As steel producers release their decarbonisation plans the growing commonality to achieve these goals in the short and long term is to increase steel scrap usage.
Major steel producers have embarked on an
acquisition spree of steel scrap recycling companies to secure a reliable
source of raw materials. Steel scrap is king and a key solution for steel
producers to decarbonise in both BF/BOF and EAF operations to manufacture green
steel.
China generally applies a higher scrap ratio within
its BF/BOF operations as a substitute for ferrous feed when sintering is
restricted under the emissions control policy. BOF scrap charge rates can be more than 300kg/t
liquid steel but are typically around 150-200kg/t when not restricted by scrap
availability or pricing.
Every 1t of scrap steel used for steel production avoids
around 1.5t of CO2 emissions and the consumption of 1.4t of iron ore and 0.74t
of metallurgical coal, 0.12t of limestone and the energy costs associated with
producing pig iron from the basic raw materials.