PRESS RELEASES

Updated brochure with new chapter on transformation 

Duisburg, September 13th, 2023. The FEhS Building Materials Institute has updated its brochure “Ferrous slag. Valuable raw material for resource-saving management”. With latest figures of 2022, it provides information on the production and use of the by-product of steel production, as well as on CO2 emissions saved and quantities of natural rock substituted. New is the chapter “Transformation of the steel industry and new slags”, which is dedicated to the decarbonization of steel production. The 20-page compact publication with numerous graphics is available in print and as a pdf at www.fehs.de in the download area. 

In eight chapters, the brochure “Ferrous Slag” provides a comprehensive overview of the secondary raw material: from its production and technological and ecological properties to its various applications as a building material, in traffic route construction and as a fertilizer, to an outlook on the future by-products of hydrogen-based steel production. Extensive, graphically prepared figures, for example on resource and climate protection using ferrous slag, make the publication a useful information tool for architects, engineers, building contractors, representatives of public authorities and politicians. 

Thomas Reiche, Managing Director of the FEhS Institute: “With the Compact Brochure 2023, we want to show the contribution of the steel industries’ by-products to a sustainable circular economy. Because only those who are comprehensively informed can act in an economically and ecologically sensible way. This applies above all to the future use of secondary raw materials, which conserve natural resources and the climate even in First Life.“

About the FEhS Institute:

For seven decades, the FEhS Building Materials Institute has been one of Europe’s leading addresses for research, testing and consulting on iron and steel slag, building materials and fertilisers. As a modern service provider, the experts with seven laboratories, the Construction Competence Forum and a network of industrial associations, public authorities, standardisation committees, as well as institutions from science and research, are a sought-after partner for members and customers from all over the world.

www.fehs.de

www.rohstoff-schlacke.de

New expert opinion sees need for action in European public procurement law

Duisburg, 17^th November 2020. Environmental protection, resource conservation and sustainability have been declared EU objectives for many years. Examples are the Green Deal of December 2019 and the Circular Economy Action Plan of March 2020. An important instrument for this is the European Waste Framework Directive, which defines, among other things, the importance of by-products such as iron and steel slag that contribute to waste prevention. However, in order to be able to implement environmental policy projects successfully, European public procurement law must be amended to include binding requirements for public procurement geared to the circular economy. The aim is to achieve a comprehensive authorisation of secondary building materials and their conditional prioritisation in public procurement tenders. This is the conclusion of an expert legal opinion by the law firm Kopp-Assenmacher & Nusser, which was commissioned by the FEhS Institute for Building Materials Research and EUROSLAG, the European Association of Manufacturers of Iron and Steel Slag.

Kopp-Assenmacher & Nusser’s environmental law experts based in Berlin and Düsseldorf propose four amendments to the European Public Procurement Directive. A new third paragraph in Article 18 should enshrine the fundamental importance of environmental criteria in the award of public contracts. Furthermore, it is requested that “aspects of environmental protection, the circular economy and resource conservation” be made mandatory in the specification of services in a new Article 42a. This also includes low-waste production, for example of by-products. Article 67, which regulates the award criteria, must also be extended accordingly: the new paragraph 2a provides for these same environmental criteria to be taken into account when assessing the price-performance ratio. If procurement authorities do not allow products, objects and substances under Article 42a, this would have to be justified under a new paragraph of Article 84 using award notices.

Thomas Reiche, Chairman at EUROSLAG and Managing Director of the FEhS Institute: “What we criticised at national level when the Circular Economy Act was amended, is also missing at crucial points in European public procurement law: specific, legally certain formulations which oblige public sector purchasers to comprehensively authorise and conditionally prioritise by-products or secondary raw materials. Only these optimisations of the legal framework mentioned in the report guarantee that public procurement in Europe is aligned with the environmental policy guidelines: promotion of the circular economy and conservation of resources. We hope that appropriate steps to amend the public procurement law will be taken under the German EU Council Presidency”.

The building materials and fertilisers from the steel industry have already been making an important contribution to the conservation of natural resources for many decades. In Germany alone, the use of iron and steel slag has prevented the mining of over a billion tonnes of natural rock.

About the FEhS Institute:

For seven decades, the FEhS Institute for Building Materials Research has been one of Europe’s leading addresses for research, testing and consulting on iron and steel slag, building materials and fertilisers. As a modern service provider, the experts with seven laboratories, the Construction Competence Forum and a network of industrial associations, public authorities, standardisation committees, as well as institutions from science and research, are a sought-after partner for members and customers from all over the world.

EUROSLAG brings together 26 organisations and companies from 17 countries. As the European network for the production, use and development of iron and steel slag and slag-based products, EUROSLAG focuses on research and technology, standardisation at a European level and internal and external communication.

www.euroslag.com

www.fehs.de

www.rohstoff-schlacke.de

German EU Council Presidency 2020

Duisburg, 17 June 2020. With the “Green Deal” and the Circular Economy Action Plan, the European Union (EU) has set the course for an ecologically oriented economy in recent months. On 1 July 2020, Germany will take over the Presidency of the Council of the EU, followed by Portugal and Slovenia in the new Trio Presidency. EUROSLAG, the European Association for Iron and Steel Slag and Slag Products, sees this as a great opportunity to further promote topics such as resource conservation and the extraction of secondary raw materials and to bring them into a legal framework. Thomas Reiche, Chairman of EUROSLAG: “The first steps in the right direction have been taken at European level. Now it is important to finally establish market-proven industrial by-products as at least equivalent alternatives to primary raw materials. We hope that Germany will take corresponding initiatives in the European Council as a driving force for the EU”.

For Reiche, who is also Managing Director of FEhS – Institute for Building Materials Research, even a preference for secondary raw materials should be legally stipulated in public tenders: “Anyone who takes the circular economy and sustainability seriously must give preference to iron and steel slag and other secondary raw materials that are equally suitable over natural resources, whose deposits are rapidly decreasing worldwide. In Germany alone, for example, more than one billion tonnes of stone, crushed stone and gravel have been substituted by aggregates and granulated blast furnace slag from iron and steel slag in cement, concrete and road construction in the last seven decades. In addition, the use of granulated blast furnace slag in cement has saved over 200 million tonnes of CO₂“. Especially in the wake of the corona pandemic, it is essential that the circular economy be seen as a central guideline for political action in the new orientation, Reiche continued. Unfortunately, the current economic stimulus package of the Federal Government has not consistently used this opportunity.

About the European Council

The European Council is composed of the Heads of State or Government of the individual Member States and the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission. The meetings of the Council, which is responsible, among other things, for formulating general EU policy objectives and the final negotiations on EU legislation, are known as EU summits. The Presidency of the Council of the European Union rotates every six months among the Member States. Its tasks include chairing meetings of the Council and its preparatory committees and working groups. The new Trio Presidency, in which the partners work closely together, is intended to ensure greater continuity in European policy.

About EUROSLAG

EUROSLAG is based in Duisburg and brings together 26 organisations and companies from 16 countries, including the FEhS Institute and the Fachverband Eisenhüttenschlacken (Technical Association for Ferrous Slag) from Germany. As the European network for the production, use and development of iron and steel slag and slag-based products, EUROSLAG focuses on research and technology, standardisation at a European level and internal and external communication. Every two years EUROSLAG organises a conference of the same name, which will be taking place in Cologne in 2021.

www.euroslag.com

www.fehs.de

www.rohstoff-schlacke.de

About the FEhS-Institute

For seven decades the FEhS-Institute for Construction Materials Research has been one of Europe’s leading addresses for research, testing and consulting on ferrous slags, building materials and fertilisers. As a modern service provider, the experts with seven laboratories, the Construction Competence Forum and a network of industrial associations, public authorities, standardisation committees, as well as institutions from science and research, are a sought-after partner for members and customers from all over the world.

EU Circular Economy Action Plan

Duisburg, 13 March 2020. One of the central strategies of the EU Green Deal of December 2019 for a sustainable future is the promotion of recycling management. This week, the EU presented a new action plan for this. It stresses the importance of secondary raw materials, the marketing of which is to be promoted throughout the EU, not least through public procurement. EUROSLAG, the European network for the production, use and development of iron and steel slags, a by-product of steel production, and FEhS – Building Materials Institute welcome these measures. “The use of products made from iron and steel slag avoids the use of natural resources. In addition, by-products from the steel industry make a significant contribution to climate protection. For example, CO₂ emissions have been reduced by more than 200 million tonnes in recent decades through the use of granulated blast furnace slag in cement production in Germany alone. The present action plan improves the framework conditions on a European level and sets important ecological and economic course for the future”, says Thomas Reiche, Chairman of the Board of EUROSLAG and Managing Director of the FEhS Institute.

An essential prerequisite for the increased use of slag-containing building materials and fertilisers is the conditional preferential treatment of secondary raw materials in public procurement, which accounts for 14 percent of the European domestic product. “We hope that the measures of the action plan on “Green Public Procurement” will be implemented quickly. Because the partly common practice of demanding exclusively natural stone in tenders, although products made of iron and steel slag are technically and ecologically equivalent, contradicts the goals of the EU”, Reiche continued.

A further demand of the EU is the creation of a market for secondary raw materials. Of particular importance in this context is the creation of uniform criteria for by-products that promote recycling and the end of the waste characteristics of materials. 

Against the background of making the EU climate-neutral by 2050, the “Circular Economy Action Plan” provides comprehensive measures for a sustainable economy. They concern product design, information and control mechanisms for consumers and administrations, and production processes, for example in electronic devices, packaging, plastics, buildings and food.

Secondary raw materials conserve natural resources

Duisburg/Thessaloniki, 10^th October 2019. The message of the 10th EUROSLAG conference “slag-based products – best practices for circular economy” from 8^th to 11^th October 2019 in Thessaloniki was clear: the increased use of building materials and fertilisers produced from ferrous slags would further promote the circular economy and conserve more natural resources – aims that both the UN and the EU are promoting. However, implementation often fails due to the political framework conditions, which unnecessarily restrict the use of slag-based products. This range of topics was the focus of the discussions and lectures at the EUROSLAG conference, which was attended by 130 participants from 29 countries – among them manufacturers and marketers of ferrous slags, representatives from politics, administrative bodies and associations, as well as scientists.

In order to be able to implement the findings from theory and practice as effectively as possible, EUROSLAG continued the format of the panel discussion with political decision-makers that had been introduced at the last conference in Metz in 2017. The key concerns of the organisers were the restoration of the balance between the justified demands with respect to soil and water protection on the one hand, and the promotion of the circular economy and resource conservation through the use of ferrous slags on the other. Furthermore, the preferential treatment of secondary raw materials in public construction measures was discussed. A fundamental pre-requisite for this would be an amendment to the European Waste Framework Directive. In Germany, the demands of the manufacturers of ferrous slags have already been included in the draft amendment to the Closed Substance Cycle Waste Management Act. 

In the second session of the conference on “Utilization and best practices”, ten presentations and discussions focused on the processing and the specific properties of ferrous slags, as well as experience with the use of building materials and fertilisers in practice. Finally, ten experts presented current projects on the topic of “Research and innovation”, including the further optimisation of slag-based products.

“The 10^th EUROSLAG has shown that the use of ferrous slag in building materials and fertilisers in Europe is an important building block for economic and ecological management. It is therefore all the more difficult for us to understand that many existing framework conditions continue to slow down the increased use of this secondary raw material. However, we are optimistic that future political decisions at the European level will move in a different direction and create better pre-conditions so that the great potential of this mineral from the steel industry can be fully exploited,” explains Thomas Reiche, Chairman of the Board of EUROSLAG.

About EUROSLAG

EUROSLAG is based in Duisburg and brings together 26 organisations and companies from 16 countries, including the FEhS-Institute and the Fachverband Eisenhüttenschlacken (Technical Association for Ferrous Slag) from Germany. As the European network for the production, use and development of ferrous slags and slag-based products, EUROSLAG focuses on research and technology, standardisation at the European level and internal and external communication. EUROSLAG organises the conference every two years. In 2019 the meeting was held together with the Laboratory of Building Materials of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Aeiforos S.A., a Thessaloniki-based company that specialises in industrial by-products and environmental protection.

About the FEhS-Institute

For seven decades the FEhS-Institute for Construction Materials Research has been one of Europe’s leading addresses for research, testing and consulting on ferrous slags, building materials and fertilisers. As a modern service provider, the experts with seven laboratories, the Construction Competence Forum and a network of industrial associations, public authorities, standardisation committees, as well as institutions from science and research, are a sought-after partner for members and customers from all over the world.

www.euroslag.com

www.fehs.de

www.rohstoff-schlacke.de

Duisburg, 9 March 2017 – The German government’s planned Replacement Building Material Ordinance is jeopardising resource efficiency. Dr Rolf Bäfften, Chairman of the Board at the Duisburg-based FEhS Building Materials Institute, fears that the implementation of the proposed ordinance will mean that up to 40 percent of the steel slag produced in Germany can no longer be used as a construction material. That would amount to 2 million tonnes.

As a result, the disqualified slag will be dumped in landfill, and replaced in road construction through the use of natural materials. A recent study by the Clausthal Institute of Environmental Technology (CUTEC) found that the landfill space required for dumping these quantities, together with the additional extraction of corresponding primary raw materials, would add up to as much as 385 ha per year. This amounts to an area of 400 football fields.

The FEhS Institute urges the German government to take an integrated approach when considering the environmental impact, taking into balanced consideration not only soil and water protection, but also the circular economy and resource efficiency. Steel slag has thus been successfully used in transport construction for decades. Excluding slag from the value creation process counteracts the efforts towards greater resource efficiency.

The FEhS Institute is calling for the total removal of minimum installation volumes where solid material limit values are used as an evaluation criterion. Legislators should instead focus on a strict application of the underlying principle, i.e. exclusively that the limit values for eluates must be complied with. “The important thing is what comes out of the construction materials, not what is in them,” says FEhS Director Thomas Reiche. “On this point, we agree with the Federal Ministry of the Environment. This principle now also needs to be implemented in the Replacement Building Material Ordinance in a standardised manner.”

In addition, the limit values for vanadium, molybdenum and fluoride need to be adjusted, while retaining the previous fields of application. This applies in particular to the classification under the category “Steel slag 1” (SWS-1), because the market will in future only be sourcing these construction materials from the steel industry. Without jeopardising soil and groundwater protection, the SWS-1 values for vanadium can be increased to 300 µg/I, those for molybdenum can be increased to 200 µg/I, and those for fluoride can be increased to 2mg/I. Ultimately, unnecessarily strict limit values just end up sending resource-efficient construction materials to landfill.

It is also important that the same investigation methods and test parameters are used throughout the installation and removal of mineral construction materials. Currently this is not case and often leads to a situation in practice that exceptionally suited construction materials made from industrial aggregates are not installed in the first place, because of totally harmless solid materials limit values that only become relevant during the eventual removal process.

In this context, and viewed in terms of circular economy and resource efficiency, strict categorisation as “waste” or “by-products” is counter-productive. Dividing the construction materials into two groups (SWS-1 = by-product and SWS-2/SWS-3 = waste) will furthermore mean that materials will have to be examined numerous times using different methods, because e.g. different methods exist for determining leachability in the context of use or landfill.
“We urgently need to bring about these changes to the Replacement Building Material Ordinance. Otherwise, 2 million tonnes of steel slag will be withdrawn from their current use as transport construction materials! This represents 40% of the volume previously used in transport construction! Quite apart from the shortfall in availability and the insupportable costs of dumping this high-quality construction material in landfill, serious questions must be raised about the environmental policy rationale behind this development,” says FEhS Director Reiche.

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