Metal-slag-gas equilibria

We improve the efficiency of metallurgical recycling processes while increasing product quality by researching the so-called metal-slag-gas equilibria to make otherwise hard to process metals such as zinc or contaminants such as arsenic and lead accessible.

The research is being updscaled in our high-performance plasma furnace with for example slag, previously regarded as waste material due to its contaminants. By separating the contaminants, the slag can be reused in the construction industry to increase the proportion of recycled materials. The upcycling of feeds from secondary resources serves to further develop circular economy approaches, which are being tested using our simulation and experimental capabilities.

Some examples of recent process developments are:

• Reductive smelting of tin from secondary industrial waste like Waelz slag (Waelue project)
• Reintegration and utilization of fine chemical metal containing wastes (FINEST project)
• Reductive smelting of germanium and silicon to recover the critical germanium for semiconductor or optical fiber cables applications
• E-waste and magnets waste recycling using novel methods with reductive metallurgy or solvent extraction, membranes and electrowinning technologies