Critical Technological Assessment of the Viability of Future UK Steel Production
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: WMG
Abstract
There is a significant future UK demand opportunity for the UK steel industry, and a sustainable UK steel industry is vitally important to the UK's future growth prospects especially considering the now independent trading market the country is moving into. On the other hand, steel production is a major industrial contributor to CO2 emissions with on average 1.8 tonnes of CO2 produced per tonne of rolled coil via the integrated BF-BOF (blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace) route, while the scrap-based EAF (electric arc furnace) route in general only produces a quarter of the CO2 emissions compared to the BF-BOF route. Crude steel was produced in the UK at about 80-20% split between the BF-BOF integrated route and scrap-based EAF route, respectively.
The UK steel industry is being affected by grand trends and challenges, for example, strict environmental regulations, new energy and materials sources, global over-capacity and ever increasing customer requirements for high quality steel products. Additionally, it faces these challenges with little/no natural resources and higher energy cost compared to the EU and wider global competitors. However, with a potential change in technology strategy, significant advantages can be made through the exploitation of the abundant supply of UK generated steel scrap.
The prospect of moving to a scrap-based EAF industry as a low CO2 production pathway has been widely discussed because of the success of the business model in the US (e.g. Nucor) and Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey. This, linked with the current over-supply of steel scrap in the UK and its projected growth in quantity into the 2020's, gives, at the surface, a motivation for a scrap-based manufacturing route. However although the needed physical mass of scrap to cover UK supply requirements is likely to be available, the quality and thus applicability to the specific use of steel in our society is yet unknown. Currently the EAF route cannot produce certain high quality steel grades that the BF-BOF route is capable of, such as the high quality strip steels required by the automotive industry, a significant UK user of UK produced steel. In addition any viable UK steel industry needs to consider the current asset base and future UK energy strategy (for example, EAF route requires significantly higher electrical energy input). Therefore consideration of how different processing routes currently use scrap and can respond to higher scrap use (including the potential variability in scrap quality) is needed, along with an assessment of new technologies for scrap handling / sorting and steel manufacturing, all in the UK context.
The proposed research aims to evaluate the potential viable steel manufacturing routes in the UK, which can maximise the use of the abundant UK steel scrap supply for the production of high quality steel grades, meet the UK economic development (domestic consumption and export), and achieve a low carbon steel industry. Three process routes will be assessed from a technology point of view: the BF-BOF route, an alternative ironmaking-BOF route, and the scrap-based EAF route.
The project team will evaluate the distribution of scrap sources through levels of quality in a manner meaningful to the UK steel sector, including quality and accessibility while categorizing these against required outputs by different industrial sectors through the three identified potential process routes. New technologies for better scrap sorting and composition control, new steel manufacturing technologies with the potential to accommodate high residual scrap, and novel supply chain design will be explored. The proposed research will give a clear outline of a viable UK steel industry in the future and point out scientific and technological developments required to ensure the viability of the UK steel industry.
The UK steel industry is being affected by grand trends and challenges, for example, strict environmental regulations, new energy and materials sources, global over-capacity and ever increasing customer requirements for high quality steel products. Additionally, it faces these challenges with little/no natural resources and higher energy cost compared to the EU and wider global competitors. However, with a potential change in technology strategy, significant advantages can be made through the exploitation of the abundant supply of UK generated steel scrap.
The prospect of moving to a scrap-based EAF industry as a low CO2 production pathway has been widely discussed because of the success of the business model in the US (e.g. Nucor) and Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey. This, linked with the current over-supply of steel scrap in the UK and its projected growth in quantity into the 2020's, gives, at the surface, a motivation for a scrap-based manufacturing route. However although the needed physical mass of scrap to cover UK supply requirements is likely to be available, the quality and thus applicability to the specific use of steel in our society is yet unknown. Currently the EAF route cannot produce certain high quality steel grades that the BF-BOF route is capable of, such as the high quality strip steels required by the automotive industry, a significant UK user of UK produced steel. In addition any viable UK steel industry needs to consider the current asset base and future UK energy strategy (for example, EAF route requires significantly higher electrical energy input). Therefore consideration of how different processing routes currently use scrap and can respond to higher scrap use (including the potential variability in scrap quality) is needed, along with an assessment of new technologies for scrap handling / sorting and steel manufacturing, all in the UK context.
The proposed research aims to evaluate the potential viable steel manufacturing routes in the UK, which can maximise the use of the abundant UK steel scrap supply for the production of high quality steel grades, meet the UK economic development (domestic consumption and export), and achieve a low carbon steel industry. Three process routes will be assessed from a technology point of view: the BF-BOF route, an alternative ironmaking-BOF route, and the scrap-based EAF route.
The project team will evaluate the distribution of scrap sources through levels of quality in a manner meaningful to the UK steel sector, including quality and accessibility while categorizing these against required outputs by different industrial sectors through the three identified potential process routes. New technologies for better scrap sorting and composition control, new steel manufacturing technologies with the potential to accommodate high residual scrap, and novel supply chain design will be explored. The proposed research will give a clear outline of a viable UK steel industry in the future and point out scientific and technological developments required to ensure the viability of the UK steel industry.
Planned Impact
Steel Industry - The success of this project will have significant impact on the UK steel industry, with the primary beneficiaries being the industrial partners - Tata Steel UK, Liberty Speciality Steels & British Steel. The UK steel industry will benefit from an independent open access of findings on the viable steel manufacturing routes, guided direction of research and development, and recommended technology investment to ensure a competitive/fit-for purpose UK steel industry. It will provide the UK steel industry with guidance on new technologies (e.g. advanced sensors-enabled, artificial intelligence-powered systems) for scrap sorting, new steel manufacturing technologies for using high residual scrap and scrap supply chain innovation, accelerating its transformation to a low carbon steel industry. Individual steel companies will gain direct economic benefits by substantially increased use of high residual but cheap scrap and consequently reduced energy consumption and CO2 emissions, which helps make the UK steel sector and the supply chains more sustainable.
Scrap recycling sector - ~10 Mt per year scrap is generated in the UK, two thirds of which is exported. A substantial amount of scrap containing high residuals cannot currently be recycled. The proposed research will provide a critical review of UK current practice, recommendation of best available technologies, exploration of new transformative technologies for scrap sorting, and a new framework of cyber-physical system enabled supply chain innovation. This will help transform the UK scrap recycling sector and ensure better control of scrap residuals for sustainable steel manufacturing. Substantially increased use of high residual scrap in the UK steel industry will bring significant economic, social and environmental benefits to the scrap recycling sector as well.
Other industry including supply chains - The success of the proposed research will help ensure the UK steel industry produce high quality steels in a sustainable way to support UK strategic advanced manufacturing and supply chains which is vitally important to the UK's future growth. It will provide the opportunities for equipment manufacturers to produce high tech equipment for scrap sorting/steel manufacturing.
Other industry beneficiaries include the wider global steel community and non-ferrous industries where the research methodology and outcomes of this project can be directly applicable.
Societal - The success of this project helps realise the significant future UK demand in the UK steel industry, which will ensure the sustainability of employment for people directly working in the steel industry and associated sectors such as the metal recycling sector.
Environmental - UK steel production is currently dominated by the BF-BOF (blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace) integrated route, emitting ~1.8 t CO2 per tonne steel, 76% of which is from the blast furnace ironmaking step. The scrap-based EAF process route can reduce CO2 emissions by more than 70% (cf. the integrated route), but contributes a small fraction of current steelmaking capacity. Alternative ironmaking-BOF processing can significantly reduce CO2 emissions and accept significant scrap feedstock. Therefore, change is needed to substantially increase the scrap use in the UK steel industry through different approaches. The success of this project will remove the bottleneck of the substantial use of scrap in steel industry, substantially reduce the CO2 emissions, and help the steel industry to meet the CO2 emission reduction by 80% before 2050.
Teaching - A number of new developments, such as advanced sensors-enabled & artificial intelligence-powered scrap sorting technologies, new steel manufacturing technologies with increased use of high residual scrap, and new business model for scrap supply will be good teaching materials on transforming conventional industry and inspiring the young generation engage with science and engineering.
Scrap recycling sector - ~10 Mt per year scrap is generated in the UK, two thirds of which is exported. A substantial amount of scrap containing high residuals cannot currently be recycled. The proposed research will provide a critical review of UK current practice, recommendation of best available technologies, exploration of new transformative technologies for scrap sorting, and a new framework of cyber-physical system enabled supply chain innovation. This will help transform the UK scrap recycling sector and ensure better control of scrap residuals for sustainable steel manufacturing. Substantially increased use of high residual scrap in the UK steel industry will bring significant economic, social and environmental benefits to the scrap recycling sector as well.
Other industry including supply chains - The success of the proposed research will help ensure the UK steel industry produce high quality steels in a sustainable way to support UK strategic advanced manufacturing and supply chains which is vitally important to the UK's future growth. It will provide the opportunities for equipment manufacturers to produce high tech equipment for scrap sorting/steel manufacturing.
Other industry beneficiaries include the wider global steel community and non-ferrous industries where the research methodology and outcomes of this project can be directly applicable.
Societal - The success of this project helps realise the significant future UK demand in the UK steel industry, which will ensure the sustainability of employment for people directly working in the steel industry and associated sectors such as the metal recycling sector.
Environmental - UK steel production is currently dominated by the BF-BOF (blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace) integrated route, emitting ~1.8 t CO2 per tonne steel, 76% of which is from the blast furnace ironmaking step. The scrap-based EAF process route can reduce CO2 emissions by more than 70% (cf. the integrated route), but contributes a small fraction of current steelmaking capacity. Alternative ironmaking-BOF processing can significantly reduce CO2 emissions and accept significant scrap feedstock. Therefore, change is needed to substantially increase the scrap use in the UK steel industry through different approaches. The success of this project will remove the bottleneck of the substantial use of scrap in steel industry, substantially reduce the CO2 emissions, and help the steel industry to meet the CO2 emission reduction by 80% before 2050.
Teaching - A number of new developments, such as advanced sensors-enabled & artificial intelligence-powered scrap sorting technologies, new steel manufacturing technologies with increased use of high residual scrap, and new business model for scrap supply will be good teaching materials on transforming conventional industry and inspiring the young generation engage with science and engineering.
Organisations
- University of Warwick (Lead Research Organisation)
- Northeastern University (China) (Collaboration)
- Recycling Lives Ltd (Collaboration)
- University of Science and Technology Beijing (Collaboration)
- IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON (Collaboration)
- Aluminium Federation Ltd (Collaboration)
- Tata Steel Europe (Collaboration)
- BRUNEL UNIVERSITY LONDON (Collaboration)
- MATERIALS PROCESSING INSTITUTE (Collaboration)
- Colorado School of Mines (Collaboration)
- SWANSEA UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- Cytec Industries (Collaboration)
- British Steel (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Liberty House Group (UK) (replace) (Project Partner)
- Tata Group UK (Project Partner)
Publications
Spooner S
(2020)
Modelling the cumulative effect of scrap usage within a circular UK steel industry - residual element aggregation
in Ironmaking & Steelmaking
Kapoor I
(2021)
Effects of residual elements during the casting process of steel production: a critical review
in Ironmaking & Steelmaking
Duan J
(2023)
Synergistic effect of residual elements on oxidation rates and oxide/metal interface characteristics in a low-carbon steel oxidized at 1180°C for 3 hours
in Ironmaking & Steelmaking
Duan J
(2023)
Texture Development During Annealing in a Low-Carbon Formable Steel Containing Impurities from Increased Scrap Use
in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A
Description | 1) The UK steel requirements/needs in the immediate, medium and long-term future 2) The UK steel scrap supply (state of the art) 3) The UK steel scrap supply chain practice - circular supply chain design 4) The prediction of the accumulation of impurity elements in the UK steel scraps 5) Technologies for increased use of UK steel scrap in the UK steel industry 6) Economic, environmental and social opportunities in increased scrap steel utilisation |
Exploitation Route | Dissemination and implementation to UK steel industry, UK steel scrap supplier, academia, RTO, public and policy makers via publications, direct engagement and workshop. |
Sectors | Education Energy Environment Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology |
Description | Our findings so far concluded a clear vision for UK steel industry and UK metal recycling society on how to increase the steel scraps in the UK and to substantially reduce the CO2 emissions from the steel industry. It has excellent impact to all the personnel related to steel industry, from policy makers to professionals to students and to the people employed by the industry and associated. We have been approached by various audiences for the papers and presentations from this project. We have been very closely engaging with major steelmakers and metal recycling industry in the UK by organising specific workshops (webinars). One of the journal papers have won the Adrian Normanton Award and Prize 2021 by IOM3 - the best technical paper on the topic of steelmaking or casting published in the Ironmaking and Steelmaking journal. Anotehr paper on steel scrap utilistion by my group has also won the Adrian Normanton Award and Prize 2022 by IOM3. The PI (Prof Zushu Li) has been invited to give various talks on scrap utilistion internationally and nationally. |
First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
Sector | Creative Economy,Education,Energy,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
Impact Types | Societal Economic Policy & public services |
Description | A white paper on UK scrap steel recycling (Domestic Scrap Steel Recycling - Economic, Environmental and Social Opportunities (EV0490)) |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
Impact | The report set up the direction of UK scrap steel recycling in terms of technology development, economic, enviromental and social impacts. |
URL | https://sciencesearch.defra.gov.uk/ProjectDetails?ProjectId=20521 |
Description | Contribution to HM Government "Unlocking Resource Efficiency - Phase 1 Steel Report" (DESNZ Research Paper Series Number 2023/039) |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
Description | Domestic Scrap steel recycling - economic, environmental and social opportunities (Report - RH, WZ, ZL) |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
Description | Steeling for a sustainable future: How could the UK steel industry compete through the supply chain? (Report - WZ, JG, Z Li) |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Description | Cambridge Electric Cement: Zero-emissions cement from old concrete paste replacing flux in electric-arc furnaces |
Amount | £1,487,338 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/W026104/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2022 |
End | 09/2025 |
Description | Computer vision-based aluminium scrap classification by grades for upcycling |
Amount | £60,072 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ICP334 |
Organisation | Henry Royce Institute |
Department | Henry Royce Institute – University of Manchester Facilities |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2023 |
End | 03/2024 |
Description | Effect of residual elements from scraps on steel processing and service properties of typical steel grades |
Amount | £50,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 2267821 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 09/2023 |
Description | Enhancing UK-based steel supply chains (MSc project supervised by Prof Janet Godsell) |
Amount | £0 (GBP) |
Organisation | Liberty Steel |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 09/2020 |
Description | Identifying the opportunities to improve the planning capability of the Stockbridge Test House (MSc project supervised by Dr Wanrong Zhang) |
Amount | £0 (GBP) |
Organisation | Liberty Steel |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 09/2020 |
Description | Improving stock efficiency through inventory control (MSc project supervised by Dr Zakiah Suhaimi) |
Amount | £0 (GBP) |
Organisation | Liberty Steel |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 09/2020 |
Description | Investigating the interaction of gas-slag-metal systems with different carbonaceous materials to understand the slag foaming behaviour in net-zero EAF steelmaking |
Amount | £140,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/Z530918/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2024 |
End | 09/2029 |
Description | Made Smarter Network+ |
Amount | £4,885,886 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ES/W007231/1 |
Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2021 |
End | 12/2024 |
Description | Research into the Economic, Environmental and Social Opportunities around Options with Scrap Metal, Particularly Steel |
Amount | £40,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2020 |
End | 03/2021 |
Description | SUSTAIN Manufacturing Hub |
Amount | £10,852,989 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/S018107/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2019 |
End | 03/2026 |
Description | The impact of digitisation on procurement and its role within the area of supply chain management (MSc project supervised by Dr Wanrong Zhang) |
Amount | £0 (GBP) |
Organisation | Liberty Steel |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 09/2020 |
Description | UKRI Interdisciplinary Centre for CircularMetal |
Amount | £4,437,440 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/V011804/1 |
Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2021 |
End | 12/2024 |
Title | A mini-electric arc furnace for alloy melting and casting (2020) |
Description | A mini-electric arc furnace for alloy melting and casting has been purchased from other sources for the execution of this project and other projects relevant to scrap utilisation. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | This unique tool is being used to melt/cast steel scraps for the scrap utilisation. |
Title | New hydrogen DRI furnace |
Description | A new furnace to study the reduction of iron ore by hydrogen is purchased for steel industry decarbonisation research, operating temeprature at 600 to 1200 degree C. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Enabling the research tool for the decarbonisation research |
Title | Upgrade high temperature confocal laser scanning microscopy (HT-CLSM) with powder addition functionality |
Description | Add extra functionality of adding powders during experiment on HTCLSM |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Enable to add ingredients during experiment which is significant to study the dissolution of one phase into another, reaction, new alloy design etc. |
Title | A residual accumulation model established |
Description | This model can predict the accumulation of the residual elements in steel scraps by increasing steel scrap utilisation in steel manufacturing |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Advise the increased utilisation of steel scrap in the steel manufacturing |
Title | Flux value in use (VIU) model for BOF steelamking |
Description | A lime VIU model based on mass and heat balance model has been created to optimise the flux utilisation and minimise the CO2 emissions, energy consumption and costs. |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | The model has been further developed into map by the industry funder and widely used in industry practice. |
Title | Flux value in use (VIU) model for EAF steelamking |
Description | A flux VIU model has been developed for EAF steelmaking, based on mass and heat balance, to optimise the flux utilisation and minimise the CO2 emissions/energy consumption/costs. |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2024 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | The model has been developed and has been comissioning in industry. |
Title | Reaction kinetic model for alternative ironmaking reactor |
Description | The model is developed to dynamically model the reactions in a multi-phase (gas-slag-steel-refractory) system at high temperature for metallurgical applications |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | accepted by industry collaborator |
Title | UK steel scrap dataset established |
Description | The dataset consisting of the type, quantity, chemistry and flow of the UK generated steel scraps |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | This dataset has provide scrap steel information to wide community - academic, industrialist, funder, policy maker, RTOs, public and students. |
Description | Collaboration with ALFED |
Organisation | Aluminium Federation Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Sharing knowledge and expertise with ALFED and its member companies |
Collaborator Contribution | Knowledge sharing with the research team |
Impact | established knowledge sharing partnership |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Collaboration with British Steel |
Organisation | Cytec Industries |
Department | R&D |
Country | United States |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Analyse the current scrap supply, the current and future steel need, and the steel manufacturing processes at British Steel (Scunthorpe), and provide a technological road map for British Steel to produce high quality steel by maximizing the use of scrap. |
Collaborator Contribution | Share production information; provide in-kind financial support; provide necessary technical support |
Impact | The project just started in January 2019 |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Collaboration with Brunel University London |
Organisation | Brunel University London |
Department | Brunel Centre for Advanced Solidification Technology (BCAST) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Contribution to steel circularity - steel scrap sorting, reuse, remanufacturing |
Collaborator Contribution | Contribution to aluminium circularity |
Impact | Multi-disciplinary collaboration leading to the UKRI Interdisciplinary Centre for Circular Metals |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Collaboration with Colorado School of Mines |
Organisation | Colorado School of Mines |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) Staff training; 3) Access to Data; 4) access to equipment |
Collaborator Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) staff training; 3) intellectual input; 4) access to data |
Impact | A joint publication has been submitted to a top journal (under review). |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with MPI (Materials Processing Institute, UK) |
Organisation | Materials Processing Institute |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | 1) sharing research ideas; 2) providing research facilities; 3) joint proposal for funding |
Collaborator Contribution | 1) sharing research ideas; 2) providing research facilities, especially pilot-scale (above lab scale) facilities; 3) joint proposal for funding; 4) technical advices |
Impact | N/A |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Collaboration with Materials Processing Institute (MPI) |
Organisation | Materials Processing Institute |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) staff training; 3) access to facilities |
Collaborator Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) staff training; 3) access to data; 4) access to facilities; 5) intellectual input |
Impact | N/A |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with Northeastern University (China) |
Organisation | Northeastern University (China) |
Country | China |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) staff training; 3) equipment |
Collaborator Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) access to data; 3) access to equipment / facilities |
Impact | academic visiting; joint application of UK-China call (Newton Funding) |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with Recycling lives |
Organisation | Recycling Lives Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Provide expertise and research facilities to examine the waste from scrap sorting for better use; host visitors from the company twice for technical information exchange |
Collaborator Contribution | 1) provide information on steel recycling; 2) host visitors from the research team (five people); 3) provide waste samples |
Impact | The partner further supported another grant application (established long-term collaboration). |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with Swansea University |
Organisation | Swansea University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) staff training; 3) access to data; 4) equipment access; 5) intellectual input |
Collaborator Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) staff training; 3) access to data; 4) equipment access; 5) intellectual input |
Impact | N/A |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with USTB (University of Science and Technology Beijing) |
Organisation | University of Science and Technology Beijing |
Country | China |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | exchange of academic staff; exchange of research students; visiting professorship |
Collaborator Contribution | exchange of academic staff; exchange of research students; visiting professorship |
Impact | completed a UK-China jointly funded project (A UK-China partnership for energy and materials recovery in steelmaking), funded by Innovate UK/EPSRC and MOST China. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Collaboration wtih Imperial College London |
Organisation | Imperial College London |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The collaboration is established through the EPSRC grant EP/W026104/1 (Cambridge electric cement: Zero emissions cement from old concrete paste replacing flux in electric arc furnace). University of Cambridge, Imperial College London and University of Warwick are the academic partners in the project. We contribute the knowledge of electric arc furance (EAF) steelmaking and its slag to the team. |
Collaborator Contribution | Imperial college London contributes knowledge of cement chemistry modelling and LCA to teh team. |
Impact | Not yet |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | Tata Steel |
Organisation | Tata Steel Europe |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | My team (myself, postdoc research fellows and PhD students) is working with Tata Steel in the following areas: (1) to uncover the critical scientific mechanisms underlying the low carbon HIsarna process; (2) recycling of scarp; and (3) steel cleanness / steel quality. |
Collaborator Contribution | (1) to provide in house expertise to advise and assist in the research of the fellowship; (2) to support at its costs three PhD studentships withing the term of the fellowship, including necessary experimental costs; (3) to sample in HIsarna trials, necessary raw materials, and characterisation and analysis of samples. The agreement between Tata Steel and University of Warwick related to the fellowship is in the stage of signature (21 February 2017) |
Impact | It is in the initial stage of this collaboration. The project titles for PhD students and post-doc research fellows have been decided, and the results will come out in coming years. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | A conference presentation on hot shortness - December 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A presentation entitled "Effect of residual element Cu on hot shortness behaviour of free cutting steels" was given by one fo the group members in the international conference - Oxi 2022 (European Oxide Scale Conference 2022) 5-6 December 2022, London UK |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | A conference presentation on residual element - September 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A presentation entitled "Understanding the role of residual element Cu on hot shortness behaviour of the free cutting steels" was given by one of the group memebers in TMP 2022 - 6th International Conference on ThermoMechanical Processing. 6-8 September 2022, Shenyang, China |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | A presentation on steel oxidation - December 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A presentation entitled "Oxidation behaviour and oxide/metal interface characteristics in a low-carbon steel containing impurities" was given by one fo the group members in the internaional conference - European Oxide Scale Conference 2022 conference, London, UK. 5-6 December 2022. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | A talk given at Royce and LightForm in Manchester University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | An invited lecture entitled "Uncovering fundamental mechanisms to enable sustainable steel manufacturing & critical technology assessment of the viability of future UK steel production" at University of Manchester on 23 June 2022 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | A talk in BEIS Scrap Working Group |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A talk on "Domestic steel scrap recycling - current state of play" is invited to give at teh BEIS Scrap Working Group on 26 July 2022. The working group is formed from BEIS, DEFRA, UK Steel, BMRA, steelmakers and scrap recyclers, RTOs. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | A talk in an online webinar - September 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | An invited talk on "Fundamental research for decarbonising the steel industry" in the "Sustainable steel strategies summit" (online) organised by Steel Times International on 20-21 September 2022 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Academic-Industry Steel Scrap Residual workshop (Dr Zushu Li, April 2020) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | 25 people from the UK and Netherlands attended this virtual workshop (April 2020) - industry experts, academic leaders, postdoc researchers, postgraduates. The state-of-the-art of the steel scrap utilisation in the UK and Netherlands has been extensively discussed, and collaborative projects have been identified. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Green Steel: The Role of Scrap Webinar (24.09.2021) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | 90 people from industry, academia, policymaking, funder etc attended this webinar. Four presentation are given by the research team: ZL - UK steel scrap supply and utilisation; ZL - Technologies for increased scrap utilisation; WZ - Circular supply chain design; RH - opportunities and challenges. Well received by the audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Presentation in Future Steel Forum (Prof Janet Godsell June 2020) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Prof Janet Godsell, Co-Investigator of this grant gave a presentation titled "Liberty Specialty Steels: Optimising supply chain from inside to outside" in Future Steel Forum held on 11th of June 2020. It was well received by the audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Presentation in showcase webinar (Dr Wanrong Zhang, September 2020) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Dr Wanrong Zhang, the Research Fellow in this project gave a talk titled "Critical technological assessment of the viability of future UK steel production - Interim Findings" in the SUSTAIN T4 Showcase webinar on 14th September 2020. This received extensive discussion on the outcomes from this project. The talk disseminated the findings from this project to the wide UK community (industry, trade association, academic and RTOs) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Reserach team visit to Tata Steel Europe for a week |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Part of my research team (4 memebers) visited the industry sponsor Tata Steel Netherlands for a week in December 2022 - observing pilot plant trials, disseminating research outcomes, and discussing future collaboration activities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | WZ presentation "Circular supply chain design" at 'Green Steel: The role of Scrap' (24.09.2021) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | 90 people from industry, academia, funder, government etc attended this webinar. disseminating research outcomes from this project. Engagement for further activities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | WZ presented at 'Supply Chain productivity: Moving from Theory to Practice" webinar based on a case study from this project (16.12.2021) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Presented a case study of steel company from this project in the Supply Chain Productivity webinar |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Webinar - Steeling for a sustainable future: How could the UK steel industry compete through the supply chain (06 May 2021) (JG & WZ) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Disseminate the research outcomes relevant to steel scrap supply chain (current status and future design) to the wide community - UK steel industry, recycling sector, academics, logistics, supply chain etc. which sparked questions and discussion afterwards. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |