Research project collaboration
Glass Futures is collaborating with the Materials Processing Institute and other industry and research partners as part of a research project to investigate methods of converting steelmaking slag and glass waste into high grade road surfacing material.
Supported by a government grant awarded by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, as part of the Transforming Foundation Industries initiative, 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.
In addition, the project 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 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 steelworks to determine the potential for use as a slag modifier.
Cross sector collaboration was central to this grant being awarded. The Materials Processing Institute will design, produce and analyse the modified slags at the required scale, British Steel will supply the modifier materials in the appropriate crushed form, Tarmac will carry out the testing and scale up trials, Glass Futures will assess the volumes and values of waste, or difficult-to-reuse, streams of appropriate material from within the glass industry and PWS Road Building Services will guide the test programme and facilitate acceptance within the road construction sector.
