Tata: Doubt Over Port Talbot's Ability to Make New Steel

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Tata's Port Talbot plant may have to "give up" on making new steel, according to the firm behind a green steel plant.

A boss at H2 Green Steel in Sweden said the UK lacked the conditions for a switch to hydrogen-powered furnaces and should focus on recycled steel instead.

Kajsa Ryttberg-Wallgren warned the UK steel industry risked a "slow death" if not.

A Tata spokesman said it was committed to greener steelmaking in the UK.

An announcement has been expected for some time on the Port Talbot plant's decarbonisation plans.

Unions previously said Tata intended to close both blast furnaces at the site, which rely on coal and manufacture brand new - or virgin - steel.

Instead of the blast furnaces, an electric arc furnace would be installed, which melts scrap material.

This would eventually be run off clean electricity from the grid, significantly reducing the site's massive carbon footprint.

There are fears up to 3,000 jobs could be lost in the process, while the UK could be left unable to produce its own virgin steel and left reliant on imports.

But in November, Tata said it would consider the findings of an independent report which is understood to recommend maintaining blast furnace steel production for a number of years.

 Unions previously said Tata intended to close both blast furnaces at the site, which rely on coal and manufacture brand new - or virgin - steel.

Instead of the blast furnaces, an electric arc furnace would be installed, which melts scrap material.

This would eventually be run off clean electricity from the grid, significantly reducing the site's massive carbon footprint.

There are fears up to 3,000 jobs could be lost in the process, while the UK could be left unable to produce its own virgin steel and left reliant on imports.

But in November, Tata said it would consider the findings of an independent report which is understood to recommend maintaining blast furnace steel production for a number of years.

"We could develop a whole economy around this in south Wales," he explained.

"We're going to be doing a lot more in terms of looking after that material and seeing it travel in a responsible way through the supply chain back to the steelmakers.

"And there are going to be lots of jobs associated with that as we move to a circular economy."

However, he said it was important not to dismiss alternative solutions for Port Talbot.

He said blast furnaces could be retained using carbon capture and storage or utilisation technology, while hydrogen-powered production was also "not impossible".

"People need to understand there's not a 100% right way of doing this," he said.

Ben Burggraaf, chief executive officer of Net Zero Industry Wales, said Tata's plans to build an electric arc furnace were "the start of the journey" and hydrogen could play a part.

Major industries in south Wales are working on a plan that could see large-scale production of the fuel initially using natural gas, with carbon emissions shipped away to be stored under the sea.

Green hydrogen production would follow as floating offshore windfarms were built, Mr Burggraaf added.

Tata Steel said: "Electric arc furnace technology is currently the most practical and economically sustainable way to cut carbon emissions and secure the future for steelmaking at Port Talbot.

"The UK produces 10 million tonnes of scrap steel a year, which could be used in electric arc furnace steelmaking.

"This technology will cut our emissions by five million tonnes a year - the equivalent of almost two million homes.

"We are still considering other ways to reach carbon-neutral steel production across all our UK plants in the future, which could include hydrogen or carbon capture technology in addition to our current plans."

Courtesy: www.bbc.com