Beneva develops auto sheet scrap reuse technology
Czech steel sheet processor Beneva has developed a system to reprocess prompt/industrial scrap arising from automotive blanking into steel sheet for use by automotive companies, without the need for remelting. The “SATURNIN” system enables steel reuse, thereby reducing carbon footprint and cost, Beneva tells Kallanish.
The system collects scrap data about arising post-industrial steel scrap and material needs across steel processing companies. It then searches for the best matches according to geometry, steel grades, volumes, location and other information. The system ensures the purchase, collection, inspection and reprocessing of steel scrap into low carbon footprint input material and its shipment to the end customer, Beneva notes.
Beneva cooperates with regional steel service centres, as well as OEMs, such as Škoda Auto. “The system has great scaling potential, so the production site is still expanding and other SATURNIN hubs are going to be launched soon,” the firm observes.
The scrap is collected from the blanking/stamping line and placed in a separate box, before being transported to the firm’s warehouse for tensile and OES tests in an accredited material lab. The pieces are then placed in regular stacks on pallets, with any flaws eliminated on an autonomous robotics line.
The pieces are then processed on the autonomous robotic blanking line and transformed into regular shapes, such as rectangular or trapezoid, required by the customer – stampers or OEMs. Those blanks are stacked on a pallet, wrapped up and delivered to the customer. The material is identical to the automotive sheet delivered by a service centre or mill, Beneva claims.
The firm estimates around 400kg of scrap sheet metal are produced per car manufactured, meaning tens of millions of scrap globally per year. The firm’s technology currently focuses on scrap generated from the blanking process, where the material is not influenced by stamping, meaning it can save around 2-3% of the total scrap.
It is working on developing new technologies to be able to process the portion of scrap that arises after stamping operation – stamping influenced scrap. This could result in 5-10% of total scrap being reused.
Benva will be present at EuroBLECH 2024 in Hannover from 22 -25 October – Stand 17-E156, Hall 17.
Adam Smith Poland
Tata UK could seek recycling company acquisition
Tata Steel UK could weigh up acquiring a recycling company to ensure supply of scrap for its planned transition to an electric arc furnace, Kallanish notes.
Two sources from large UK scrap companies tell Kallanish that Tata Steel had been reviewing potential acquisition opportunities within the last 12 months, reportedly making a bid for at least one UK facility, which was not successful. The steelmaker was not available for comment on this before Thursday deadline.
However, when asked during the UK Metals Expo on Thursday about the potential for securing its own scrap processor, Tata Steel UK head of public relations Tim Rutter said: “I think if you were an MBA student, doing a project about the steel industry and moving towards electric arc furnace steelmaking, you’d list a number of options.”
“You can continue a relationship with your scrap suppliers as a customer … you can work collaboratively as we are already doing as part of our collaboration with Swansea University on segregation, or buy scrap supply and become vertically integrated,” he told Kallanish at the event in Birmingham.
Rutter noted during an earlier panel: “There is clearly an emerging trend in the industry, which is collaboration, between private industry, government, academia [and] research institutes where people, more than I ever remember in my career, are working hand in hand for the common good.”
“Watch this space” he added.
One of the market sources views the steelmaker buying a recycling company as a move with no downside. “They should, and I think they will,” they tell Kallanish. “They’re spending their money opening an EAF, and they need scrap to feed it.”
“For Tata, there is no downside. It’s security of supply, at the end of the day,” the source adds, noting that another UK steelmaker, Celsa, had recently opened its own recycling facility with a material shredder.
“Tata Steel have certain expertise in house, and they already understand what quality they’re after. They either collaborate with recycling companies to get that blend, or buy a recycling company to get it,” the source continues.
The UK exports around 10 million tonnes/year of ferrous scrap, while domestically, the feedstock has become more challenging to secure, according to market sources, even before Tata switches to EAF steelmaking from 2027. This will see the firm’s scrap requirement rise to 2-2.5m t/y.
“There’s a lot less [scrap] available now, the supply of material is a lot harder. There is less demolition from construction and macroeconomic factors, with less [consumer] spend on cars, etc,” the market source adds.
They also note the volatility in scrap markets, with peaks and troughs becoming more frequent, which can be hard to navigate for buyers and sellers.
A second market source believes Tata Steel is underestimating the challenges involved with sourcing such a volume of scrap from the market or acquiring its own recycling company.
“It’s a very steep investment and a serious amount of capital investment to change the grading [of the scrap for an EAF],” the source says. Some scrap grades can have higher residual copper levels which would need managing, as well as needing to segregate chrome from other grades, they add.
“Tata will have to pay more money for the scrap as they’re asking the yards to do more work,” they note. “Naturally, you go towards shredders, but there’s not the volume coming out of the shredders in the UK today for what they need. With Celsa competing for material, the price of the shredder feed is going to have to go up.”
The second source explains that some facilities would not be good acquisition targets due to logistical limitations, with 2mt of scrap unlikely to be transported by road, while other facilities may not have the machinery needed such as shredders.
A shredder could cost £12 million ($15.7m), in addition to the acres of land needed for segregation and sorting the material, plus staff and engineers for maintenance and repairs, the source concludes.
Carrie Bone UK
Investment breeds US success, scrap imports likely: Tayfun Iseri
The success of the US steel industry comes down to investment and location management, whereas Europe has fallen behind in this regard. With electric arc furnace-based flat steelmaking capacity growing, competition will increase for prime grade scrap, which mills in the US South will start importing. So says Turkish Flat Steel Import, Export and Industry Association (Yisad) chairman Tayfun Iseri.
US mills have reinvested bumper profits into building 10 million tonnes/year of EAF capacity in the last five years. They have taken obsolete blast furnaces offline and invested into EAFs amid the push for decarbonisation. Europe has meanwhile fallen behind, implementing improvements to existing production processes rather than greenfield investments, according to Iseri.
While most BFs were built in the Midwest and Great Lakes areas, the new EAFs have been built in the South. Midwest/Great Lakes BF capacity shrunk from 44.5m t/y in 2019 to 39.6mt in 2023, while EAF capacity in the South rose from 34.8mt to 38.3mt. This will result in reduced US scrap exports.
“Most EAF investments in the US are coming from flat steel. You need better scrap for this. Higher knowhow, better raw material. Everything is possible in an EAF. If somebody tells you it’s not possible, it is possible!” Iseri told delegates at Kallanish Steel Scrap 2024 in Istanbul on Thursday.
While prime grade scrap competition will increase, local generation will decrease amid consumers holding onto their cars for longer, and car ownership reducing in general. Mills in the South will therefore import the required scrap through Gulf of Mexico ports, Iseri continued.
Increasing Mexican EAF capacity will also compete with US mills for scrap supply, which will lift prices. Meanwhile, “Europe is not ready to consume its prime scrap yet”, so will continue to export material, Iseri noted.
Overall, the US and EU will continue generating more scrap than they can consume, meaning export restrictions are unlikely to be implemented, as “they can’t sit on this big pile of scrap”, he added.
Iseri also challenged the assertion that Turkey dictates scrap prices. Since US mills have bought out multiple scrap collectors, they control 60% of the US scrap market. “The US dictates what the price will be,” he concluded.
Adam Smith Poland
Scrap not gold, trade regulations ineffective, say panelists
“Will scrap be the new gold?” asked Turkish Flat Steel Import, Export and Industry Association (Yisad) chairman Tayfun Iseri. “I’m not sure.” Technological innovation will see alternatives developed to scrap in future, he predicted.
Decarbonisation and CBAM, meanwhile, are just new means of “protecting their own”, he said in reference to EU authorities. In the past, the EU has levied anti-dumping or countervailing duties, but “this will be thrown out of the window” after the huge subsidies being given to EU steelmakers to decarbonise, Iseri added.
“I think protectionism is self-defeating,” observed Marcel Genet, founder and president of consultancy Laplace Conseil. “What we forget is that if we don’t do something with steel, the product has no value.”
He emphasised scrap trade restrictions are unlikely. “It’s pure nonsense for countries to limit trade when it is more efficient to do it in one place than the other,” he noted. “Turkey is not trying to steal scrap from the EU or US. They are very nice to create an outlet for countries that do not have capacity to consume their own scrap.”
Moreover, monthly price negotiations between scrap suppliers and steelmakers must be scrapped and all parties should work towards the goal of maximising steel recycling, he added.
“Regulation will not move needle, the scrap industry itself will. More scrap will be kept in Europe, knowing that demand for it is increasing. So yes, there will be less available for Turkey but it is not regulation that will cause it,” said McKinsey senior expert Steven Vercammen.
Turkey’s dependence on scrap imports is a big problem, meanwhile. The country must “reengineer its capacities and type of steel it is producing,” noted Muammer Bilgic, managing director of Bilecik Demir Celik. CBAM and environmental regulations will hit Turkish steelmakers, with its integrated mills likely to soon lose competitiveness.
Scrap shortages are unlikely to be a problem in the next ten years, Iseri observed. China could enter the scrap export market, while consumption of steel will decline in the coming decades. Car owners are holding onto their vehicles for longer, and car ownership in general is decreasing. “That’s why I’m saying scrap may not be the new gold,” he concluded.
Adam Smith Poland