Sustainability in Steel | SUSTAIN Bi-Annual Conference 2021
On the 1st and 2nd of December 2021, the SUSTAIN Future Manufacturing Research Hub held its second Bi-Annual Conference, ‘Sustainability in Steel’. Over the two live days, more than 190 attendees and booth representatives accessed the virtual conference platform.
This free to attend event was hosted online, due to the ongoing effects of Covid-19 and to make the event as accessible as possible to a wide audience. The conference aimed to raise awareness of the ongoing projects in the SUSTAIN Hub, demonstrating how this research is supporting the steel industry and its supply chains in the UK, as well as to share knowledge and best practice from a variety of external experts in the field. Conference attendees watched live presentations from a range of expert academic and industrial speakers, participated in the interactive workshop session and had opportunities to pose questions to our two expert panels.
The conference was run on a web-based virtual platform, which allowed attendees to interact with one another through the live text and video chat functions. The platform also hosted an online exhibition hall, which featured 18 booths from our projects, partners and related programmes, where attendees could browse a range of content including posters, videos and brochures.
The technical presentations were distributed over the two live conference days, with sessions covering a wide range of topical issues for the UK steel industry, including:
Decarbonisation and de-fossilisation
The role of scrap in the future of iron and steelmaking
Supply chains and the Circular Economy
The Hydrogen economy
The use of Artificial Intelligence and digital processes
High temperature microstructure monitoring and optimisation
Skills and securing the talent pipeline
A range of speakers participated from the academic and industrial partners within the SUSTAIN network, and we were delighted to welcome those from outside the existing Hub structure, both from the UK and Internationally. It was fantastic to hear from those who could provide different perspectives on the issues facing the UK steel industry.
The Conference workshop, held on Day 1, provided attendees with an opportunity to discuss and put across their ideas in breakout rooms, with topic areas focused around the two SUSTAIN Grand Challenges: 1. Carbon Neutral Iron and Steelmaking and 2. Smart Steel processing.
In the Carbon Neutral Iron and Steelmaking group, waste was a significant topic. Finding high value uses for waste materials was key to the discussions, which also covered the topics of reducing the quantities of wastes produced and developing suitable methodologies for the full identification and quantification of waste streams.
In the Smart Steel Processing breakout, data was the most highly discussed topic. Collecting and storing data from processes is one issue, but determining the quality of this data is an equally important consideration. Understanding the processes data relates to and how specific data sets can be applied requires specialist knowledge and training to ensure it can be used effectively.
The final session of the conference comprised of two panel sessions, consisting of industrial, government and academic experts, who offered the audience opportunities to ask their questions. It was interesting to hear the varying opinions of the panel members, and to get their thoughts on the future of steelmaking in the UK.
Overall the event was well received and attendees found the virtual platform easy to navigate. It is hoped future Hub events will have a face-to-face element, although this conference has highlighted the benefits to inclusivity and geographical reach of hosting content online. There were many virtual attendees present who may not have been able to attend in person due to travel or budget constraints. It is also important to consider the lower carbon emissions generated by travel from hosting events online or in hybrid form. In the future we hope to be able to deliver events in a hybrid format where possible to maximise attendance, discussion and networking opportunities.
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