Research boost to cut steel production emissions

AN INSTITUTE pioneering research to reduce emissions from steel production has had a funding boost.

The Steel and Metals Institute (SaMI), based at Swansea University, has been awarded £3m from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW).

The funding will enable SaMI to help the UK iron and steel industry become low-carbon and resourceefficient, utilising currently non-recyclable societal waste such as plastics.

The focus of the funding will be on smart steel processing of high-value products, including steels for electric vehicles, affordable CO2-positive buildings and sustainable packaging. The aim is to ensure the UK steel industry remains competitive in the fourth industrial age, able to produce the bulk of steel needed within our own shores.

The funding supports five key areas of research – carbon-neutral steelmaking, advanced alloy optimisation, performance in extreme environments, novel functional metallic coatings and imaging science.

The research to bring these products and processes to industry will be carried out by experts from numerous leading and diverse organisations working with SaMI. The facilities at SaMI will provide both research-scale and key process scale-up equipment prior to commercialisation.

Its director Brian Edy said: “The funding delivered to SaMI through HEFCW represents the early steps in transforming ideas into reality, creating a 21st-century steel and metals industry and future-proofing steel in Wales and the UK.”