Innovative sorting and recycling of mineral residues for valorization in high-temperature applications

The increasing scarcity of natural resources, rising landfill costs, and growing demands for sustainable resources pose significant challenges for industry. Simultaneously, mineral residues such as construction and demolition waste, metallurgical slags, furnace linings, and production waste from the refractory industry are still insufficiently utilized. But they have a considerable potential for use as secondary raw materials due to their composition and constituent components.

This is precisely where the MINREC-HT project comes in, developing innovative processing and recycling approaches to systematically capture, characterize, and specifically treat these material streams using combined mechanical, thermal, and chemical processes. The objective is to reintegrate previously underutilized residues into industrial value chains and thereby make a substantial contribution to the transition toward a resource-efficient and circular economy.

MINREC-HT aims to produce high-quality secondary raw materials for high-temperature applications, particularly for manufacturing binders and water glass in the refractory industry. By developing tailored processing chains and specifically enhancing material properties, even previously difficult-to-recycle residue fractions are to be made usable. Separated components that cannot be reintegrated into high-temperature applications will also be characterized and directed to existing recycling and recovery solutions along the value chain.

A key innovation lies in linking technological developments with comprehensive sustainability assessments in order to holistically evaluate ecological, economic, and social impacts. In this way, the project makes a significant contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions, conserving natural resources, and implementing an industrial zero-waste approach. This contribution is particularly substantial as the project is situated within the energy- and emission-intensive high-temperature processes of the steel, cement, and refractory industries.