Thomas Ottink, PhD student at the department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering receives Renova environmental grant. He has developed a long-term, energy-efficient, and sustainable method for recycling grinding sludge, a difficult waste from the steel industry and converting it into valuable products.
He comments his work and the grant in a press release:
“The fine-grained material rusts easily and can spontaneously ignite and is also difficult to melt down into new steel, which means that it is deposited in landfills or incinerated in large quantities. It is both expensive and bad for the environment.”
“It feels especially meaningful to be able to contribute to the green energy systems of the future. However, the biggest environmental benefits are that we can reduce the need to mine new iron ore and avoid the landfill of hazardous waste.
“My hope is that we can scale up the process within a few years and make this a natural part of the steel and engineering industry. I am very happy and grateful for Renova’s environmental grant, which helps me take the next step towards that goal”.
See film and read press release from Renova (Swedish text and audio)
- Doctoral Student, Energy and Materials, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering