Products and applications
As a partner to the iron and steel industry, Steelage is offering tailor-made solutions for the disposal, processing and recycling of industrial by-products created during the steel production process. We strive to process as much of this residual material as possible into secondary raw materials so that the components can be fed back into the resource cycle.
The results of our work are a comprehensive range of high-quality products that are often superior in quality to comparable products made directly from primary raw materials. Depending on their physical and chemical properties, our secondary raw materials are ideal for use in the construction industry, agriculture and other areas.
Quality
Through continuous internal and external quality inspections, we ensure that our products always meet our customers' expectations in terms of quality and technical specifications while observing all laws and directives.
We share our expertise and experience in the areas of quality assurance and product development with a range of committees, such as the German Professional Association of Iron and Steel Slag and the FEhS Building Materials Institute.
External quality inspections
In order to be able to guarantee the consistently high level of quality of our products and services, we submit to inspection by neutral inspection bodies. This monitoring is carried out by the Material Testing Institute for Construction and Production Engineering (MPA HANNOVER, Clausthal facility). The FEhS Building Materials Institute provides technical support in all matters relating to the application of iron slag in the construction industry.
Internal quality assurance
Through rigorous internal inspections, we ensure that the quality of our work fully meets both our own high-quality standards as well as those of our customers. However, since it is not enough for us to simply meet standards, we constantly look for ways to further develop and improve them. In our own laboratory, we test our products on the basis of technical criteria and examine our processes primarily in terms of environmental and sustainability aspects. The focus of our laboratory tests is twofold: firstly, on solids analyses and physical tests, e.g. with regard to dimensional stability, and, secondly, on environmental analyses, e.g. to monitor water and waste water quality.
Research and development
Markets are changing and the demands placed on the sustainable use of natural resources are growing continuously. There are many good reasons for developing solutions for tomorrow’s world that look beyond the needs of the here and now.
Responsibility for the environment and our own desire to maintain our competitive edge in the future are strong motivating factors for us. Our goal is always to close recycling gaps and conserve natural resources. This is why we are firmly committed to conducting research and further developing our products, technologies and processes.
One example is the “ThoPhos 2” research project:A new steelmaking process in the mid-1990s has resulted in considerable changes in the slag that is produced. It is no longer possible to obtain Thomas phosphate from this slag, which was previously used as a yield-increasing mineral phosphate fertilizer in agriculture. In order to close this gap, Steelage´s sister company Erich Friedrich Hüttenservice GmbH teamed up with its cooperation partners RETERRA Service GmbH and the Institut für Baustoff-Forschung e.V. (Institute for Building Materials Research) to launch the ThoPhos2 research project. The aim of the project, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF),
is to produce an environmentally compatible second-generation Thomas phosphate from the converter slag currently available.
