CRM Group participates to the “CentriClean” RFCS European project

 
Projects

Hot-dip galvanizing (HDG) is one of the oldest methods to produce zinc coatings. It consists of immersing steel parts in molten zinc to provide corrosion protective coatings either through “continuous” HDG of steel sheet or steel wire through a bath of molten zinc at high speeds, or through “batch” or “general” HDG of various constructions, large diameter pipes, screws, frames, fasteners … etc.

Nevertheless modern batch and continuous galvanising processes still conduce to the production of large amounts of micron-size intermetallic particles –dross– leading to downgraded products, loss of productivity due to frequent line stops for dross removal and safety issues faced by operators in charge of the cleaning of these baths.

The project objectives are…

  • To increase the direct recycling of zinc from secondary sources as dross wastes and their upcycling for environmental and competitive reasons: limitation of raw product (zinc) amounts and costs, production cost reduction by improved process management, coated product quality improvement by better control of dross production, and search of new upcycling ways of extracted wastes             
     
  • To modify dedrossing practices by developing an equipment able to remove dross, preferably in a continuous way, by acting as early as possible on particles beyond some critical diameter so as to obtain defect-free coatings     
     
  • To minimise the molten zinc volume collected with the by-products (scums and dross) by a direct treatment in the zinc pot, which avoids wasting later energetic consumptions for the re-melting of zinc. Such recovered volume, not extracted from the pot, can thus be directly used for the coating production itself

CentriClean

In order to reach these objectives, several tasks have been identified and assigned to consortium members comprising several actors from both galvanising and zinc worlds : ArcelorMittal and Tata Steel (steel sheet galv.), Bekaert (wire galv.), Rezinal (batch galv. & metal bath treatment), IZA (worldwide association) and CRM Group (research centre).

These tasks include numerical simulations and trials on dedicated prototypes using industrial samples along with adequate analyses are implemented. Ultimate extraction is envisaged with a commercial study of the new by-products. Before the end of the project, the present approach and potential long-term industrial perspectives will be evaluated according to a cost model to be established early in the project.

 

flag

This project has received funding from the European Union under grant agreement NUMBER 847341 — CENTRICLEAN

The information and views set out in this webpage do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commission. The European Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this webpage. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on the European Commission’s behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.