The meeting of the participants in the PolynSPIRE project, which celebrated the results of the European research programme “Innovative Technologies for Plastic Recycling”, was held from 8 to 10 November. Following the first meeting in Venice, researchers from over 20 European companies and research centres visited the Pittini Group production facilities to better understand how non-recyclable plastic is employed in the steel production process.
At the conference, which was hosted in Osoppo, the results and progress of research projects in the area of circular economy in the plastics sector were presented. In the specific case of Ferriere Nord, methods are being investigated to exploit plastic waste as a source of carbon in the steel industry, partially replacing fossil carbon. This will reduce CO2 emissions by more than 30% while improving electricity consumption and the quality of the entire EAF furnace melting process.
Representatives of the Retrofeed project, which stems from PolynSPIRE and focuses on extending the use of fossil fuel substitutes to biomass and granular products originating from used tyres, convened on November 23 and 24. The ultimate goal is to prepare the EAF process to extensively utilise a variety of coal and natural gas substitutes sourced from circular economy supply chains.
