Funding boost puts £35m into UK steel industry

These are some of the goals of SUSTAIN, a £35m research network looking to transform the steel supply chain by making it greener, smarter, and more responsive to the fast-changing needs of customers.

Led by Swansea University, partnered with the Universities of Sheffield and Warwick, SUSTAIN involves over 20 partners across the UK steel industry made up of companies, trade bodies, academic experts and research organisations.  It is supported by a £10m investment from EPSRC.

According to Swansea University, SUSTAIN will focus on eliminating waste from iron and steelmaking and will look at new ways of making the industry’s processes and products more environmentally friendly. It will do this by looking at energy harvesting, capturing carbon emissions and re-processing societal and industrial waste streams. Similarly, SUSTAIN will develop new ways of acquiring and using vast amounts of data generated by steelmaking and using it in new metallurgical processes.

The work of SUSTAIN is projected to double UK steel manufacturers’ gross value added by 2030, boost jobs in the industry to 35,000, and increase productivity.