Sustainability and competitiveness for Europe ’ s metallurgical industry
European Union funding of EUR 7 million has kickstarted a collaborative research project on the sustainable production of manganese and its alloys .
Text by Max Planck Institute
How can we make the metallurgical industry in Europe more sustainable while maintaining its economic competitiveness ? One game changer is to find a green solution to producing manganese , which is of significant importance for the steel , aluminium , battery and automotive industry . The European Union is now funding a collaborative research project with EUR 7 million that aims to develop and demonstrate an integrated sustainable process to produce manganese ( Mn ) and Mn alloys from Mn ores and Mncontaining waste . The Max-Planck- Institut für Eisenforschung ( MPIE ) is one of 17 project partners .
Results to be tested on industrial scale About 1.4 million tons of manganese ferroalloys were produced in Europe in 2020 , relying on about 70 % of imported ores , while leading to about 2.5 % of the EU metallurgical industries ’ total CO2 emissions . Moreover , Europe imported about 111,000 tons of electrolytic manganese and 38,000 tons of electrolytic manganese dioxide in 2020 . The EU-wide project “ Sustainable Hydrogen and Aluminothermic Reduction Process for Manganese , its alloys and Critical Raw Materials Production ” ( HalMan ) aims to cut imports by valorising existing industrial waste , reducing the carbon footprint of manganese production and maintaining Europe ’ s competitiveness in the
Mn in stainless steel
Manganese ( Mn ) is added to steel to improve hot working properties and increase strength , toughness and hardenability .
Reducing manganese and iron in arc furnaces using hydrogen is one of Dr Yan Ma ’ s research topics at MPIE . He will contribute with his expertise in the HalMan project . Copyright : Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH .
metallurgical industry . Coordinated by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology , each of the 17 project partners contributes expertise . “ The manganese ores and manganesecontaining waste will be reduced by hydrogen and secondary aluminium sources to avoid carbon emissions . At MPIE we will analyse the kinetics of the pre-reduction process with hydrogen , better understand the role of the microstructure and local chemistry in the reduction process , and disentangle the fundamental mechanisms limiting the efficiency of the reduction . We are delighted to closely collaborate with other EU partners and contribute to the development of innovative technologies to make the metallurgical industry more sustainable ,” says Dr Yan Ma , group leader at MPIE and one of the project partners .
Producing high Mn steels After defining the ideal process route , the MPIE team also aims to produce two advanced high and medium-manganese steels using the manganese produced in the reduction process and compare their mechanical properties with commercially available steels . High Mn steels are especially interesting for low-temperature applications such as the storage and transport of natural gas and hydrogen . Medium Mn steels are crucial for lightweight design , for example , in the automotive industry . The developed process route will be tested in an industrially relevant , operational environment to guarantee a high technological readiness level .
About the project
The HAlMan project is Co-funded by the European Union . The project ’ s consortium is composed of 14 partners and 3 associated partners ( AP ), representing 10 countries . The project coordinator is Norwegian University of Science and Technology ( Norway ).
36 Stainless Steel World March 2023 www . stainless-steel-world . net