PURESCRAP presents at ESTEP Annual Event 2026 in Ghent

The PURESCRAP project was represented at the ESTEP Annual Event 2026, held from 20–22 October in Ghent, Belgium. Jonas Petersson from Swerim, coordinator of the PURESCRAP consortium, presented the latest project developments and shared insights into the potential of sensor-based scrap analysis for more sustainable steel production.

His presentation, entitled “Integration of sensor solutions for online analysis of post-consumer scrap at the scrap recycling plant – progress within the PURESCRAP project”, highlighted the project's approach to improving scrap characterisation and enabling greater use of post-consumer scrap in high-quality steel production.

From improved scrap analysis to more circular steelmaking

A central focus of the presentation was the integration of advanced sensor technologies into industrial scrap processing operations. Rather than relying on piece-by-piece sorting, the PURESCRAP concept aims to provide reliable information on the chemical composition of entire scrap batches.

By combining complementary sensor technologies for heavy and shredded scrap, the project seeks to improve material quality monitoring, support more efficient scrap processing and provide steel producers with better information for optimising their scrap charge mixtures.

These developments contribute to PURESCRAP's broader objective of increasing the utilisation of secondary raw materials, reducing reliance on primary resources and supporting the transition towards more resource-efficient, low-carbon steelmaking.

The ESTEP Annual Event provided an excellent opportunity to present the consortium's work to the European steel research and innovation community and highlight the importance of collaboration across the steel recycling value chain.

We thank ESTEP for the opportunity to share our progress and look forward to continuing our work towards a more circular European steel industry.

Further information about the event is available on the ESTEP Annual Event 2026 website.