Optimized management of steel scrap through innovative detection technologies (OptiScrap)
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | SWERIM AB |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 3 845 139 |
| Project duration | June 2022 - November 2025 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | The strategic innovation programme for Metallic material |
| Call | Sustainable metal industry - Material supply |
Important results from the project
A method for analyzing large scrap pieces has been developed. It is based on a combination of a 3D sensor and LIBS (chemical analysis based on "laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy"). Individually, the sensors work very well on reference materials, but the difficulty lies in synchronizing them and creating a method where the analysis from the 3D sensor is used to position the LIBS sensor against a scrap flow in real time.
Expected long term effects
The method has been demonstrated to work, but several identified improvements need to be made. At present, there is no other method for continuous analysis of streams consisting of large sized scrap pieces. At the same time the need for well-known scrap is increasing. The developed method therefore has great potential to fill a future need and a realistic time horizon for introducing the necessary improvements and implementation in scrap management is 5 years.
Approach and implementation
The project was carried out in three phases. 1. Inventory of needs and investigation of existing methods. 2. Development of a new method based on investigated existing methods. 3. Evaluation of the method with verification in the intended industrial process.