Each year, the steel industry generates hundreds of millions of tons of solid residues, commonly known as slag. This solid smelting by-product contains valuable metals (as oxides) like aluminium, magnesium, manganese, and titanium. Traditional value chains for ore mining and extraction of these materials are both costly and environmentally harmful.

While some of this slag is used in low-value cement and aggregate applications, large quantities are either stockpiled or landfilled, leaving the full potential of the slag largely untapped.

Avertana’s proprietary technology addresses these challenges by using slag as a secondary resource. The company’s innovative process efficiently converts titanium-bearing slag into high-value titanium dioxide (TiO₂) pigment and a suite of essential raw materials used to make everyday products like paint, paper and building materials. This zero-waste approach not only avoids the need for mining but also reduces manufacturing costs and environmental impact, offering a more sustainable solution with a 60-70% smaller carbon footprint compared to conventional TiO₂ production methods.

Avertana’s technology ensures that no waste is left behind, maximising the value derived from steel slag while also substantially reducing the environmental impact of pigment production.

The Challenge Explained:

Waste is an inevitable by-product of manufacturing, stemming from various factors inherent to production processes. However, disposing of this waste incurs both economic and environmental costs.

Manufacturers face growing challenges due to stricter environmental regulations and consumer pressures to build and maintain more sustainable and ethical supply chains. As our global population grows and demand for products that enhance the quality of daily life continue to increase, resources to meet this demand are becoming scarcer. This creates a pressing need to find innovative ways to do more with less, while also reducing the environmental and economic costs associated with industrial waste disposal.

The opportunity:

Avertana has identified a significant opportunity to increase the availability of valuable resources and avoid the need for energy-intensive mining practices by connecting industrial waste streams with global commodity markets, while at the same time reducing the environmental impact that comes from disposing of the waste. By producing essential raw materials out of industrial waste that is otherwise dumped, Avertana is reducing the costs and environmental impact of global supply chains.

Avertana’s primary focus is waste slag from steel manufacturing. Using this as a raw material, the circular economy technology Avertana has developed uses a process that refines the waste and extracts compounds to produce multiple high-quality, valuable materials such as TiO2 pigment without leaving any residual waste behind.

As an example of its value, TiO₂ (which sells for >$2,500/t globally) is a highly-versatile and widely used white pigment found in various everyday products – from food products, cosmetics, toothpaste, paints & coatings through to paper and packaging, plastics and sunscreens. Yet it has traditionally been obtained through mining, ore smelting, and energy intensive processing methods, leading to substantial solid waste and carbon emissions. Avertana’s process has a significantly smaller carbon emissions footprint than conventional processes for the same products, while consuming rather than producing waste.

Why We invested:

Four key factors influenced our decision to invest in Avertana:

1. Problem: Avertana is addressing a real issue with tangible impacts.
2. Opportunity: The commercial potential is significant
3. Environmental Impact: The benefits in terms of CO2 emissions and waste reduction, are very tangible
4. Proven Execution: Over the past three years, management has effectively executed on the strategy and consistently met key milestones

Pacific Channel has been closely monitoring Avertana’s progress, recognising the importance of the real, tangible problem the team is working to solve. Waste slag is a persistent issue, and as the need for steel continues waste slag will remain an inevitable by-product. Avertana has developed a technology that turns this waste into valuable raw materials. Understanding that scaling up a solution in heavy industry requires a capable partner, they identified and secured such a partner in Tranvic Group.

In 2023, following nine years of R&D, Avertana signed a deal with Tranvic Group, a Chinese steelmaker and building products manufacturer, to refine waste slag from its steel mill into high-value TiO₂ pigment and commodity co-products.

As China is the world’s largest steel producer, having a mainland Chinese customer willing to invest in the construction of an industrial demonstration plant clearly validates the existence of a new global market for cost-effective process technologies that reduce waste and make high-quality raw materials.

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