To curtail CO2 emissions, many changes of steel production chains are needed. Investments have to be planned while future framework conditions are unknown. The increasing replacement of fossil sources with intermittent renewable energy (in particular H2) will increase fluctuations in energy availability and prices. Injecting H2-rich gases in the BF and replacing a BF with DR-EAF significantly affect the site-wide gas supply. Process integration will need re-optimisation, in particular with respect to gas and energy flows. Current ICT tools are not able to address these new tasks due to lack of flexibility and optimisation capability. These challenges are addressed in AgiFlex, which exploits a highly innovative multi-agent approach for production and energy management on a completely new level. This tool monitors and controls processes, conditions and resources and optimises process integration and gas and energy flows along the complete steel production chain. AgiFlex develops digital twins for existing and new production steps and couples them into a framework for holistic optimization. The new system is demonstrated as “digital AgiFlex plant“ at two industrial sites in TRL 7 and is thoroughly verified with existing data and tools. By this, it will immediately decrease the carbon footprints. Scenarios for future framework conditions (e.g., availability and costs of renewable energies, future plant states) are studied with the new ICT tool and different options for injection, utilisation, recycling or export of gases are assessed considering process needs, safety issues and economic aspects. Decarbonisation strategies with optimised process integration are derived for different steps of plant transition to low carbon technologies. This includes also possible control measures for demand-side response. The easy and flexible transfer of the modular tool to other plants will be proven, supported by intensive communication and dissemination actions.

Energy-intensive industries, embedded in many strategic value chains, make up more than half of the energy consumption of the European industry and reducing their CO2 intensity is crucial for meeting the objectives of the Paris agreement. Within EIIs, metallurgy poses a major challenge due to the trade-off that must be found between maintaining economic profitability, while progressively implementing the required transformations for a greener production. While digitalisation is generating a data deluge, Artificial Intelligence cannot be fully adopted due to limitations to share data between several factories and the heterogeneity of systems that hinders the replicability of AI. ALCHIMIA aims to build a platform based on Federated Learning and Continual Learning to help big European metallurgy industries unlock the full potential of AI to support the needed transformations to create high-quality, competitive, efficient and green manufacturing processes. The project will address the challenges of the steel sector, creating an innovative system that automates and optimises the production process dynamically with a holistic approach that includes scrap recycling and steelmaking. ALCHIMIA will find an optimal mix to reduce energy consumption, emissions and waste generation of steelmaking while guaranteeing to obtain high-quality products. The replicability and scalability of ALCHIMIA will be enabled through a complementary use case for the manufacturing of automotive parts. The developed system will be used for prognostic optimisation of the mix of input materials charged in the furnaces to obtain a certain product quality that matches the customers' specifications while reducing the environmental impact and the energy consumption. ALCHIMIA will not only seek the optimal mix for the charge of metallurgy furnace, it will also determine the best combination of learning capacities to enable a smooth green transition for all industries thanks to unprecedented collaboration

The improvement of energy efficiency across European industry is crucial for competitiveness. So far, the measures for improvement of energy efficiency have been directed at primary production processes. In this project, we will address the improvement of energy efficiency in industrial water circuits: auxiliary electric motor driven systems with high optimisation potential. The European manufacturing industry consumes about 37 000 million m³/y freshwater recycling it up to 10 times with the specific electrical energy consumption >0.2 kWh/m³. By the according energy consumption of 74 000 GWh/a the potential 10% savings amount to 7 400 GWh/a. Currently, there is neither a benchmark on the energy consumption in industrial water circuits, nor tools for its systematic reduction, nor awareness of the saving potential. The WaterWatt project aims to remove market barriers for energy efficient solutions, in particular the lack of expertise and information on energy management and saving potential in industrial water circuits. The aims will be achieved through: i) case studies in relevant industries, ii) development of improvement measures for energy efficiency in industrial water circuits, iii) market studies, iv) capacity building activities and v) dissemination in workshops and by e-learning. An Energy Efficiency Evaluation Platform (E3 Platform) will be developed to disseminate knowledge/know-how on energy efficiency improvements using gaming approach. The tools of E³ Platform will be used by SMEs and large industrial producers for self-assessment and improvement of the energy efficiency in their circuits. WaterWatt will reach more than 2000 relevant persons, organisations and policy makers triggering investments of €7-12 million resulting in primary energy saving of 100-180 GWh/a during the project life-time. The planned spin-off company will ensure further investments and savings after the project has finished.

In the coming years, innovative DR shafts and EAFs will be installed in several steelmaking sites across Europe to follow the strategic decarbonization guidelines. The progression of these production processes will imply changes in the composition and management of generated by-products, especially for those containing Zn. Likewise, the large rate of fossil fuels/reductants needed in the current valorisation processes of these wastes make them very intensive in terms of CO2 emissions, requiring the metallurgical industry to move to H2 applications in its targeted pathway towards zero wastes goal. To tackle with these complex challenges and to solve the recycling of key steelmaking by-products like EAF dust, BOF dust and sludges, DR sludge and pellet fines and mill scales (among others), ZHYRON will develop an innovative valorisation route for Fe-rich and Zn-containing by-products based on the combination of pyrometallurgical (using green H2 as reductant) and hydrometallurgical stages The iron oxides units would be recovered as Direct Reduced Iron able to be consumed in EAF and the zinc would be recovered as zinc oxide concentrate to be used in zinc smelting sector, contributing thus to circular economy and industrial symbiosis approaches. The proposed technologies will be developed and endorsed at lab pilot scale (TRL6), and the obtained circular products will be validated by testing and characterization analysis. ZHYRON will also examine solutions regarding technical integration, economic and environmental criteria, contributing to the development of novel business models, guidelines and strategies. ZHYRON has been structured in 6 WP, combining R&D activities, project management and dissemination activities, and gathering a competitive consortium of 9 partners from 6 EU countries. If the solutions are successful, the benefits will include avoiding landfill of dangerous wastes, reduction in the CO2 emissions and the implementation of a new circular economy loop.

The aim of E-ECO Downstream is to enable a clean steel production by developing advanced and breakthrough technologies for the steel making downstream processes. This will decisively support the EU in achieving its goal towards climate neutrality by 2050. E-ECO Downstream focuses on the efficient utilization of hydrogen, biogas, and electricity to substitute carbon-based fuels and drastically lower the carbon footprint of the steel production. Energy efficiency is pursued to enable sustainable utilization of volatile green energy. Currently installed burners of reheating furnaces will be enabled to utilize green H2 by integration of newly designed and 3D-printed burner components instead of replacing entire burner systems. To increase fuel flexibility hybrid heating concepts (H2 and electricity) will be investigated in a pilot walking beam furnace. Since the mentioned solutions will change the waste heat streams and their heat recovery in future downstream processes must be reevaluated. This will be done by analysing the partners processes and plants, development and testing of waste heat recovery concepts and recuperators regarding their suitability to new fuels and their off gases, while considering their impact on materials/product. Energy efficiency potentials of downstream processes will be evaluated by case studies for the application of hot charge from casting to hot rolling by covering of the slabs with passive and active panels. The elaborated solutions will be assessed by techno-eco-environmental analysis to evaluate their applicability and to increase their acceptance in the steel community. The E-ECO Downstream consortium has a deep and shared knowledge of iron and steel making, downstream processes and heating technology, materials engineering, numerical simulation, experimental investigations, economy, and life cycle analysis.