New from Old: The Global Potential for More Scrap Steel Recycling

Steel production by the scrap-EAF route is by far the largest source of new steel in the U. [...] Meanwhile, the use of scrap steel in electric arc furnaces (EAF) is already widely practised, is cost competitive now, produces lower emissions and – although it is not on its own a full solution to decarbonising the steel sector – is poised to help the global steel sector decarbonise throughout the rest of the 2020s and in following decades. [...] Steel production from the scrap-EAF route is by far the largest source of new steel in the U. [...] Turkey is by far the largest producer of steel from imported scrap and is the seventh-largest steel producer globally.19 Turkey produced 35.8Mt of crude steel in 2020, of which 24.7Mt directly came from the EAF route, and it imported 22.44Mt of ferrous scrap in that year.20 The dominant exporters of the obsolete scrap are developed countries including the EU28, the U. [...] By 2050, scrap-EAF will make up 60% of total Chinese steel production, reaching 370Mt out of the annual total of 621Mt, according to their figures.29 In addition, by the end of 2025, China’s steel sector aims to increase the share of the scrap charge to 30% in BOFs, up from current average consumption of about 15% to 25%.