Virgin steel is out of date. It’s the quality of steel that matters
Civil society organisation SteelWatch has called the ongoing argument over the UK’s need to produce “virgin steel” via blast furnaces outdated, with investment in fact needed in electric arc furnaces to produce competitive low-emission steel, Kallanish learns.
It says that following the recent government intervention in British Steel, the UK needs to “invest forward, not backward for competitive low-emissions steel”.
“This argument about ‘virgin steel’ is out of date. It’s the quality of steel that matters. In the future industry, electric arc furnaces powered with renewable electricity will provide a full spectrum of steel products, with a mix of recycled scrap and some low-emissions iron that can be bought in briquette form,” says Caroline Ashley, executive director at Steelwatch.
The organisation calls for an industrial strategy that protects jobs, cuts CO2 emissions and modernises the sector to ensure a renewable-powered and therefore competitive economy.
“Blast furnaces have been around for 300 years and a decent transition can’t happen in a matter of days. But what really matters is to use this reprieve to plan transformation of UK steelmaking to a competitive and low-emissions future. That will mean investing in electric arc furnaces and getting past the myths that preserving the UK’s steelmaking capacity is the same thing as preserving its blast furnaces – it’s not,” she adds.
SteelWatch highlights the UK’s ample scrap resources for EAF-based production, with green iron available from “long-standing trading partners like Sweden, Canada and Australia”. It also notes the US uses EAFs for 70% of its steelmaking, with 90% of new steelmaking capacity announced also being EAFs.
It disagrees with the notion that BFs are needed for quality steel, highlighting Volvo and Mercedes procuring EAF-based steel, while Sheffield Forgemasters supplies the defence industry with steel produced via this route. In France, railway operator SNCF has already entered into contracts for greener steel, made in an EAF.
To remain competitive, the UK must modernise its production infrastructure, it adds.
Ashley adds: “Emotions in the UK are high and there is a lot of confusion that, for the UK to ‘make its own steel’ it must ‘keep its own coal-based blast furnaces … UK-based electric arc furnace is just as much ‘UK steel’ as any other.”
“The economies and industries of the future, including steelmaking, will be powered by renewable energy. If Britain wants to lead, it must invest in the future, not double down on a fossil-fuels based past. A shift to green steel is not about giving up on British Steel, but upgrading it, taking workers along every step of the way,” she notes.
The organisation also notes the decline in domestic steel production started before the Paris Agreement and net zero targets were introduced.
