Detoxification of steel making residues via zero waste technology - DEZEWAT

Refractory metals are of critical importance for the European Union since they are applied in steel production and in high-tech products due to their specific properties. These metals are essential for the progress in many industrial fields.

The effective utilization of the available secondary sources is crucial for circular economy and for the sustainable development.

Steel making dusts, as the potential sources of valuable metals (Mo, W, Cr, Zn and Fe) are mostly landfilled and considered to be hazardous due to the presence of heavy metals such as Cr.

Landfilling represents significant burden for the society and environment since there is still a risk of local and remote (via air) contamination and loss of potential source of raw materials.DEZEWAT (Detoxification of steel making residues via zero waste technology) will bring an innovative technology for re-designing of the industrial recycling processes to detoxify the waste from Cr and to recover Mo and W, which will be returned to the production process.

The developed technology will have a high impact on the market opportunity via environmental/societal benefits by offering a more environmentally friendly process for the recycling. The goal of the project is to recover Mo (W and V if present) and Cr using hydrometallurgy and zero waste strategy.

The DEZEWAT project will contribute to Swedish competitiveness by developing technologies for sustainable and efficient sourcing and waste detoxification.