Steel Waste Recycling

Befesa is currently Europe’s leading recycler of steel waste, with a market share far above that of its competitors within the sector. The strategic positioning of its plants enables it to be close to customers and suppliers alike, affording it its key competitive edge. Other characteristics that set Befesa apart from the competition include its extensive knowledge of recycling processes and the technology it employs, and also the fact that its commercial relations with customers are based on long-term collaboration agreements.

Befesa employs various technologies in the steel recycling which lead to different products useful to industry after treatment. So, the dust generated in stainless steel production is processed, for example, by the plasma furnace process, becoming a high-quality metal alloys that become available as raw materials for stainless steel production.

It is notorious, also, the Waelz rotary furnace process, which reaches temperatures of 1,200 ° C and it volatilizes especially zinc. There, they are oxidised to form the so-called waelz oxide, which is rich in zinc oxide. By the off-gas treatment facilities the waelz oxide is recovered and sold afterwards to the zinc industry as zinc concentrate. The produced slag can be used as a construction material for roadbuilding at landfill sites. In Spain it is used under its brand name Ferrosita® as a natural drying agent or as a filling material for the construction industry.

For its part, the procedure by submerged arc furnace lets to separate metal and slag. The recovered metal is returned to the customers as large slabs or it is sold on the free market. The slag used in road constructions or as a soil substitute at dumping sites.

The greater the regulatory pressure from applicable environmental law, the faster this worldwide of steel recycling market grows. This pressure has reached different maturity levels in different parts of the world, with Europe being the most advanced.

2010 turned out to be a busy year for Befesa. Although it has yet to replicate the volume of business reported prior to the onset of the economic crisis, the steel dust recycling business experienced sharp year-on-year growth over 2010 by making use of more installed production capacity at its plants due to the greater abundance and availability of raw materials. This in turn can be put down to the rallying European steel production industry.

Befesa secured its presence in the Turkish steel dust recycling market at the end of September 2010 by signing a joint venture agreement with the Canadian company Silvermet Inc. To acquire a 51 % stake in the Waelz plant owned by the latter in Iskenderun (Turkey). The investment was channeled through the company Befesa Silvermet Turkey SL and required a total outlay of $10 M, most of which will be used to develop new technologies to treat electric arc furnace steel dust, the ultimate aim being to drive forward the company’s steel dust recycling business in the country. This venture has allowed Befesa to gain rapid entry into Turkey, a strategic market and one of the world’s main producers of electric arc furnace steel. It is also one of the emerging markets promising the greatest potential in terms of future growth within the sector.

Over 2010, the production units integrated into the steel waste recycling division treated a combined total of 562,308 t (dry) of zinc-bearing steel and iron dust, 11.9 % up on figures for 2009. Of these, 470,685 t, marking a 15.5 % year-on-year increase, came from large factories involved in the production of common steel, and also from various smelting facilities operating within the European Union, while the remaining 91,623 t were collected from the leading stainless steel production facilities in the EU.

This input volume has enabled the company to obtain 170,280 t dried of Waelz Oxide, representing a year-on-year increase of 14.6 %. The volume of treated Waelz Oxide (D-L.W.O.) was similar to that reported for 2009, standing at 104,684 t. The stainless steel dust recycling plants also produced 42,811 t of nickel alloy and other metal alloys capable of fetching a high market price, and 51,715 mwh of electrical power were self-produced at the production facility in Sweden.

The company Befesa Zinc Comercial is responsible for marketing and selling the end product obtained from the plants operated by this division. Thanks to the sterling work conducted in 2009 to penetrate new territories and diversify its Waelz Oxide customer portfolio, the company managed to sell a grand total of 170,939 t of this product in 2010, 13.3 % up on figures for 2009. A further 30,822 t of alloys rich in nickel and other metals were also sold through Befesa Steel Services in 2010, representing growth of 26.5 %. By the close of 2010, the Sondika and Amorebieta plants in the Spanish region of Biscay, which treat the zinc waste and zinc alloys generated by the galvanization, metal injection and construction sectors, had recycled a combined total of 15,100 t of waste, including in particular zinc dross and gross zinc ash from Spain and other European countries, marking a 29.1 % increase in the volume treated at these two plants.

Befesa’s main goals for 2011 include full integration of its steel dust recycling plant in Turkey, coupled with further expansion into the steel dust recycling market. Befesa will also keep its eyes over 2011 for possible opportunities for inorganic growth, particularly in the steel waste recycling sector.