(Updated: April 7, 2022)
Author: Ali Hasanbeigi, Ph.D.
Recently, we conducted a benchmarking study for energy and CO2 emissions intensity of the steel industry among the largest steel-producing countries.
In the previous blog post, I discussed the results of our benchmarking analysis for primary steel production. In this blog post, I will discuss the results for Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) (or secondary) steel production. The secondary steelmaking is producing steel from mostly scrap in EAF. In some cases, direct reduced iron (DRI) which is produced from iron ore will be used as feedstock in EAF. Around 28% of the total steel produced globally is by EAF steel production route.
Figure 1. The share of EAF from total steel production in the studied countries/region in 2019 (Source: Hasanbeigi 2022)
EAF steel production is less energy and carbon intensive than BF-BOF steel production, especially when most or all of EAF feedstock is recycled steel scrap. (Note: the embodied energy and carbon in recycled steel scrap are usually not included in EAF energy and emissions intensities calculation).
Figure 2 shows the CO2 intensity of EAF steel production in the 16 countries/region studied. Brazil and France have the lowest and India and China have the highest CO2 intensity of EAF steel production. A key reason why the CO2 intensity of EAF steel production in India, China, and Mexico are significantly higher than that in other countries is the type of feedstock used in EAF in these countries. In most countries, steel scrap is the primary feedstock for EAF. In India and Mexico, however, a substantial amount of DRI (around 50% in India and 40% in Mexico) is used as feedstock in EAFs. In China, instead of DRI, a significant amount of pig iron (around 50% of EAF feedstock), which is produced via blast furnace, is used as feedstock in EAFs. Both DRI and pig iron production are highly energy-intensive processes, which result in higher energy and CO2 intensity of EAF steel production when used as feedstock in EAFs. Vietnam’s high CO2 intensity of EAF steelmaking can be mainly attributed to its very high electricity grid CO2 emissions factor.
Figure 2. The CO2 intensity of EAF steel production in the studied countries/region in 2019 (Source: Hasanbeigi 2022)
Another important factor that influences CO2 intensity of EAF steel production is electricity grid CO2 emissions factor (Figure 3). Around half of the energy used in EAF steelmaking (including rolling and finishing) is electricity. The share of electricity from total energy use decreases as the share of DRI used in the EAF steelmaking increases. Therefore, if the emissions factor of the electricity used in the steel industry is lower, it will significantly help to reduce the CO2 intensity of EAF steel production. France, Brazil, and Canada have the lowest electricity grid CO2 emissions factors thanks to large nuclear (in France) and hydro (in Brazil and Canada) power generation. India, Vietnam, and China have the highest electricity grid CO2 emissions factors among studied countries due to large share of coal used in their power generation.
Figure 3. Electricity grid CO2 emissions factors in the studied countries in 2019 (IEA 2021)
The following factors can influence the EAF steel production’s energy and CO2 emissions intensity values across countries:
The fuel mix in the iron and steel industry
The electricity grid CO2 emissions factor
The type of feedstocks in BF-BOF
The level of penetration of energy-efficient technologies
The steel product mix in each country
The age of steel manufacturing facilities in each country
Capacity utilization
Environmental regulations
Cost of energy and raw materials
Boundary definition for the steel industry
To read the full report and see complete results and analysis of this new study, Download the full report from this link.
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