New steel recycling technology from the University of Toronto could revolutionize the industry by removing impurities electrochemically, fostering higher-grade production and aiding in global sustainability efforts.
Steel is created by reacting iron ore with coke — a prepared form of coal — as the source of carbon and blowing oxygen through the metal produced. Current standard processes generate nearly two tonnes of carbon dioxide per tonne of steel produced, making steel production one of the highest contributors to carbon emissions in the manufacturing sector.
“The main problem with secondary steel production is that the scrap being recycled may be contaminated with other elements, including copper,” says Azimi. “The concentration of copper adds up as you add more scrap metals to be recycled, and when it goes above 0.1 weight percentage in the final steel product, it will be detrimental to the properties of steel.
“We put our contaminated iron that has the copper impurity as the anode of the electrochemical cell,” says Azimi. “We then apply an electromotive force, which is the voltage, with a power supply and we force the copper to react with the electrolyte.”
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