Circular Economy in EAF Process: How to Make It Sustainable with Zero Waste Project in Ferriere Nord

Abstract

Ferriere Nord S.p.A., a steel producer from ferrous scrap, in 1998 decided to start the "Zero Waste" project to transform the main process wastes into products to be re-used in a logic of circular economy. 20 years later, since "Zero Waste" project started, the main secondary materials of the EAF (Electric Arc Furnace) process have been reviewed and re-evaluated: the slag from EAF, the slag from ladle furnace, the EAF dust, the iron scale and the refractories. Many companies are now involved in dealing with these materials and established important and stable relations of symbiosis to prepare, transform and finally use them. A company network trusts on regular availability and quality of the new products: scrap dealers, lime producers, zinc producers, aggregates and asphalt producers, highway companies… Finally, reuse of these materials allows saving equivalent quantities of natural resources: iron ore, basalt, porphyry, limestone, zinc and lead minerals.