Scrap Steel Recycling Plays Key Role in Lowering Steel Emissions

The electric arc furnace (EAF) steel production using scrap steel is one of the most commonly practised lower-emission steel production method.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The recent study report published by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) highlights the potentials of scrap steel recycling in boosting decarbonisation efforts by the global steel industry.

Of late, the potential use of green hydrogen to produce DRI to decarbonise steel production has been in focus. However, the widespread use of cost-competitive green hydrogen is still many years away.

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The electric arc furnace (EAF) steel production using scrap steel is one of the most commonly practised lower-emission steel production method. Although the method by itself is not capable of fully decarbonising the steel sector, it has proved to be helpful in reducing global steel sector emissions for the rest of the current year and also in the decades to come, IEEFA report noted. The scrap-based secondary steelmaking could be expanded in many nations, it added.

The scrap-EAF process consumes only one-tenth of energy, when compared with conventional blast furnace methods. The direct carbon dioxide emission is 30 times lesser than the process that use iron ore and coal. The scrap-EAF is highly cost-competitive when powered 100% by renewable energy, whose cost is on a decline.