Plastic Utilization in EAF: A Fruitful Example of Circular Economy

The annual amount of produced plastic in Europe is about 50 Mt. From the collected waste plastics, about 27.3% is landfilled, 41.6% is used for energetic utilization and only 31.1% is recycled.

The H2020 project POLYNSPIRE has been launched to demonstrate a set of innovative, cost effective and sustainable solutions, aiming at improving the energy and resource efficiency of post-consumer and post-industrial plastic recycling processes, targeting 100% waste streams.

The technological solution studied in POLYNSPIRE project will be validated with industrial trials, up to TRL 7 (Threshold Readiness Level).

The EAF process has been purposely developed to re-melt recycled steel scrap.

The EAF based production cycle is already very close to the concept of circular economy.

This character can be further reinforced, increasing the process sustainability and maintaining at the same efficiency and productivity constrain of the melting process, transforming the EAF in the core of a more complex industrial eco-system, where materials from other industrial sectors are recycled in EAF and fossil fuels are replaced by biomass and recycled plastic materials.

A pluri-disciplinary and cross-sectorial approach, based on circular economy paradigm, coupled with technological innovation, leads to significant reduction of environmental impact and improved sustainability