About

The companies operating in recovery of non-ferrous metals (especially the lead, zinc and copper producers) generate solid waste in the form of the metallurgical slags as a by-product of their processes. About 240,000 t of the waste slags from lead and zinc industry are produced each year just in Poland, and in Europe this kind of waste is produced in the amount of several million tons. Those slags are mostly hazardous for the natural environment and require storage in the properly secured landfills. The slag producers bear the costs of building the landfills as well as the environmental fees for the waste storage. The non-ferrous metals producers are looking for an efficient method to eliminate the metallurgical waste slags from the process cycle according to the “zero-waste” strategy.

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The primary objective of this project is to upscale a technology to recover metals from waste slags produced by lead/zinc and copper industry. These slags are a potential sources of valuable base metals, which can be recovered in the form of a marketable products. Additionally, after the process the slag can be transformed into a non-hazardous material which can be used in the building sector as aggregate, i.e. for road construction or other applications. The project will result in a verified TRL8 process performed with application of the electric SAF furnace and the TSL furnace. The verification will be conducted in such a manner that the developed processes will be versatile and adaptable to treatment of a wide variety of the metallurgical waste generated in Europe. The results of the project will create solid grounds for making a decision about building the slag valorization installations at each of the important metallurgical waste slag producers and to integrate them with the main base metal production equipment. Such situation creates a perfect opportunity for improving both perspectives, the economic and the environmental

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