€4 million EU grant for developing low-CO2 cement from new blast furnace slag

Ecocem receives €4 million grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC). Together with a consortium of leading knowledge institutes and industry partners, the company is starting a four-year research project into a new application of slag from Electric Arc Furnace (EAF). The goal: to make this residual material from the steel industry suitable as a sustainable binder in cement.

The EAF slag research project is one of only 31 selected proposals - out of a total of 401 submissions - that have been honored within Horizon Europe's prestigious Pathfinder Challenge program, which focuses on breakthrough innovations that can ensure a climate-neutral future.

Research that matters

The steel industry is in transition. Where blast furnaces are currently the standard, producers are now switching to electric furnaces. This transition is an important part of their sustainability strategy. The switch also changes the composition of the by-product, slag. Ecocem will investigate how this new EAF slag can be optimally used as a replacement for traditional cement, without compromising the quality of the final product.

Cooperation across borders

The research is led by Simon Blotevogel, one of Ecocem's award-winning scientists. Partners in the project include steel producer ArcelorMittal, the University of Toulouse, the FehS Building Materials Institute, the CNRS - Géosciences Environnement Toulouse, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and ETH Zurich. Testing programs will take place in Paris, among other places.

"This grant once again underscores our leadership role in sustainable innovation within the cement industry," said Eoin Condren, Corporate Development Director at Ecocem. "We have been working on alternatives to carbon-intensive cement for years. Thanks to this support, we can respond to changes in the steel industry as well as provide a solution for a new generation of residues."

According to Condren, collaboration between science, industry and government is crucial to really gain momentum in making cement more sustainable. "Only together can we ensure concrete impact toward net zero."