The “Growing with Green Steel” consortium of the Universiteit Leiden in the Netherlands will receive €100 million ($108m) from the National Growth Fund, Kallanish learns from the university.
Leiden will be granted the subsidy in the coming eight years to develop technologies based on hydrogen, renewable energy, and circular iron and steel processing. Within the project, Professor of Industrial Ecology René Kleijn will appoint two PhD candidates and a postdoctoral researcher for research collaboration with the universities in Delft and Utrecht.
Kleijn aims to assist technology developers in designing their processes and products. “We want to avoid solving old problems only to create new ones. This includes addressing issues like the release of hazardous substances during recycling,” he says.
To achieve this, the Leiden team is mapping out which material flows are associated with current and new methods of steel production. “It’s crucial that the proverbial mammoth tanker gets on the right course from the start,” Kleijn explains.
He adds that he strongly believes in the approach of growth fund projects. “With projects like these, we can develop new, sustainable technology in the Netherlands that strengthens and sustains our own economy. Subsequently, other countries can adopt this technology,” he concludes.
Christian Koehl Germany
