Displaying items by tag: SSAB

Finland: Saint-Gobain and steel company SSAB are building a new slag processing plant in Raahe in North Ostrobothnia. When commissioned in 2025, the plant will convert SSAB’s steel slag into 90% reduced-CO₂ binders to replace cement in building materials. The partners aim to reduce the CO₂ emissions of Finnish building materials production by 200,000t/yr. Saint-Gobain first patent a slag-based binder design in 2022.

Saint-Gobain will invest €12m and SSAB €2m towards the cost of the plant, which will be 35% funded by Sustainable Growth Finland, under the NextGeneration EU initiative.

US: Residents of Muscatine County, Iowa have asked local government to take action about the use of slag in road construction. The decision follows an investigation by Askew Scientific Consulting into whether heavy metals were present in the slag, according to WQAD television. Data from the study was sent to the Iowa Department of Public Health, which concluded that high levels of manganese might cause adverse health effects from regular exposure to slag and slag dust. The county started using slag to repair and maintain roads in 2008.

Askew Scientific Consulting used samples and data from SSAB, the company that supplies the slag. However, SSAB has said that samples used in the study were taken earlier in the slag-making process, not from slag ready to be used on the road, and pose a limited health risk to people.

Sweden: Boliden is interested in extracting vanadium from slag heaps owned by SSAB. The mining and smelting company has reportedly been interested in this process for several years and has developed an extraction method. Boliden was due to be updated on the matter by SSAB in March 2016, according to Esmerk Swedish News.

However, Finnish company Mustavaaran Kaivos is considered the most likely to cooperate with SSAB. The company plans to relaunch vanadium extraction in Finland, and has developed a high temperature method. The development has been supported by SSAB, Swedish research foundation Mistra, Swedish mining company LKAB and Finnish steel company Rautaruukki.