The manufacture of steel creates by-products that can be utilized after further processing. SKJ Yhtiöt Oy, a company owned by Rautaruukki that specializes in utilizing and marketing the steel industry’s by-products, delivers by-products for processing at a plant in the Ukraine. Etteplan was responsible for designing the plant, which started operations in 1998.

The primary purpose of the process plant is to separate the iron content from the steel slag for recycling into the steel manufacturing process. Moreover, the region has commercially viable markets for the slag products produced by the plant.

Etteplan was responsible for the process plant’s technological design and management of the construction project, including procuring equipment and subcontractors. The technical project involved all areas of design and partly involved Ukrainian partners.

The plant has a processing capacity of 250 tonnes per hour. The process technology includes pre-screening, metal separation, crushing, product screening and conveyor systems as well as a separate purification facility for iron-content end products.


Etteplan has been involved in bringing about similar plants in Russia and Finland, and the technology has been developed in cooperation with customers and component manufacturers. The aim has been to seek the technology for recycling and utilizing the by-products produced by steel mills, making them economically profitable.