STEEL GOES
sustainable I
ntegration of circular systems and processes is one of the main directions for achieving industrial sustainability. As the world’s societies are accelerating their transition to a decarbonised future, circularity becomes even more important. The more materials fertilizer producers can recover, reuse and recycle, the more they can reduce their carbon footprint, while also helping other industries such as steel – which relies heavily on fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas – to contribute to the EU’s goals of climate neutrality by 2050 and meeting other climate commitments. To address the challenge, Stamicarbon, the innovation and licence company of Maire Tecnimont Group, and Sandvik have created a buy-back programme for urea customers that allows recycling of precious alloys used in the manufacturing of urea equipment and piping. This is especially important for achieving a higher percentage of recycled raw material in the production of high-alloyed duplex steels that are able to withstand the challenging environments of the urea process, such as Safurex®.
Closing the loop The direct buy-back programme was introduced in late 2019; Stamicarbon decommissions old equipment in plants and Sandvik then uses the recycled precious alloys in the production of new stainless steels. The programme represents a new type of collaboration between the industries, not only closing the loop in the lifecycle of Safurex material, but also lowering the need for virgin raw material in the production of equipment and piping for the urea industry. This is an important step, as reducing virgin material input leads to greater sustainability, less environmental impact and more efficient use of resources.
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