PAO Severstal (one of the world's largest vertically integrated steel and mining companies) has opened a full-cycle test site on the basis of the Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant (CherMK, part of PAO Severstal) for testing and piloting new technologies and products in the field of waste recycling and creation related products.
The purpose of creating a laboratory for research of secondary resources is to reduce the cost and accelerate the testing procedures and technological expertise for waste recycling projects and create new products from them.
Until now, such tasks in the company were solved by account of the existing laboratory and research sites of CherMK and R&D with the leading educational institutions of the country. At the same time, priority was given to projects aimed at the main production. By reducing the development time, quick access to the experimental base and the necessary expertise, the company will be able to create new products and technologies, receiving an economic effect from this.
“We are one of the leaders in the Russian metallurgical industry in terms of production waste recycling. At the same time, we see the potential for improving this indicator, we strive for the level of world practices - 98.5% (now we have 97%), - said Alexander Shevelev, CEO of Severstal. - In order to reduce the amount of waste placed, the Midstream project center was created, in the focus of which is the minimization of the formation of difficultly disposed waste, and the maximization of extraction. We are taking more and more waste into recycling, this is dust and gas cleaning of steel-smelting and blast-furnace production, we are conducting experiments in the processing of oily scale, we are working on cleaning the spent emulsion and oily effluents and we already have a positive result. We actively involve startups and new technologies to work with valuable production wastes, and there are many of them in metallurgy. The creation of a laboratory for research of secondary resources is another step in this direction. ”
Given the long history of the company's interaction with scientific institutions, the creation of its own center of experiments will increase the company's competence in the field of waste recycling and creation of new products. Among the successful examples are the recycling of zinc and iron dust, the technology of concrete road construction and soil strengthening using granulated slag in the composition of concrete. The latest technology was patented by the company in 2019.
The laboratory is equipped with a complex for a wide range of studies with a total cost of more than 25 million rubles, it began work at the end of 2020. In the coming years, it is planned to actively develop the research site, moving from the study of hypotheses and their testing to adaptation and experimental-industrial testing of technologies.
“The focus of attention of specialists, first of all, is waste, which is the largest volume in the total mass of education at CherMK and in the resource assets of the company: slag, sludge, dust, "tailings" of copper-nickel ores. The company has a sufficient amount of knowledge on these types of motor vehicles. In dealing with such waste of metallurgical production as liquids and gases, competence must be increased. All this will allow us to implement sustainable improvements in energy efficiency and the efficiency of raw materials, to ensure the reduction or reuse of waste, while reducing the impact of processes on the environment, ”emphasizes Alexander Shevelev.
