On April 29, Italian steelmaker Lucchini Group unveiled its new slag treatment facility within its complex at Piombino, Tuscany. The major project encompassing the new facility, built in collaboration with Harsco Metals, cost the company about €36 million and was completed in four years.
The slag treatment facility treats both primary slag, coming from oxygen converters (40-60 ladles a day), and secondary slag, coming from the continuous caster (10-12 ladles a day). The new facility, employing 20 people, will process 500,000 mt a year of slag. Construction of a metal recovery plant, designed for reclaiming ferrous metals from slag, will soon be completed.
Lucchini Group CEO Marcello Calcagni stated that, with the new slag treatment facility, "the company passes from an outdated system to a state-of-the art one, with the advantages of efficiency, safety and reduction of environmental impact."