26.04.2024

Press release

Ljubljana, 25 April 2024 – SIJ Acroni, SIJ Group’s largest company, is a modern recycling steel mill. Its steel is recycled, i. e. made from steel scrap. To achieve zero waste to landfill, SIJ Acroni is investing in research and development to use processed steel slag with innovative technologies. Within the GEORIS project (Innovative technologies for waste processing in ESEE Region), a sustainable paver made from processed steel slag has been developed with partners from Belgium, Greece, Poland, and Slovenia.

The project partners presented the process of manufacturing sustainable pavers in practice to interested organisations and companies at an educational and demonstration event held on April 24^th 2024 at SIJ Acroni. To test this innovative and promising material, a bicycle parking area was paved in front of the steel plant.

”With our steel and steel products, we are the right partner for facilitating the green transition in Europe. We are focusing our entire activities, investments, and R&D efforts on sustainable development. In this respect, our involvement in international and cross-industry development partnerships, such as the GEORIS project, is also important to us," said Roman Robič, Director of Strategic and Sustainable Development at SIJ Acroni, in his opening speech.

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) supports the creation of long-term European partnerships between industrial stakeholders, research institutions, and the academic sector. In the field of materials, it promotes, among other things, the development of products and services that support the circular economy, and the recycling and optimisation of end-of-life value chains to convert waste into valuable resources.

Processed steel slag complies with the European Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and is already used as a secondary raw material, mainly for road construction. SIJ Acroni actively cooperates with research institutions because, in line with the concept of the circular economy, it wants to introduce innovative solutions for the development of products from processed steel slag, such as EAF C slag aggregateand the mineral product Ekominit S1. One of the exemplary cases is the production of GEORIS pavers.

The recipe for the pavers, which are composed of 62% SIJ Acroni’s slag and a total of 78% industrial secondary raw materials and completely cement-free, was developed by the University of Leuven, one of the partners in the project.

Silica- and alumina-rich by-products of steel production were used to produce the sustainable pavement blocks. By adding an alkaline solution, the elements (aluminium and silicon) are first dissolved, followed by linking or polymerisation into large molecules, so-called geopolymers.

This makes the material solid and gives it cement-like or even better properties. The advantages of sustainably produced slag pavers over conventional cement-based pavers are durability, a smaller carbon footprint, greater fire resistance and greater salt resistance, which is an important feature for offshore construction materials.

The GEORIS consortium, co-funded by the European Commission through the EIT Raw Materials Knowledge and Innovation Community (EIT Raw Materials), brings together 11 partners from Belgium, Greece, Poland, and Slovenia and is led by the Greek company Enalos. The Slovenian partners in the GEORIS project for waste recovery in East and South East Europe are the Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute, SIJ Acroni, Geological Survey of Slovenia, and Gorenjska gradbena družba.

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SIJ – Slovenian Steel Group is one of Europe's leading producers of stainless steel and special steels. We are committed to global and European climate goals and operate in line with circular economy principles. With our steel and steel products, we are the right partner for facilitating the green transition in Europe. We confirmed our sustainability credentials by achieving certification to the stringent ResponsibleSteel standard in April 2024. This positions us as one of the world's most responsible and sustainable steel producers. Our two largest companies are modern recycling steelworks, and our steel is recycled because it is made from steel scrap. With 3,500 employees, we are one of the largest employers in Slovenia and a pillar of the Slovenian steel sector. We are one of Slovenia's leading exporters. About 85% of our revenue is generated in foreign markets.

Find out more at:

SIJ – Slovenska industrija jekla, d.d.

Mag. Sara Wagner, Head of Corporate Communications

Corporate Communications

Phone: +386 1 242 98 27

Mobile: +386 41 313 532

E-mail: sara.wagner@sij.si