European industries urgently need to secure critical raw materials while drastically reducing carbon emissions and landfill disposal. R&D project STILLMETALEVO has devised a way to convert the millions of tons of inorganic waste produced by Veneto's foundries and steel industries into economic assets.

The solution involves two energy-efficient recovery processes which can be used separately or together:

• The first uses spent foundry sands and fine dust from exhaust systems to produce regenerated silica sand and calcined clay powder. Residual carbon coke present in the waste is used as a secondary fuel and the process does not generate secondary waste.
• The second treats steel slag with scrap aluminum at high temperatures to produce a high-purity alloy for steelmaking and calcium-aluminate reactive minerals – and is 90% more energy efficient than traditional smelting.

The outputs are already being used in circular products, such as 100% recycled paving stones and insulation blocks made by mineralizing natural rice husk fibers with recycled inorganic binders, and porous mineral foam granules which capture 80%-100% of heavy metals in wastewater.

See here for more details! This R&D project is funded under the EU Cohesion Policy 2021–2027 of the Veneto Region.