The university has partnered Baotou Steel to spin out a steel waste recycling and carbon capturing system due to launch in China by mid-2018.
Columbia University today teamed up with China-based steelmaker Baotou Iron and Steel to launch GreenOre Cleantech, a spinout that will allow steel manufacturers to recycle waste from steel plants known as slag.
The technology utilises a carbon capturing technique alongside an approach similar to rock weathering to alter the shape and size of solid materials. The slag could be recycled and used in the production of materials such as paper, plastic or cement.
GreenOre Cleantech is based on research by Ah-Hyung Park, an associate professor of chemical engineering and earth and environmental engineering in the university’s engineering department, and Xiaozhou Zhou, a postdoctoral research scientist with a PhD in sustainable ironmaking technology.
Columbia Technology Ventures, the university’s tech transfer office, will take charge of establishing the spinout. Park and Zhou have already developed a prototype of their system and hope to launch a full-scale version at a Baotou plant in Inner Mongolia, China before mid-2018.
GreenOre Cleantech is one of six EcoPartnership collaborations set up between the US and China since 2015 to tap the entrepreneurial and academic expertise of both countries.
Xiaozhou Zhou said: “We expect that this will reduce the amount of land used to stockpile slag, clean up landfills and convert the waste into valuable products for several other industries.”
“Maximising the overall sustainability of the iron and steel industry and improving how we use resources and materials could be transformative.”
