wastes: EAF-dusts and scales. Valuable elements are lost by landfill or downcycling. Finding solutions for these challenges is part of our focus on Circular Economy in the High Performance Metals Division.
The Use of Textile Waste for Fibre-Reinforced Geopolymer Composite
Production
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
The textile industry is among the top largest industries in the world, as the demand for new products proportionally increases with population growth. In 2014, 90.8 million tons of textile fibres have been produced which is expected to exceed 100 million tons by 2025. Many different types of fibres can be used for textile production, such as cotton, hemp, nylon, polyester, however, the application of synthetic fibres had become more common compared to natural fibres in the recent years (Pensupa et al. 2017).
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
The textile industry is among the top largest industries in the world, as the demand for new products proportionally increases with population growth. In 2014, 90.8 million tons of textile fibres have been produced which is expected to exceed 100 million tons by 2025. Many different types of fibres can be used for textile production, such as cotton, hemp, nylon, polyester, however, the application of synthetic fibres had become more common compared to natural fibres in the recent years (Pensupa et al. 2017).
FuLIBatteR – Future Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling for Recovery of
Critical Raw Materials
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Global crises, like the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, and dependency on the economic situation on raw material markets, as well as unexpected issues in global supply chains, such as the Suez Canal obstruction by a large container ship, intensify the efforts of local production and consequently, of sufficient raw material supply as well as regional solutions for recycling. Unfortunately, the raw materials for producing our daily life goods and things for saving the living standard are not evenly distributed worldwide (European Commission, 2022; Olivetti, Gaustad, & Fu, 2017).
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Global crises, like the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, and dependency on the economic situation on raw material markets, as well as unexpected issues in global supply chains, such as the Suez Canal obstruction by a large container ship, intensify the efforts of local production and consequently, of sufficient raw material supply as well as regional solutions for recycling. Unfortunately, the raw materials for producing our daily life goods and things for saving the living standard are not evenly distributed worldwide (European Commission, 2022; Olivetti, Gaustad, & Fu, 2017).
How will tramp elements affect future steel recycling in Europe?
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Global steel production has grown massively since the Second World War. In recent decades, however, the steel market has become saturated in affluent regions such as the US and the EU. This has resulted in stagnate steel production and increased quantities of old scrap. The increasing shares of post-consumer scrap offer the opportunity to increase the share of scrap in crude steel production.
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Global steel production has grown massively since the Second World War. In recent decades, however, the steel market has become saturated in affluent regions such as the US and the EU. This has resulted in stagnate steel production and increased quantities of old scrap. The increasing shares of post-consumer scrap offer the opportunity to increase the share of scrap in crude steel production.
Digitalisation of Refuse Sorting with Image Recognition and Time Series
Analysis
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
The recycling of municipal solid refuse is a major challenge on the way towards a circular economy. Although solid refuse generation is increasing in the EU, the recycling rates are still below 50% on average (Neligan 2018). Hence, innovative technologies are required to increase recycling rates and cope with the predicted amount of municipal solid refuse. The KI-Waste project researches new technologies and optimisations to increase the sorting quality and yield of municipal solid refuse, thus providing solutions to increase the recycling rates. The vision of KI-Waste is to determine the compositions of the refuse streams in a sorting facility and combine this information with telemetry data from the sorting machines.
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
The recycling of municipal solid refuse is a major challenge on the way towards a circular economy. Although solid refuse generation is increasing in the EU, the recycling rates are still below 50% on average (Neligan 2018). Hence, innovative technologies are required to increase recycling rates and cope with the predicted amount of municipal solid refuse. The KI-Waste project researches new technologies and optimisations to increase the sorting quality and yield of municipal solid refuse, thus providing solutions to increase the recycling rates. The vision of KI-Waste is to determine the compositions of the refuse streams in a sorting facility and combine this information with telemetry data from the sorting machines.
Paradigm Shift in the plastics industry: from linear to circular
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
The reliable supply of high-quality recyclate is a prerequisite for a functioning circular economy. As Borealis, we cooperate with our partners along the value chain to enable our customers and partners to achieve their circularity goals and reduce their overall carbon footprint and, at the same time, underpins our Borealis journey towards more sustainable living.
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
The reliable supply of high-quality recyclate is a prerequisite for a functioning circular economy. As Borealis, we cooperate with our partners along the value chain to enable our customers and partners to achieve their circularity goals and reduce their overall carbon footprint and, at the same time, underpins our Borealis journey towards more sustainable living.
Recycling potential of recycled carbon fibers used in textile concrete from a technical and environmental point of view
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
As an important element in construction industry, cement production caused alone 2 % of total greenhouse gas emissions in Germany in 2017 and global average was even with a greater value, 8 % (WWF 2019). Considering the great impact of construction industry on the environment, Fiber reinforcement (carbon or glass) is seen as a meaningful alternative to steel reinforcement in the production of concrete. Due to their low weight, high strength and lifetime, carbon fibers have been increasingly used in construction industry. On the one hand, the use of CF reinforced concrete enables great amount of resource savings compared to conventional concrete, specifically steel reinforced concrete (Böhm et al. 2018). On the other hand, CFs have some disadvantages, such as high cost, energy intensive production process and challenging end-of-life (EOL) handling (Zhang et al. 2020).
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
As an important element in construction industry, cement production caused alone 2 % of total greenhouse gas emissions in Germany in 2017 and global average was even with a greater value, 8 % (WWF 2019). Considering the great impact of construction industry on the environment, Fiber reinforcement (carbon or glass) is seen as a meaningful alternative to steel reinforcement in the production of concrete. Due to their low weight, high strength and lifetime, carbon fibers have been increasingly used in construction industry. On the one hand, the use of CF reinforced concrete enables great amount of resource savings compared to conventional concrete, specifically steel reinforced concrete (Böhm et al. 2018). On the other hand, CFs have some disadvantages, such as high cost, energy intensive production process and challenging end-of-life (EOL) handling (Zhang et al. 2020).
On the road to 2050: The path to achieving a circular economy for mobility
and renewable energy
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Climate change is one of the biggest crises humanity is facing at this time (Zwane E. M. 2019). Two of the largest emitters of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are the mobility (14% of global GHG emissions in 2018) and energy (34%) sector (Lamb et al. 2021), which require a major shift towards renewable energy and alternative fuel systems to succesfully contribute to GHG emission goals (O’Neill et al. 2018). However, this transition comes with its own set of challenges, in particular an increased resource intensity, its dependence on critical minerals and metals, as well as sustainability challenges in the technologies’ supply chains (Mancini & Nuss 2020, Wang et al. 2020). These challenges highlight the need for more sustainable resource management from mining, to consumption, to reuse and recycling, and progress towards a clean and circular economy (Smol et al. 2020).
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Climate change is one of the biggest crises humanity is facing at this time (Zwane E. M. 2019). Two of the largest emitters of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are the mobility (14% of global GHG emissions in 2018) and energy (34%) sector (Lamb et al. 2021), which require a major shift towards renewable energy and alternative fuel systems to succesfully contribute to GHG emission goals (O’Neill et al. 2018). However, this transition comes with its own set of challenges, in particular an increased resource intensity, its dependence on critical minerals and metals, as well as sustainability challenges in the technologies’ supply chains (Mancini & Nuss 2020, Wang et al. 2020). These challenges highlight the need for more sustainable resource management from mining, to consumption, to reuse and recycling, and progress towards a clean and circular economy (Smol et al. 2020).
Metrology for the Recycling of Technology Critical Elements to Support Europe’s Circular Economy
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Technology critical elements (TCEs) are vastly used throughout societal consumer products; including phones, computers, and renewable energy products, such as solar panels and wind turbines. These elements are deemed critical due to their economic importance and supply risk. However, dwindling supplies of TCEs threaten to disrupt such technology production worldwide, which is especially concerning given a recent drive for more renewable energy sources as part of the European Green Deal. Thus, there is a drive for the European Union (EU) to strive for a circular economy approach that reduces dependence on imports of such raw materials. To provide a more secure supply of TCEs, the EU promotes more efficient recycling through the Waste Framework Directive (2018/851/EU).
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Technology critical elements (TCEs) are vastly used throughout societal consumer products; including phones, computers, and renewable energy products, such as solar panels and wind turbines. These elements are deemed critical due to their economic importance and supply risk. However, dwindling supplies of TCEs threaten to disrupt such technology production worldwide, which is especially concerning given a recent drive for more renewable energy sources as part of the European Green Deal. Thus, there is a drive for the European Union (EU) to strive for a circular economy approach that reduces dependence on imports of such raw materials. To provide a more secure supply of TCEs, the EU promotes more efficient recycling through the Waste Framework Directive (2018/851/EU).
Experimental Methods to Assess the Thermal Stability of Reactive Chemical Waste stored in Large Waste Tanks
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
The storage of a reactive chemical waste in large storage tanks can lead to a thermal explosion, as was the case recently in July 2021 at Currenta in Leverkusen-Bürrig (Germany) (Currenta 2022). In addition to considerable property damage, 7 people were killed and 31 injured. Therefore, the thermal risk for the storage of reactive waste must be assessed in advance and appropriate risk-minimizing measures must be taken.
© Lehrstuhl für Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
The storage of a reactive chemical waste in large storage tanks can lead to a thermal explosion, as was the case recently in July 2021 at Currenta in Leverkusen-Bürrig (Germany) (Currenta 2022). In addition to considerable property damage, 7 people were killed and 31 injured. Therefore, the thermal risk for the storage of reactive waste must be assessed in advance and appropriate risk-minimizing measures must be taken.
