Slag Valorisation
Sustainable developments: where are we? In 1992, the Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro established the “Agenda 21”, the first intergovernmental action plan with a strong focus on sustainable development. Today, after 28 years, Agenda 21 has been globally embraced and represents a shared effort to establish a national and international plan for sustainable development. Most recently, Agenda 21 has evolved into the UN 2030 Agenda with 17 “sustainable development goals (SDGs)”, which rely on widely adopted key concepts, such as sustainable materials management, energy and materials savings and recovery, carbon lean technologies and circular economy. As part of this global effort, the European Union and its member states have committed to deliver to the UN 2030 Agenda and its 17 SDGs. They have put forward in 2019 the European Green Deal to transform Europe into a climate-neutral continent. One of the key contributions of the European green deal is related to SDG 12, which aims at achieving “sustainable consumption and production patterns”. In this context, the high-temperature processing industry, as one of the pillars of today’s economy and one of the most energy- and resource intensive industrial sectors, is deeply committed to develop sustainable practices. The valorisation of high-temperature residues is an essential goal of this strategy.
The International Slag Valorisation Symposium
Today at its 7th edition, the “Slag Valorisation Symposium”, organised by the Materials Engineering Department at KU Leuven and held in Belgium since 2009 as a biennial conference, serves as a forum for discussions on the valorisation of slags and other high-temperature metallurgical residues. The symposium has historically brought together different expertise from academia and industry, providing a knowledge platform to share and discuss the upcoming challenges and opportunities in the world of slag valorisation and sustainable high-temperature processes. Following its well-established tradition, in this 7th edition, high-level speakers from globally recognised organisations are invited to give lectures covering several topics, from scientific and technical relevance to the environmental and economic impacts of slag valorisation. The quality of the scientific committee, selected among the most recognised experts in this field, will ensure the highest standards of the accepted works.
The objectives
The objective of the seventh edition of the International Slag Symposium – Shifting gears to a climate-neutral & resource efficient society – is to discuss and share the most updated findings in the field of slag and metallurgical residue valorisation, metals recovery, slag’s life cycle analysis, policy for slag valorisation guided by climate neutrality principles. We invite all researchers and other actors to share their enthusiasm by submitting their works on the following topics:
- Fundamental studies on liquid and solid slags
- Hot-stage slag engineering, slag solidification, slag conditioning, internal reuse
- Slag cleaning and metal recovery
- Production, properties and performance of slag-based products
- Process development for sustainable technologies
- Industrial case studies on slag/residue valorisation
- Environmental and economic analysis
- Policy and regulations
The contributions submitted by the participants, together with the lectures from the invited speakers, will enhance discussions and new ideas towards a more sustainable future.
Sponsors
The seventh edition of the International Slag Valorisation Symposium is sponsored by ABO Global, Aurubis, Botree Cycling, Inspyro, ResourceFull, Tapojärvi and thyssenkrupp and the affiliates within the Centre for High Temperature Processes and Sustainable Materials Management.
