Displaying items by tag: Euroslag

Spain: The European ferrous slag association EuroSlag held its 12th biennial EuroSlag conference in Bilbao on 23 to 25 October 2024. The event addressed the transformation of steel industry by-products as a resource. Key themes included regulations, future trends and technical developments.

Addressing the conference, EuroSlag chair Thomas Reiche said that European cement producers eliminated 12Mt of CO₂ through the substitution of clinker with ferrous slags in 2023.

Europe: In 2023, 29.7Mt of slag entered the built environment in building materials in the EU and the UK. 20.3Mt (68%) of the slag was granulated blast furnace slag, of which 18.3Mt (90%) was ground for use in cement production, with the other 2Mt (10%) serving as aggregates. The remaining 9.4Mt of the slag was steelwork slag, of which 600,000t (6.4%) was used in cement and concrete production, with the rest used for roadbuilding.

Between 2000 and 2023, slag substituted for 752Mt of limestone, clay and sand in clinker production and for 405Mt of aggregates across the EU and UK construction sectors.

Thomas Reiche, chair of the European slag association EuroSlag and managing director of the FEhS Building Materials Institute, said "Despite the tensions on the European steel market, ferrous slags were once again able to make an important contribution to resource conservation, climate protection and the circular economy in 2023."

EU/UK: EUROSLAG says that the use of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) in cement production in the EU and UK between 2000 and 2022 has generated a cumulative reduction in CO₂ emissions of 408Mt. GGBFS replaced 716Mt-worth of raw materials over the period.

EUROSLAG Chair Thomas Reiche said "Resource conservation through secondary raw materials, especially in the construction sector, and lower emissions of climate-damaging CO₂, are of outstanding ecological and economic importance. The use of ferrous slags makes an important contribution to this. EUROSLAG is working multilaterally to master the enormous challenges in the coming years, above all the transformation of the steel industry, through research and adjustments to national and European regulations.”

Germany: Euroslag and the FEhS-InstitütfürBaustoff-Forschung have spoken of the need for an amendment to European public procurement law to make the uptake of secondary raw materials, including slag, mandatory for public construction tenders. The organisations said that the European Parliament’s latest report on its Circular Economy Action Plan of March 2020 provides for a more strongly ‘ecologically-orientated’ public procurement law.

Euroslag chair and FEhS-InstitütfürBaustoff-Forschung managing director Thomas Reiche said, "The own-initiative report provides the best foundation for binding, forward-looking legislation to consistently promote the circular economy. This also includes fair competition and the conditional prioritisation of secondary raw materials, as also demanded by the rapporteur of the European Parliament Jan Huitema. Only concrete procurement directives with third-party protection character ensure the Europe-wide use of all high-quality secondary building materials, which have been making an important contribution to ecologically and economically sound economic activity for decades!"

Greece: 130 delegates have met in Thessaloniki to attend the Euroslag conference. Delegates travelled from around the world, including from China, South Korea, Japan and the US, to discuss regulation, technical developments and new applications.

Germany: The 10th European Slag Conference will take place in Thessaloniki, Greece on 9 – 11 October 2019. The conference is jointly organised by the Laboratory of Building Materials of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Euroslag and Aeiforos. The title of the Conference is: Slag based products – best practices for Circular Economy. Key topics at the conference will include: legal framework; utilisation and best practices; research and innovation.

Euroslag is the European association of all main organisations and companies concerned with all aspects of manufacturing and utilisation of ferrous slag products. Thessaloniki's main university, Aristotle University (AUTH), is the largest in Greece and in the Balkans. The Laboratory of Building Materials (AUTH) is devoted to research on utilisation of industrial by-products. Aeiforos, part of the Sidenor Group, offers a large range of services in the field of by-product management and valorisation since 2001.