Resource efficiency in the Strategic Research Agenda of the European Steel Technology Platform

Steel is the essential material for a circular economy. Through the technological evolution of human society, steel remains fundamental to daily life and to the welfare of the society. In effect it has been recognized as a Key Enabling Technology. Steel is actually ubiquitous and most artifacts are either made of steel, in part or in their entirety, or are manufactured from machines and tools made of steel. It is deeply embedded in the anthroposphere, and like all materials, its production requires significant consumption of resources, energy, raw materials and logistics. However, its recyclability means that steel produced today will be utilized by future generations. Resource efficiency is an important topic for the European steel industry: it naturally lies in the operating practice of the standard production cycle, due to the recyclability of steel, the significant quantities of raw materials required for its production and the large volumes of by-products. Further efforts and innovative approaches are demanded to improve resource efficiency. This paper resents how the Strategic Research Agenda of the European Steel Technology Platform addresses the different aspects of resource efficiency in order to highlight the challenges that the sector faces in terms of Research and Innovation fostering a sustainable steel production.

[1]  J.-P. Birat,et al.  Life-cycle assessment, resource efficiency and recycling , 2015 .

[2]  Helmut Rechberger,et al.  Practical handbook of material flow analysis , 2003 .

[3]  Valentina Colla,et al.  Investigation of (BOF) Converter slag use for agriculture in europe , 2014 .

[4]  Valentina Colla,et al.  Process Integration Solutions for Water Networks in Integrated Steel Making Plants , 2015 .

[5]  Valentina Colla,et al.  An Integrated Approach for Industrial Water Systems Optimal Design , 2014 .

[6]  Marco Vannucci,et al.  Process integration analysis for innovative environmentally friendly recovery and pre-treatment of steel scrap , 2014 .

[7]  Jiří Jaromír Klemeš,et al.  Recent Developments in Advanced Process Integration: Learning the Lessons from Industrial Implementations , 2014 .

[8]  Valentina Colla,et al.  The European Steel Technology Platform's Strategic Research Agenda vision for the sustainable steel production 2030s , 2014 .

[9]  Jean-Pierre Birat,et al.  Steel and humanity’s grand challenges , 2015 .

[10]  Marco Vannucci,et al.  Process integration in energy and carbon intensive industries: An example of exploitation of optimization techniques and decision support , 2014 .

[11]  Valentine Weber,et al.  Techno-economic Assessment of Recovery and Reuse of Low Temperature Heat (T<350°C) in the Steel Industry by Means of Process Integration , 2014 .

[12]  N. E. Gallopoulos,et al.  Strategies for Manufacturing , 1989 .

[13]  Jorge Parrondo,et al.  District heating from industrial surplus heat in avilés (spain) , 2013 .

[14]  Carl-Erik Grip.  Steel and sustainability: Scandinavian perspective , 2005 .

[15]  Valentina Colla,et al.  Sustainable steel production for the 2030s: the vision of the European Steel Technology Platform's Strategic Research Agenda (ESTEP's SRA) , 2014 .