Improvement of the yield of the iron and steel making (Clean Steel Partnership) (IA)

Closed

Programme Category

EU Competitive Programmes

Programme Name

Horizon Europe (2021-2027)

Programme Description

Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.

Programme Details

Identifier Code

HORIZON-CL4-2021-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-19 Grant

Call

Improvement of the yield of the iron and steel making (Clean Steel Partnership) (IA)

Summary

Projects under this Call aim to:

  • validate at industrial test scale technologies for impurity removal from scrap or the recovery of metal fractions contained in steel making process residues (that are today mainly landfilled) reaching high recycling rate of residues originated at the demo site up to 40% achieving a metal recovery efficiency up to 90% and a mineral recovery efficiency up to 80%;
  • increase the uptake of low-quality scrap grades into high quality steel grades;
  • replace the use of pre-consumer scrap grades with high quality clean scrap grades, as well as replace the use of solid pig iron produced by traditional BF process with post-consumer grades;
  • reduce the environmental impact by minimizing CO2 emission up to 20% both, directly by internal recycling of the metal fraction derived from residues, or indirectly by increasing the use of scrap as raw material in steelmaking production processes.

Detailed Call Description

R&I areas that needs to be tackled should address some of these aspects:

  • Selection and integration of best available and applicable technologies to reduce impurities in post-consumer scrap before melting together with scrap yard management supported by digital smart tools for scrap classification and charge optimization; these are key elements to increase the use of scrap achieving the same quality of the finished product in both, the EAF, and BF/BOF route and at the same time reducing CO2 emissions due to lower energy need with respect to iron-ore;
  • The projects should ensure involvement of operators and process experts in development and implementation of Big Data, ensuring the uptake of human experiences and a user-friendly processing of results;
  • Realisation of demonstration plants at relevant industrial scale focusing on material upgrading technologies (cleaning, size control) as well as inline characterization of ferrous materials via novel technologies for onsite characterization (chemical composition and physical properties);
  • Development and implementation of highly efficient technologies for recovering metals and mineral fraction from steelmaking residues, including those coming from H2-based metallurgy ones, with high metallic or oxidic fractions; two possible ways are envisioned, whereas the first one is based on cooling and mechanical steps, such as wet or dry granulation followed by phase separation; the second one relies on a direct recycling of residues in existing production processes or in dedicated pyrometallurgic melting and reduction units;
  • Full by-product testing and evaluation to have them covered by a standard like a CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) or by a national technical agreement;
  • Enabling the use of obtained by-products in higher value applications (i.e. filtering, coating, additive manufacturing, material for CO2 sequestration, heat accumulator);
  • Integration of energy recovery solutions in metal recovery processes targeting at a better Return of Investment.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on Clean Steel.

Call Total Budget

€ 14,00 million

Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan

70%

EU contribution per project: between €4,00 and €5,00 million

The funding rate is up to 60% of the eligible costs. This funding rate applies both to members and non-members of the partnership, except for non-profit legal entities, where the funding rate is up to 100% of the total eligible costs.

Thematic Categories

  • Industry
  • Research, Technological Development and Innovation

Eligibility for Participation

  • Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions

Call Opening Date

22/06/2021

Call Closing Date

23/09/2021

National Contact Point(s)

Research and Innovation Foundation
29a Andrea Michalakopoulou Street,
1075 Nicosia
T.Th. 23422, 1683 Nicosia
+357 22205000
Email:support@research.org.cy

Dr Angelos Ntantos
Scientific Officer
Telephone: 35722205033
Email: antantos@research.org.cy

Dr Ioannis Theodorou

Scientific Officer
Telephone: 35722205038
Email: itheodorou@research.org.cy

(Publish Date: 16/09/2021-for internal use only)

EU Contact Point

European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation

https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/research-and-innovation_en#contact