ENWAREC

ENWAREC

ENWAREC

EU Programme: Research Fund for Coal & Steel (RFCS)

Coordination: VDEh-Betriebsforschungsinstitut GmbH (BFI)

Participants: Dillinger, Acciaierie d’Italia, RINA, CSIC, ISQ, Questhub, Easy Hydro, Univ. Oviedo

Starting Year:  2025 

Duration: 3 years

website: https://enwarec.eu/

ISQ Contact:

Areas: Centros de Investigação, Ecoeficiência, Energia, Industry, Industry|Innovation|R&D and Innovation, Indústria, Innovation, Integration, Outras Indústrias, R&D and Innovation, Sustainability

ISQ driving sustainability and efficiency in steelmaking through the European R&D Project EnWaRec

EnWaRec (Recovery of energy and water from cooling circuits for a sustainable transition to hydrogen-based direct reduction) addresses one of the most pressing challenges in the steel industry: decarbonization and resource efficiency during the transition to hydrogen-based steelmaking. Cooling and gas washing circuits in direct reduction plants operate under harsh conditions—high temperatures (up to 80 °C), scaling, corrosion, and abrasive solids—making energy and water recovery a huge challenge with existing technologies. Additionally, climate change raises these hurdles by increasing water stress and reducing freshwater availability.

To overcome these barriers, EnWaRec develops a holistic approach integrating heat, electricity, and water recovery technologies with advanced monitoring and tailored water conditioning. The project’s ambition is to recover >50% of waste heat and 65% of hydropower from cooling circuits, reusing them for steam production, sludge drying, and district heating, through the development of the following technologies:

  1. Non-clogging heat exchangers and high-temperature heat pumps for steam generation.
  2. Application of micro turbines for electricity recovery from cooling water circuits.
  3. Advanced coatings and chemical dosing strategies to prevent scaling and corrosion.
  4. Integration of membrane distillation for high-quality water recovery.
  5. Digital simulation tools and predictive models for dynamic water circuit management.

ISQ plays a key role by leading Work Package 6 – Environmental and Economic Evaluation, ensuring sustainability and cost-effectiveness remain central to project outcomes. This will be achieved by conducting Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) for the individual technologies and integrated scenarios, assessing environmental and economic benefits through predefined KPIs to support decision-making, and delivering insights on resource savings, carbon footprint reduction, and cost optimization for industrial implementation.

Click this link to learn more about the project: https://enwarec.eu/about-the-project/.