Posted on 01 Jul 2022
By optimising the use of European steel scrap, the annual need for fossil gas – or hydrogen – can be reduced by 60% for the EU + UK steel industry. This would also require less hydrogen storage capacity, and delay the need for green hydrogen by three years, says Belgium-based climate think tank Sandbag.
“Contrary to widespread belief, scrap quality does not make impossible to substitute BF-BOF steel mills with EAFs in the production of high-end steel, provided that scrap management is improved and that scrap impurities are diluted by the addition of some virgin iron like DRI,” Sandbag points out in a report seen by Kallanish.
Optimising the use of scrap would mainly require better segregation of scrap categories which should happen as electric arc furnace steelmaking expands. It will also mean better assessment of scrap quality for which the technology is available and inexpensive, it adds.
The scrap currently exported by the EU could be used entirely by new European EAFs replacing old BFs.
All the EU’s blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace steel mills could be replaced with EAFs fed by the same, 20% proportion of scrap, achieving 55% emission reductions by 2030. However, that would increase annual fossil gas consumption in 2030 by 18.2 billion cubic meters, or hydrogen by 4.2 million tonnes in order to process primary iron ore into ore-based metallics (OBM).
EAFs can be virtually carbon-free if fed on zero-carbon electricity. They can cope with the intermittence of renewable energy, but continuous running on grid power would be more economical, Sandbag says.
Manufacturing OBM using hydrogen requires uninterrupted access to hydrogen sources, although with some volume flexibility. Achieving this through renewable electricity would thus also require some optimisation work. Completely uninterrupted grid electricity cannot be provided by renewables, the think tank adds.
Emission reductions in 2030 could reach 73%, using scrap and hydrogen-based DRI, including 41% achieved from optimised scrap use. However, there is a risk that much of Europe’s EAFs will use imported DRI if that product is not covered by the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. CBAM should therefore cover ore-based metallics, as well as finished steel products.
“The challenge is not about innovative technology but rather access to zero-carbon electricity and better practices in the scrap market. EU funding such as expected from the Climate Investment Fund (now the Innovation Fund) might be more suitable to address these EU-wide challenges than sponsor individual conversion projects,” Sandbag concludes.
Source:Kallanish
