[Online]. But theres no choice. SSABs mill in Iowa is expected to be powered completely by renewable energy by 2022. Switching to electricity or hydrogen would require vast amounts of capital spending to erect new plants and retrofit old ones. The production of steel remains a CO2 and energy-intensive activity. Since availablescrap today accounts for approximately 30% of the demand for new steel, we are today dependent on both steel produced from scrap and steel made from iron-ore. worldsteel defines low-carbon steel as steel that is manufactured using technologies and practices that result in the emission of significantly lower CO2 emissions than conventional production. The company plans to begin production by 2024 and produce 5 million tons of zero-emissions steel annually by the end of the decade. The resulting sponge iron then goes into an electric arc furnace, where its eventually refined into steel. Most commonly, iron ore is crushed and turned into sinter (a rough solid) or pellets. However I do not think for now any one alone will give you a silver bullet to meet the demand., Hydrogen has a bit of a head start being based on an established system and its also ahead in commercialization, said Bataille, the IDDRI energy economist. Here, the emissions from SSABs production and indirect upstream emissions are included i.e cradle to gate. Governments, he said, could incentivize the use of low-carbon steel for building and infrastructure by requiring state-funded projects to use low-carbon versions of designated construction materials. Our industry fully supports the aims of the Paris Agreement. This will create a first mover disadvantage and policy support will therefore be needed. In 2050, it is estimated scrap-based steel will account for about 50% of demand, which means that 50% of demand will continue to be met by steel made from iron-ore. Steel production is resource intensive and generates carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. But achieving a net-zero steel industry will take more carbon-free pathways, so I think there will be enough room in the market for all of them in the end.. More than 50 customer companies are part of the EcoSmart program, with more to come in 2021 and beyond. Its a fantastic challenge that were up against, Rauwerdink said. However, even if the conditions are good, it is clear that the production of low-carbon steel is going to be more expensive than steel production today. Recommended steel grades for heavy trucks and LCV, Timeline for HYBRIT and fossil-free steel, Go fossil-free: First in fossil-free steel, Zero tolerance for bribery and corruption, Subscribe for newsletters and press releases. Book Review: Helping Water Find Its Own Level, In India, a Dearth of Clean and Affordable Toilets, delivered its first batch of fossil-free steel, Air Pollution Means Less or More Hurricanes. That will help domestic producers stay competitive as the market for clean steel grows and new production processes achieve economies of scale, said Rissman. But because of the limited scrap supply, not all future demand can be met this way, said Jeffrey Rissman, an industry program director and head of modeling at the San Francisco-based energy and climate policy firm Energy Innovation. Click to see how the numbers compare globally and regionally. These upfront costs will likely drive up the price of both steel and the end products, at least in the beginning.. (Most pure hydrogen today is made with methane, which produces CO2 when burned.) The process uses coke from fossil fuels to extract oxygen from iron ore pellets, leaving a porous iron pellet called sponge iron. 20H; ` These fall into three broad categories: carbon, hydrogen and electricity. What we are talking about is a capital-intensive, risk-averse industry where disruption is extremely rare, said Chris Bataille, an energy economist at IDDRI, a Paris-based research think tank. Facingescalating pressure from governments and investors to reduce emissions, a number of steelmakers including both major producers and startups are experimenting with low-carbon technologies that use hydrogen or electricity instead of traditional carbon-intensive manufacturing. In other words, the more scrap is being used, the less control there is over the properties over the material due to the impurities in the scrap. [Online]. There is no single solution to drastically reducing CO2 emissions fromour industry, however, the mainelements enabling industrial andsocietal transformation are: We take responsibility for our impact by reducing ouremissions from the production of iron and steel. The higher production cost will result from a combination of the following: The IEA estimates the additional production cost to be between 10% and 50%compared to today, a cost increase significantly exceeding production margins. Ensures availability and affordability of low-carbon resources, including CCS infrastructure and hydrogen, in quantities necessary, Takes a life cycle approach and supports the circular economy, including the collection and sorting of end-of-life scrap, Takes an innovative approach to the regulation of low-carbon processes and products, such as the products from CCU processes, Demand low-carbon steel and understand that this will come at an additional cost, Consider the entire life cycle and design steel containing products suitable for remanufacturing, reuse and recycling. Its a fantastic challenge that were up against, he said. Another barrier is cost. What we are doing here is to see if it can work at [the] industrial level.. thinkstep, GWP benchmarking of BF route steel sheet, December 2019, and SSAB's associated EPD data, March 2020. International Energy Agency, electricity generation by source, 2020. EPDs are available for all SSAB products and are registered in the International EPD system. The EU is the second largest producer of steel in the world after China. Chief among them is the massive expansion in renewable energy infrastructure that an industry-wide shift to these new methods would entail, said Thomas Koch Blank, senior principal at the Colorado-based nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute. This method, first patented by English engineer Henry Bessemer in the 1850s, produces carbon-dioxide emissions in different ways. from steel production. To do so, emissions from steel and other heavy industries will have to fall by 93 percent by 2050, according to estimates by the International Energy Agency. C413 Office Building Beijing Lufthansa Center 50 Liangmaqiao Road T: +86 10 6464 6733 F: +86 10 6468 0728 E: china@worldsteel.org. An essential input for engineering and construction, steel is one of the most popular industrial materials in the world, with more than 2 billion tons produced annually. [i] International Energy Agency, Energy Technology Perspectives 2016, 2016. Steelmaking accounts for 7 to 11 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions, making it one of the largest industrial sources of atmospheric pollution. The agreement aimsto reach a balancebetweenanthropogenicemissions andremovals by sinks in thesecond half of the century. Our industry is leading many research, development and deployment (RD&D) efforts globally to develop each of these options. Find out more about the process of the steel industry and its potential to decarbonize in our reportAn Industrys Guide to Climate Action. [ix] B. J. van Ruijven, D. P. van Vuuren, W. Boskaljon, M. L. Neelis, D. Saygin and M. K. Patel , Long-term model-based projections of energy use and CO2 emissions from the global steel and cement industries, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, p. 1536, 2016. Today, over70% of global steel production takes place in Asia. Over 1.3 billion tons of steel are manufactured and used every year. The global iron and steel industry accounts for approximately 5% of total global CO2 emissions. In a bid to reduce pollution from domestic steel mills, which account for roughly 15 percent of the nations overall carbon emissions, Beijing has also pledged to achieve peak steel emissions by 2030. However, the steel industry will continue to reduce costs by improving its operational efficiency and deploying intelligent manufacturing technologies, partly offsetting the additional cost. In Sweden, Hybrit a joint venture between the steelmaker SSAB, the energy supplier Vattenfall, and LKAB, an iron ore producer is piloting a process that aims to repurpose an existing system called direct reduced iron. In Europe, coking coal, a form of high quality coal also known as metallurgical coal, is used simultaneously as a source of heating energy and also takes part in the chemical reaction to produce steel. Visual: Boston Metal. Under high temperatures, the coke burns and the mixture produces liquid iron, known as pig iron or blast-furnace iron. This document analyses the impacts and trade-offs of different technology choices and policy targets for the industry to be in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. They could also enforce policies that make it more expensive to buy from countries where rules on emissions are less stringent. If Insects Feel Pain, Should They Be Protected? We assist our customers in delivering innovativesolutionsthrough the use of our material and the introduction of newadvanced steel products. This means that emissions from suppliers are included as well as all energy used in manufacturing the product. Even if this demand would be drastically reduced, new production would still be needed due to the long lifetime and accumulation of steel in society[vii]. About 2.8MtCO2 per year are solely related to energy use in the iron and steel sector, about 8% of total energy-related emissions[i]. EPDs report values from the entire product lifecycle. In 2020, 1,860 million tonnes (Mt) of steel were produced, and total direct emissions from our sector were of the order of 2.6 billion tonnes, representing between 7% and 9%. According to some estimates, unchanged applications of steel and long lifetimes will necessitate around 50% of the steel in 2050 to still be produced from new materials[vi]. Last August, Hybrit reached its first milepost: SSAB, which produces and sells the end product, delivered its first batch of fossil-free steel to the automaker Volvo, which used it in vehicle prototypes. This allows us to make very high-quality steel using way less energy and in fewer steps than conventional steelmaking. As long as power comes from fossil-free sources, he added, the process generates no carbon emissions. [viii] M. Pooler, Growth in steel demand forecast to slow next year, 2017. Read more about our partnership programmes, Address: Rdhusgata 28, 0151 Oslo, Norway Phone +4723234600 info@bellona.no. In areas rich in low-carbon energy, one might expect to see the deployment of water electrolysis and hydrogen reduction. Westrive for efficiency in our processes and maximised useof scrap. The growing demand and long lifetime an obstacle for higher recycling rates: some products can only use a limited amount of scrap due to a requirement for high quality steel. We are developing and manufacturing the advanced steelproducts necessary to facilitate the requiredtransformationand adaptation of society to reach carbon neutrality throughzero energy buildings, renewable energy infrastructures,electrification and more. About 2.8MtCO2 per year are solely related to energy use in the iron and steel sector, about 8% of total energy-related emissions[i]. The Paris Agreementwas adopted in 2015. Scrap plays a key role in suppressing industry emissions and resource consumption. Even if abundant scrap is available, only a limited amount of it can be used to form the higher steel quality required for several products[ix]. %PDF-1.3 % Since 2010, SSAB Americas has reduced its energy consumption by nearly 20%. Available: https://euracoal.eu/info/ country-profiles/germany/. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on FlipBoard (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window), Book Review: A Global History of the Black Death, Opinion: Reporting Responsibly on Youth Suicide, New Antidepressant Guidelines Tackle Withdrawal, Sexual Health Clinics Struggle to Fight Monkeypox. Beyond the practical obstacles to scaling up novel processes in time to reach global climate goals, there are concerns about China, where over half the worlds steel is made and whose plans to decarbonize the steel sector remain vague. SSAB Americas production process results in 62% fewer CO. In September 2020, President Xi Jinping announced that the country aims to become carbon neutral by 2060. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Top: Tapping Boston Metals semi-industrial molten oxide electrolysis cell. Here are some key points related to SSAB Americas products and production process: Get direct contact information for the relevant person in your area. [iv] J. Morfeldt, W. Nijs and S. Silveira, The impact of climate targets on future steel production e an analysis based on a global energy system model, Journal of Cleaner Production, pp. Chaoyang District Beijing 100125 China Back in Boston, Rauwerdink, surveying Boston Metals factory lines, agreed. Demand for steel, particularly in developing economies, has seen global CO2 emissions from steel increase steadily[ii]. To achieve the drastic reductions needed, an entirely new, transformative approach to ironmaking is required, and there are several promising approaches to reduce iron ore at an industrial scale without the release of CO2. Select brand, grade, and product type from the dropdown lists, to find out about the CO2 footprint of each product. First, the chemical reactions in the blast furnace result in emissions, as carbon trapped in coke and limestone binds with oxygen in the air to create carbon dioxide as a byproduct. Over 1.3 billion tons of steel are manufactured and used every year. The processes are differentiated according to the raw material used in the process iron ore-based (Blast Furnace based production, BF) or scrap-based from recycled steel (Electric Arc Furnace based production, EAF). %%EOF * Values are valid for production in Sweden/Finland. At the same time, ensuring that policies reward proactive efforts and do not create an economic disadvantage for companies who have already invested in efficient steelmaking. k /O5%~{8%~y!`qs m'5*,k$|SQeE@@`aY/5@/:h)d;]7wex{1oB,D!nB&9 D%$>'1H)AAPM^@@l ~)k 8003 Under the IEAs Sustainable Development Scenario, total direct emissions from the iron and steel sector fall by more than 50% by 2050 relative to 2019. Whether it is future energy andtransport systems, protectionfrom the impacts of naturaldisasters, climate-resilientinfrastructure, construction andhousing, low-carbonmanufacturing and agriculture,steel is at the heart of deliveringsolutions. In the case of the clean hydrogen method, the price tag for steel will increase largely because steel producers are located close to low-cost coking coal rather than low-cost hydrogen, pointed out Koch Blank. increased operational expenses, due to, for example: use of more expensive low carbon resources such as green hydrogen or low-carbon electricity; CCS equipment requiring additional energy to operate and for CO2 storage, increased capital expenses due to, for example: replacement of coal-based blast furnace units with hydrogen-based DRI units and basic oxygen furnaces with electric arc furnace units, the conversion of existing equipment to use hydrogen or other fuels; the retrofitting of CCS or CCUS infrastructure, capital losses due to, for example: the potential early retirement or write-off of long-lived steelmaking assets, Accelerate efforts to improve energy and CO2 efficiency across the global industry and work with partners and neighbours to create synergies, Develop a portfolio of breakthrough technologies through increased research and development, Ensure that all scrap that is collected is recycled into new steel products by developing technologies that maximise the value of all collected scrap, Engage with governments to make clear what will be needed in terms of low-carbon resources and finance to deploy these breakthrough technologies at scale, Continue to measure and report on our CO2 emissions, Does not pick winners and losers among possible technologies but recognises that a number of different technologies will be used, Reduces the first mover disadvantage by increasing the demand for low-carbon materials and creating a market for low-carbon steel, keeping in mind that producing low-carbon steel will be up to 50% more costly than conventionally produced steel today. While efficiency improvements will help the industry, there is a need to develop further and deploy a broad portfolio of breakthrough technology options and enabling infrastructure to achieve long term, deep reduction in emissions. What we do is basically swapping carbon for electricity as a reducing agent, explained Adam Rauwerdink, the companys senior vice president of business development. Steel is also used in renewable electricity infrastructure, such as wind generation. Search and download SSABs brochures, certificates and other materials. And because production could rise by a third by 2050, this environmental burden could grow. Steel is one of the most important and challenging industries to decarbonize, said Rissman, so global coordination on it would help greatly. Even so, 18 new blast-furnace projects were announced in China just in the first six months of 2021, according to the Helsinki-based research group Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Bellona recognised early on that neither the environmental organisations nor the government alone could drive forward solutions to the environmental challenges were facing. He estimates that the world would need up to three times the currently installed solar and wind energy sources to electrify the existing primary steel production. We drive more reuse, remanufacturing and recycling, allkey elements of the circular economy. Its certainly not an easy fix to decarbonize an industry like this, said Bataille. As much as 70 percent of the worlds steel is produced this way, generating nearly two tons of carbon dioxide for each ton of steel produced. At SSAB, steelmaking processes have been continuously advanced and improved. Marcello Rossi is a freelance science and environmental journalist based in Milan, Italy. EPD stands for Environmental Product Declaration, which is an independently verified document that provides transparent, comparable information about the environmental impact of products from the lifecycle perspective. [iii] ESTEP, Resource Efficiency for the European steel industry, 2011. Some of these efforts are nearing commercial reality. SSABs EPDs are available here. Demand for steel, particularly in developing economies, has seen global CO2 emissions from steel increase steadily[ii]. Carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) can combine carbon-rich waste gases with renewable energy to create synthetic fuels and chemicals such as acetone and isopropanol that can be used as feedstock by the chemicals sector. eesc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/resources/docs/lamberterie.pdf . Wheniron is combined with carbon,recycled steel and small amounts of otherelements it becomes steel. The molten material then goes into an oxygen furnace, where its blasted with pure oxygen through a water-cooled lance, which forces off carbon to leave crude steel as a final product. In the city of Woburn, Massachusetts, a suburb just north of Boston, a cadre of engineers and scientists in white coats inspected an orderly stack of brick-sized, gunmetal-gray steel ingots on a desk inside a neon-illuminated lab space. However, we can expect to see first movers trial and implement first of a kind plants providing increased quantities of low-carbon steel to the market from the mid-2020s. Iron is made by removing oxygen and other impurities from iron ore. The Indian government plans to more than double production capacity by 2030 as it pursues a massive infrastructure programme[viii]. Therefore, he added, its exciting that theres so much going on all at once. In addition, fossil fuels are typically burned to heat the blast furnace and to power sintering and pelletizing plants, as well as coke ovens, emitting carbon dioxide in the process. step up is a multistep process covering raw materials, energy input, yield and maintenance that can be used to support improvements in mill operations to efficiency levels commensurate with the steel industrys top performers. For example, our cold-rolled steel production emits approximately 6% less CO2e than the European average and as much as 17% less than the Chinese average (see the chart above). Around 90% of SSABs direct CO2 emissions are generated by iron ore-based steel production at our sites in Lule, Oxelsund and Raahe, in particular our blast furnaces. But, he added, We are showing that solutions exist and work.. But, he added, We are showing that solutions exist and work.. That poses a significant challenge for tackling the climate crisis. In 2020, on average, every tonne of steel produced led to the emission of 1.851 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. hkS8}'vf:! While each of these components will play a strong role, our focus here is on the first element mitigating our own emissions from the production of iron and steel. The EU is the second largest producer of steel in the world after China. Steelmaking is a truly global industry, and raw materials (such as iron ore andscrap) and steel products are traded globally to a large extent. In any given location, the choice of which breakthrough solution to deploy will be determined by the availability of resources and local policy support. Since the transformation of the industry will be gradual, with some companies/countries/regions moving faster than others, steel produced using low-carbon technologies will be competing with conventionally produced steel (and other conventionally produced materials) in the same market for some time. The process releases only water vapor as a byproduct. SSAB Americas recycles millions of gallons of water every year for water conservation. 469-482, 2015. The values are taken from the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). Create partnerships to enable transformation, World Steel Association AISBL This gives a competitive advantage to SSAB and its customers. A commercial-scale demonstration plant is expected to be up and running by 2025. [v] EURACOAL, Country profiles: Germany, 2017. Furthermore, the IEA notes the critical role governments must play in ensuring a sustainable transition of the sector, and concludes with a call to action for governments, the steel industry, the research and NGO communities and other stakeholders. According to Rissman, the analyst in San Francisco, legislation on both the supply and the demand side could help offset those higher costs and encourage more investment in greener technologies. Steel and emissions: How can we break the link? All scrap that is collected is recycled. endstream endobj startxref Each companys choice of which breakthrough technology to invest in will to a large degree depend on the resources available and the policies in place. The steelindustry is an integral part ofthe circular economy with ourmaterial ideally suited to beremanufactured, reused andultimately recycled. Find out more about the process of the steel industry and its potential to decarbonize in our report. There are two different ways of producing steel. Steel can be recycled via the electric arc furnace (EAF) route. Visit our subscription center to manage all your SSAB newsletters subscriptions, Contact Steel piles and infrastructure products, Use steel better: Environmental benefits with SSAB's steels, Use better steel: SSABs customers benefit from leading CO efficient production. Learnings from these innovations will support broader deployment across the wider industry by mid-century. 436 0 obj <>stream So how do we deal with the emissions from the steel industry? Other companies testing hydrogen-powered steelmaking include ArcelorMittal, Thyssenkrupp, and Salzgitter AG in Germany; Posco in South Korea; and Voestalpine in Austria. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. SSAB EPDs comply with international standards, which provides objective data highlighting the low carbon footprint of SSAB products. T: +32 2 702 89 00 F: +32 2 702 88 99 E: steel@worldsteel.org, Beijing office The durability and high strength of SSAB Americas steel adds years to the lifecycle of products. 0 Globally, steel demand is expected to exceed scrap availability, with CO2 intensive primary steel making up the shortfall. As with the Paris Agreement, we believe that individual countries are best placed to assess and implement policy and technical strategies to suit their particular circumstances. Available: https:// www.ft.com/content/3593c38a-b27a-11e7-a398-73d59db9e399. 469-482, 2015. The purified iron is then mixed with carbon and other ingredients. Use the SSAB footprint tool to get an overview of how our products can help in limiting the carbon footprint of your projects. Sign up to receive our e-newsletter.You can easily unsubscribe at any time. I feel all these solutions have their place, depending on location, resource availability, and targeted product, said Sridhar Seetharaman, a professor of materials science and engineering at Arizona State University. There are two predominant ways to produce steel. The steel industry works intensively with itscustomers, from design to end-of-life, to share our materialknowledge to ensure that steel is used as efficiently aspossible in any given application. Q9emhSzyl4}G}xJ LSlEm.<7G[. Available: https://www. @Zvm-AEE`WGsaB-+, Avenue de Tervueren 270 1150 Brussels Belgium The future of the sector and that of our climate depends on just that.. The EcoSmart program, first launched in 2016, is SSAB Americas' innovative customer awareness program designed to showcase the organization's commitment to sustainability.

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