The world is well-behind the U.S., but if the Europeans switch one-third of their production capacity en masse throughout the next eight to 10 years, that need is going to turn critical for them almost overnight. accounted for 70 percent of the total steel produced in 2019, and the scramble to identify appropriate feedstock has been an issue in the country for the better part of a decade. in the U.S., are building capacity to supply the anticipated need.ĮAF-based steelmaking production in the U.S. This is why raw material suppliers, including the likes of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. EAF steelmakers most likely will operate more along the lines of a BOF process using some form of preprocessed iron ore. This leads to the second hurdle: There isn’t enough scrap metal in the world to feed these furnaces. It remains to be seen if these efforts move from the drawing board to purchase orders, but I would posit that it’s a serious endeavor that has been prioritized with resources and attention and is more likely to happen eventually. ![]() ![]() Some European countries are farther down the conversion path to clean energy than others, taking advantage of water, wind and other natural resources.īecause this is a culturally inspired commitment rather than a market-driven one, in conjunction with these steel production shifts, the European steelmakers are seeking to protect their markets by exploring the possibility of a carbon “border tax” for steel coming into their markets that hasn’t been produced using the same climate-conscious constraints.Īdditionally, some marketing efforts are underway to develop premium “clean steel” brands in an attempt to segment the global market into “environmentally friendly” steels compared with “environmentally unfriendly” steels that have been produced through lower cost steelmaking methods that don’t take as much care for the impact of their processes on the environment. Thus, many European producers are aggressively seeking to “go green” with their entire energy generation systems. This makes the benefit questionable compared with the great aggravation and disruption that making the shift to EAF production would create. Two challenges to this long-term strategic plan remain unresolved, however.įirst, if the electricity used to power EAFs isn’t carbon neutral, changing from BF/BOF production to EAF production just shifts the climate impact from the steelmaker to the energy generation operation, resulting in no ultimate reduction of the carbon footprint. The only path available to them to further reduce their carbon emissions is to shift to EAF production using alternative metallics, diverting large capital investments that would have been used to sustain their blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BF/BOF) production with EAFs. European steel producers have worked diligently over the past two decades to reduce the carbon footprint of the steel produced through traditional integrated steelmaking, having accomplished the lowest levels possible from a scientific perspective. Looking forward over the next decade, EAF steelmaking production will be a big winner in the race to produce “green,” “carbon neutral” steel. ![]() This is because Turkish capacity that is largely EAF based operates as “swing” supply and was down 9 million metric tons (9.92 million short tons), or 22 percent, compared with 2018. While the final numbers for 2019 haven’t been released as I write this in February, I expect EAF production increased year over year but potentially lost 0.1 percent of market share. That was followed by an additional 12.3 percent increase in 2018, meaning EAFs accounted for almost 404 million metric tons (445 million short tons), or 29 percent, of the 1.8 billion metric tons (1.98 billion short tons) of steel produced globally. ![]() After holding at approximately 25 percent of global steelmaking production for about a decade through 2012, the migration to electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking accelerated during the past seven years.ĮAF steelmaking production hit a new high in 2017 with a 7.5 percent year-over-year increase.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |