News

We are thrilled to announce the successful completion of the Removal project, culminating in a highly productive final meeting held in the beautiful city of Athens on June 26th and 27th. This gathering marked a significant milestone in our journey, providing a platform to showcase the remarkable results achieved by our consortium. During the final meeting, we had the privilege of presenting the incredible outcomes of our collaborative efforts. The achievements were nothing short of remarkable, underscoring the transformative impact of our collective work. It was a truly magnificent experience to share these accomplishments with the project officers and fellow […]

In the context of the EU Raw Materials Week, HaDEA organises the EU Horizon Technology Success Stories event,showcasing projects that are achieving, or have achieved, remarkable success in the relevant fields. The aim of this event goes beyond informing about the progress of the selected projects. The objective is to highlight how activities in the area of raw materials will benefit from project developments, or in broader terms how industry and society benefitfrom EU research funding. RemovAL took part in the event and is now featured in the resulting publication as a Technology Success Story. The publication identifies the following […]

“Turning residues of the aluminium industry into resources” European Aluminium organised the final stakeholders’ workshop for the EU-funded RemovAL project in Athens on 10 October. It was held as a hybrid event in collaboration with the ICSOBA 2022 conference and the 4th Bauxite Residue Valorisation and Best Practices Conference in order to maximise synergies between industry and academia. The workshop gathered around 100 experts, who had the opportunity to discuss the key learnings and achievements of RemovAL as well as best practices for turning bauxite residue into a valuable raw material for other industries. The workshop ended by a panel […]

On the 14th of October as part of the ICSOBA 2022 field trip, ICSOBA delegates and Removal partners visited the construction site of the RemovAl ‘Bauxite House’ at the Aspra Spitia residence area next to the MYTILINEOS alumina and aluminium plant. This information pavilion is constructed from Bauxite residue prototype building materials and will house an exhibition of technologies and items produced during the RemovAl project. In the photo you can see an external wall that has been covered with bauxite residue brick slips produced from Resourcefull, while Removal scientists are sitting on bench made from Bauxite Residue high strength binder […]

Following two years of COVID and virtual meetings, the Removal consortium was able once again to come physically together at the MYTILINEOS headquarter offices in Athens on the 7th of October 2022. The progress of the project was reviewed and activities were aligned among partners in view of the project conclusion in April 2023.

In May ’22 a paper has been published by Tobias Hertel, van den Bulck, Amy; Blanpain, Bart; Pontikes, Yiannis. This paper “Correlating the amorphous phase structure of vitrified bauxite residue (red mud) to the initial reactivity in binder systems” investigates the reactivity of cementitious systems using different slags made from bauxite residue as the main raw material. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0958946522000063?via%3Dihub

The paper “Composition of the reactivity of engineered slags from bauxite residue and steel slag smelting and use as SCM for Portland cement” was published on the 28th of February 22 investigating the composition and reactivity of engineered slags made from industrial waste materials such as bauxite residue and electric arc furnace slag. The researchers used multiple methods to assess the composition of the slags. They also investigated the hydraulic reactivity of the slags when combined with Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) in paste and mortar. They considered the effects of adding limestone and anhydrite to the mixtures. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950061822000253?via%3Dihub

At the end of the 2021, Michiel Giels, Tobias Hertel and Yiannis Pontikes published the paper “Transforming Bauxite Residue into an Alternative Cement via Vitrification, a Scalable Solution?”. The paper explains that Bauxite residue (BR) has potential for use in the construction industry, but its classification as waste and low reactivity pose challenges in Europe. Vitrification was explored as a solution to transform BR into a reactive and valuable product. This work suggests a need to reconsider cement standards and waste classification for BR, facilitating its industrial implementation. https://icsoba.org/assets/files/publications/2021/Shorts/BR07S%20-%20Transforming%20Bauxite%20Residue%20into%20an%20Alternative%20Cement%20via%20Vitrification,%20a%20Scalable%20Solution.pdf

On 23-24 September, European Aluminium organised the online cross-fertilisation workshop “Towards a more sustainable alumina production in Europe” under the umbrella of the RemovAL and ReActiv EU projects. Over 150 experts from aluminium industry, research and technology organisations, institutions and SMEs express their interest to attend the event. In seven sessions, this online event addressed the outcomes of EU projects related to various processing routes and potentials of alumina and bauxite residue by giving a special focus on the industrial symbiosis concept and the associated enabler Hubs4circularity as promoted by Horizon Europe. The presentations and breakout discussions showed the potentials and synergies of those EU projects. The event indicated the […]

RemovAL research won the best paper award in the BR subject of ICSOBA 2021 for the paper “Transforming Bauxite Residue into an Alternative Cement via Vitrification, a Scalable Solution?” by Michiel Giels, Tobias Hertel and Yiannis Pontikes. This work by the KUL team and the RWTH team helped in the upscaling of RemovAL technologies.

“Recovery of Iron Aluminum from Bauxite Residue by Carbothermic Reduction and Slag Leaching” by Ekstroem, K. E., Bugten, A. Voll, van der Eijk, C., Lazou, A., Balomenos, E., Tranell, G. investigates the recovery of major components from bauxite residue through carbothermic reduction and subsequent slag leaching. Iron is primarily recovered as pig-iron, and the addition of lime helps create highly leachable mayenite phase in calcium aluminate slags. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40831-021-00422-7

In 2021 the report “Slag Valorisation Symposium: shifting gears to a climate-neutral & resource efficient society ” has been published. https://slag-valorisation-symposium.eu/wp-content/uploads/downloads2021/Michiel%20Giels%20-%20Designing%20highly%20reactive%20precursors%20from%20bauxite%20residue%20-%20Can%20the%20Rilem%20R3%20test%20assist.pdf

The full agenda for Innovation Forum 2021 has been published. Download it here or see it in full at h2020innovationforum.com and don’t forget to register. Innovation Forum 2021 is taking place on November 30 in Brussels. For those who can’t make it physically, the event is also going to be available virtually at h2020innovationforum.com

RemovAL will be a part of H2020 Innovation Forum 2021 that is taking place on November 30 2021, in Brussels, and virtually for those who wish to attend remotely. H2020 Innovation Forum is an on-going clustering initiative, bringing together H2020 projects with policy makers, end-users, industry representatives, investors, start-ups and SMEs. This year’s topics focus on Metal Processing & Products, PCMI Plastic Processing & Products, Energy Storage & Recycling and ISAT. Registrations are now open at h2020innovationforum.com/

Removal Project invited to present in the  EU Horizon Technology Success Stories, on November 15th , during the 6th edition of the “Raw Materials Week” The 2021 Raw Materials Week will be centred around the 8th annual High-level Conference of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials addressing the latest news regarding raw materials in the EU. The European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials is a stakeholder platform that brings together representatives from industry, public services, academia and NGOs. Its mission is to provide high-level guidance to the European Commission, Members States and private actors on innovative approaches to […]