PARENT SESSION

6E - Life-Cycle Management
Hall 2
8:30 AM - 12:30 PM, Monday, 28 April 2003
Chair: Saur, K.¹, ¹
Co-chair: Frankl, P.², ²

(MO2/5) Life-Cycle Management of Steel: Copper as a Tramp Element.

Gottschick, Manuel^{1, 2}, Sander, Knut³, Gleich, Arnim von⁴, ¹ University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany² Engineering Office SUmBi, Hamburg, Germany³ Ökopol GmbH, Hamburg, Germany⁴ University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

ABSTRACT- Steel is well suited for recycling and, therefore, recycling of this material has been performed for hundreds of years. However, there are still some steps to go towards a real closed loop recycling. Remaining impurities like copper from scrapped products dissolved in secondary steel have a negative influence on the material properties. They can not be removed technically and accumulate in the steel cycle. Because of these increasing impurities the use of clean primary material to a large extent is necessary to achieve required qualities. For economic as well as ecological reasons an increasing share of secondary steel in the production would be an important step towards sustainability. Some companies become aware of these necessities and realize that they have to act today to avoid future problems. But those protagonists who are able to solve the problem at lowest costs today are not the ones who will have the most benefit in the future. The approaches needed to improve the situation are widely known (e.g. design for recycling, dismantling, separation) but not sufficiently applied, yet. In order to initiate the necessary change in quality of the steel cycle we developed an approach of combining scientific simulation models to predict the content of copper in various scenarios with establishing a dialogue between the companies of the steel cycle. A Material Flow Analysis (MFA) model of the steel cycle in Germany helped to visualize, interpret and communicate the problem and showed the interrelationships between the different economic actors involved. Only in cooperation the different protagonists are able to apply Life Cycle Management and to realize a higher level of quality within the steel cycle.

Key words: cooperation, Life Cycle Management, steel recycling, copper