Research > Funded Research Projects > Upgrading the value of BOS slag by addition of difficult to recycle glass or slags

Upgrading the value of BOS slag by addition of difficult to recycle glass or slags

A project to modify existing steelmaking slag with alternative high silica sources to be tested to assess the improvement in skid resistance and abrasion resistance for top grade road surfacing.

Project Summary

The Institute is collaborating with Tarmac, British Steel, Glass Futures Ltd and PWS road building services. The 12-month project will seek to increase the silica content of the slag, which is a by-product of basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS), to improve its quality and consistency and achieve a higher PSV classification which would allow greater use on UK roads and reduce waste through reuse of the refined slag.

The Institute will investigate using slags produced in other areas of the steelmaking process, including desulphurisation slag, which is difficult to dispose of. It will also conduct research into the waste streams produced by the glass industry that cannot be recycled.

Its objective is to create several new slags modified by high silica sources, which will be tested by Tarmac for skid resistance. The most promising will be produced in a full-scale plant trial before undergoing further testing.

The second activity of the project is to undertake a detailed assessment of the volumes and values of waste, or difficult-to-reuse, streams of appropriate material from within the glass industry and the steel works to determine the potential for use as a slag modifier.

The research aims to improve the utilisation of by-product and waste streams to increase the value and volume of the by-product stream thereby benefitting both the steel sector and the aggregates sector. It will reduce the current rate of consumption of high quality aggregate, with environmental and balance of payments benefits.

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