Posted on 02 Aug 2021
Continued growth in steel demand over the coming decades means primary production will remain the main source of steel beyond 2050, according to the Net-Zero Steel Pathway Methodology Project (NZSPMP) report. This is because secondary sources are finite, bound by the amount of end-of-life scrap becoming available in society.
The report argues that the methodology for emissions target setting needs to differentiate between primary (iron ore) and secondary (scrap) sources of steel production, rather than differentiating by production route. Primary sources of steel production are the main contributor to GHG emissions, Kallanish notes.
The methodology must “ensure that trade flows of finite secondary sources do not shift to jurisdictions with strict greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations, without contributing to the overall reduction in global emissions”, the report says.
A Science Based Target (SBT) should be made up of two targets based on its use of iron ore and scrap metallic inputs. The steel sector carbon budget, against which net zero targets are assessed, should therefore also be made up of an iron ore based (primary) and scrap based (secondary) budget with separate trajectories to 2050.
There will be a need to accommodate budgets for specific product families such as for stainless steel. This is due to a significantly higher contribution of emissions from ferroalloy additions, which are responsible for up to 70% of stainless steel scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions, the report observes.
“Through collaboration with the International Energy Agency (IEA), the global steel sector budget should also include the power sector emissions associated with combusting iron and steelmaking process gases (coke oven, blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace) to produce electricity, both on and off site,” the report continues.
The application of carbon capture and utilisation (CCU), for example to recover value from process gases, may require different treatment, where captured emissions are, by definition, not released by the steel sector. They may therefore be partially or wholly deducted from the carbon balance of the site. There may also be additional avoided emissions in downstream sectors, depending on the application, the report says.
The NZSPMP report was contributed to by various stakeholders including ArcelorMittal, ResponsibleSteel and worldsteel.
Source:Kallanish
