(In which Tim opines about steel production, decarbonisation, scrap yards. It’s a good read and I’ll try to distinguish this version from the official LinkedIn version by adding some poor attempts at humour. Maybe some swearing. Who knows?)

In an unlikely alliance that unites the practical with the theoretical, UK scrap yards find themselves at the forefront of a movement that is potentially both virtuous and commercial.

We’ve long known that scrap yards are one of the best exemplars of the circular economy. They take what has been mined, produced, and become obsolete, strip it down and then return it to be used again.

Your old car, for instance.

Cars are full of various metals like steel or copper that can be reused once they go through the scrapping process. (1)  Clearly recycling is infinitely better, not to say cheaper, than mining fresh iron and coal to create new steel and, crucially, much cleaner and better for the environment.

By volume, one of the world’s more polluting industries is traditional blast furnace steel production which - whilst necessary for a steel hungry world - also leaves a very heavy environmental footprint (approx 7% of all global greenhouse emissions). We all use steel. We all need steel. How we ‘create’ it though should be of interest.

Reducing the heavy environmental cost of primary steel production would be a clear win in cutting down pollution in our world. Luckily, there is however another steel making method which utilises electric arc furnace (EAF) technology. EAF has only one third of the environmental impact of blast steel production and - crucially - uses recycled steel as its major input.

EAF has been around for years. Centuries even. But as we always tended to worship the new; new steel, mined and belched out by blast furnaces, was the predominant method. And produced better steel than recycled steel which could have all sorts of other metals and oxides lurking within. But EAF tech has moved on and will continue to do so.

Earlier this year there was a blast furnace of publicity in the UK (see what I did there?) when Tata Steel in South Wales decided to close its last remaining blast furnace and move to Electric Arc Furnace technology. British Steel is also changing its processes to EAF technology at its plants in Teesside and Scunthorpe.

This will be a great step ahead for sustainability and one concomitant effect is that there will be a domestic market for UK recycled steel, 80% of which is currently exported to destinations such as Turkey, India and Egypt. (2)

If the UK can grow its EAF steel making capacity, then scrap yards will be at the forefront of providing the raw materials. Instead of exporting scrap steel, the impetus could switch to domestic sales which also reduces the overall carbon footprint of the industry as less is shipped abroad.

A few caveats thropwn in to provide a spurious balance to my advocacy.

Price

The price has to be right, of course. But with fresh demand being created locally, UK scrap yards are in the ideal place to take advantage of this new market. (3)

Quality

Previously there have been arguments about the quality of reclaimed steel and thus limitations on its usage. However, with more advanced processes to clean the scrapped metals, and the ability to vary the components within an electric arc furnace, this gap could potentially be closed.

Job Losses

EAF technology employs less people than traditional blast furnaces. Workers in the steel industry will be displaced. It’s always the way. ‘Learn to code’ doesn’t cover it (thanks Joe Biden) but old industries do die away as technology - or environmental imperatives - dictate changes. I heard somewhere thy’ll be millions of jobs in the green economy. Time to prove it.

So, the EAF conversion is a challenge to UK plc and both a challenge and opportunity for UK scrap yards. I’m interested to see how this plays out. Instinctively, it seems we have demand (EAF steel producers in the UK) and supply (10M tons of recycled steel). Surely the two can match up so we’re all a winner.

I like practical steps and realistic solutions. I like the way technology can improve lives and I desire the world to be less polluted. Those morons who destroy stuff, annoy others and bleat about climate change have no solutions other than living in a cave and keeping warm by burning dung. Not a great future. But incremental steps - new, less polluting processes, recycling and human ingenuity will win every time.

The big winner for the UK adopting EAF technology in steel production should be the environment. And that, is of course, a good thing.

Talking of good things… I’m working on my next century of Roman battles. This time it’s the 2nd century BC and so I’ll be discussing in the article the fall of Corinth and Carthage in 146BC as well as Marius handing the Teutones their ass with his new model legions in 101BC.

PRETENTIOUS NOTES

1. The car scrapping process is described here by Hill Metals

2. Value of UK iron scrap exports in 2022 was $3.9B equating to around 8M tonnes or 80% of the total scrap

3. Compulsory / legislative bans on exporting scrap metal should be avoided. The domestic market participation should be voluntary.

4. I like to use the word concomitant. It’s both big and clever.

FURTHER READING (yeah, go on, read up. It’s a fun ride)

Scrap Local - good summary of the pros and cons of the shift to EAF  technology: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-era-steel-recycling-tata-steels-eaf-green-transition-scraplocal-ylnae/

TATA announcement: https://eurometal.net/eaf-innovation-scrap-management-guarantee-steelmaking-uk-steel/

Good overview from ING : https://think.ing.com/articles/why-is-ferrous-scrap-a-strategic-raw-material/

BMRA on potential restrictions in recycled steel exports in the UK: https://www.mrw.co.uk/news/restricting-scrap-steel-exports-would-be-catastrophic-says-bmra-08-01-2024/