EUROPEAN STEEL TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATION DAYS 2017 - ESTAD 2017

In Germany, 43 million tons of steel were produced in 2015, together with about 14 million tons of iron and steel slag as a by-product; about 2 million tons of which are slag from the electric arc furnace. This slag is predominantly used in road construction and earthworks in Germany; because of its significantly superior physical properties it partly substitutes natural rocks in these fields. In the long term, however, alternatives are required which enable us to utilize the slag also in other fields of application and recycle it in the plant. With a crude steel production of nearly one million tons Georgsmarienhütte ranks among the bigger electric steel plants in Germany and is the first mover regarding energy management, environmental protection and slag utilization. Since many years the company has participated in various public and internal research projects relating to in-plant ways of recycling for by-products to close the recovered material cycle entirely and to create products with a higher intrinsic value from the slag. This comprises the provision of evidence that calcareous slag produced in the secondary metallurgy can be used in the electric arc furnace while partly substituting the primary resource lime, the use of biochar to reduce the CO2-emissions, ways of using the energy potential of steel slag or the creation of totally new products from EAF-slags and other by-products. In this regard, a context the production of a high-quality raw material for the cement industry must be mentioned; when producing it metal contained in the slag is simultaneously recovered. These projects belong to the ongoing activities of Georgsmarienhütte GmbH to reconcile the economic and ecological challenges at the location Germany and underline our intention to be the first electric steel plant in Europe which has managed to implement the internal NoWASTE Strategy by comprehensive research and development activities.