Magsort’s green tech will decarbonize the steel value chain: UAE’s largest steel maker Emirates Steel Arkan and Finnish climate tech company Magsort have completed pilot testing on a decarbonization initiative aiming to slash 15% of the emissions from Steel Arkan’s Al Ain Cement Factory, according to a statement.
What’s happening? Magsort’s technology is being used to process steel slag — a calcium-rich by-product of steel making — in efforts to decrease limestone and fuel consumption. The plant will be the first of its kind for the region and comes on the back of Emirates Steel Arkan’s efforts to reach the country’s 2030 decarbonization targets four years ahead of schedule, CEO of EMSTEEL Building Materials — a subsidiary of Emirates Steel Arkan — Hugo Losada said.
More about the tech: Magsort is able to reduce 3-17% — depending on the type of furnace used — of CO2 emissions from the steel making process. The company’s technology can capture two times more steel from steel slag than traditional methods, and is able to extract small pieces of steel that are normally missed by traditional met recovery plants at 80 to 95% purity. The leftover steel slag is also 100% recyclable and can be used as a raw material in the cement industry. Magsort’s recovered steel can be used in either a Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) or an Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) in the steel manufacturing process.
Steel Arkan already has on green on the brain: Renewables giant Masdar partnered with Emirates Steel Arkan in November to develop a pilot green hydrogen plant to decarbonize the UAE’s steel sector. The pilot project could potentially cut carbon emissions in the steel-making process by 95%.
About Magsort: Magsort is a Finnish company focused on developing technology to address the problem of steel slag being “dumped into road construction for centuries” its website explains, adding that the polluting practice represents “one of the biggest historical wastes of already emitted CO2, according to its website. Magsort aims to bridge the gap between two of the largest CO2-emitting industries, steel and cement.