Here are the winners:
Diploma thesis: Daniel Ernst, DI, Dr.mont., BSc (former employee of K1-MET)
Master’s thesis: Bernhard Adami, DI (PhD student in K1-MET Area 2)

Bernhard Adami won the price for his master‘s thesis entitled “Untersuchung des Verhaltens von Phosphor, Schwefel und Kupfer während des Wasserstoffplasma-Schmelzreduktionsprozesses”.

The award ceremony took place during the social evening at the ASMET Forum 2024 at the Dominikanerhof in Leoben on 16 May 2024.

Here is a short summary of his master’s thesis:
The master’s thesis delves into exploring the potential of hydrogen plasma smelting reduction as an environmentally sustainable substitute for traditional steelmaking processes. Through a series of laboratory reduction experiments using Egyptian iron ore enriched with ferrophosphorus and copper sulfate, various process parameters were examined, such as slag basicity, crucible material, and hydrogen content in the plasma gas. The research revealed that an increase in slag basicity leads to a reduction in phosphorus concentration in the metal, attributed to the formation of tricalcium phosphate. Furthermore, higher levels of hydrogen content and slag basicity were found to enhance the desulfurization process. The interaction between copper and sulfur during reduction was observed to be influenced by thermodynamic conditions.

Read the full master’s thesis of Bernhard Adami:
https://pure.unileoben.ac.at/de/publications/untersuchung-des-verhaltens-von-phosphor-schwefel-und-kupfer-w%C3%A4hr

Thanks to ASMET, Austrian Society for Metallurgy and Materials, sponsored by INTECO melting and casting technologies GmbH.