EEC 2026 - 14th European Electric Steelmaking Conference & EMECR 2026 - 5th International Conference on Energy and Material Efficiency and CO2 Reduction in the Steel Industry

Industrial evaluation of biogenic and non biogenic secondary carbon carriers in electric arc furnace steelmaking: results from the ESTEP Focus Group of Circular Economy

12 May 2026, 16:50

20m

Porta room

Keynote Presentation (paper for Ironmaking & Steelmaking special issue) EEC 3.D Recycling and circular economy in steelmaking Recycling, circular economy and reduction of environmental impact in steelmaking I

Speaker

Eros Luciano Faraci (RINA-CSM)

Description

The decarbonisation of Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steelmaking requires the progressive substitution of fossil-based carbon with alternative materials (Secondary Carbon Carriers SCC), able to guarantee adequate melting performance, slag foaming behavior, and process stability. Several RFCS projects have been carried out (and some are ongoing) to address this challenge by developing and validating biogenic and non biogenic Secondary Carbon Carriers, with a specific focus on their industrial implementation in EAF operations.

The European Steel Technology Platform (ESTEP) brings together all the major stakeholders in the European steel industry to engage in collaborative EU actions and projects on technology, which are tackling EU challenges (notably on renewable energy, climate change (low-carbon emission), circular economy) in order to create a sustainable EU steel industry.

The implementation of the strategic research agenda is supported by six Focus Groups. Among them, the Focus Group of Circular Economy promoted the analysis and state of the art of biogenic and non biogenic SCC and as conclusion of this work two papers have been produced (A Comprehensive Review of Secondary Carbon Bio-Carriers for Application in Metallurgical Processes: Utilization of Torrefied Biomass in Steel Production, Metals 2022, 12(12), 2005;https://doi.org/10.3390/met12122005; A Comprehensive Review of Secondary Carbon Carriers for Ironmaking and Steelmaking Processes: Industrial Utilization of Non‑biogenic Materials in Steel Production, Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy (2025) 11:3343–3360 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-025-01149-5)

In this paper the main outcomes from these two papers are reported, outlining the different available materials (as biochar produced with different pyrolysis technologies, waste polymers, rubber grains and Automotive shredder Residues). The characteristics of these materials are reported and the performances measured in small scale tests and tests in industrial EAF are discussed. The CO2 mitigation potential is also discussed.