The European REGENERATIS Project team is looking at recovering materials and metals on former steel sites, and therefore helping to reduce rehabilitation cost. The REGENERATIS Project Partners includes Belgium, French, German and British companies, research institutions and universities with expertise in the fields of geophysical surveying, mineral and metal characterisation, mineral and metal processing, data processing and artificial intelligence tool development.
The objective of REGENERATIS is the design and implementation of a new economic model that is easy for public and private companies to put into practice and allows for the reintegration of raw materials and land back into the economy. The project is due to be completed in 2023 with reporting, publication of final results and roll-out to other sites of potential interest across Europe in 2024.
In the United-Kingdom, the REGENERATIS pilots site is Teesworks, the former Tata Steel landfill located there which is estimated to be more than 95% steel slag. (With operation ceasing in July 2002). In order to characterise the structure and type of metallurgical wastes, a team of geophysicists from BRGM and the University of Liège accompanied by members of MPI and Cranfield University conducted a geophysical survey on the Teesworks site. From 17th to 24th May, the team used electrical, magnetic and electromagnetic methods over the steel slag in order to (i) determine the structure of the slag, and (ii) obtain information on the composition of the slag. The combination The combination of these methods allows the creation of a 3D model of the steel slag.
In order to validate the 3D model, samples were taken for geochemical and geophysical measurements in the laboratory. These laboratory measurements enable the identification of areas of interest for waste recovery in the 3D model.
