The UK has a proud heritage of industrial-scale steelmaking – here’s where it all started. The closure of Port Talbot’s last blast furnace may have drawn a line under that chapter, but it also opens a completely new one in the form of a greener steel industry.
The future of UK steelmaking is one based on using electric arc furnaces to manufacture recycled steel, which is significantly less carbon intensive than virgin steel produced from a blast furnace. Focusing on recycled steel has another benefit: the UK no longer has natural resources of iron ore and coke needed to feed blast furnaces, these raw materials have to be imported.
Electric arc furnaces can already supply 90% of the grades of steel needed by industry and construction. With the addition of direct reduced iron and other technical advances it’s expected that all of the UK’s needs will soon be met by recycled steel.
Cost-Effective and Sustainable
Recycled steel is a cost-effective and sustainable choice for steel fabrications used in construction and infrastructure projects. It will inevitably play a significant part in delivering the billions of pounds worth of infrastructure projects planned for the next few years.
Beyond that, investing in electric arc furnaces and recycled steel secures skilled employment. It could help the UK pioneer new sustainable industries – setting the pace, as we did at the start of the first Industrial Revolution.
Reducing Embodied Carbon
The lower carbon cost of steel produced from an electric arc furnace helps tackle the issue of embodied carbon in construction projects. These are the carbon emissions generated by producing construction materials, including extraction, processing and transportation.
Embodied CO2 for virgin steel is around 2800 kgCO₂e/tonne. Steel made from 95% scrap in an electric arc furnace is approximately 800 kgCO₂e/tonne. The embodied carbon saving is even greater if the arc furnace is powered by renewables.
As accounting for whole-life carbon costs becomes more important, the case for recycled structural steel becomes even stronger – particularly when deployed in a fully-integrated design-to-handover process that minimises wastage and costly reworks. FTE also generates over 60% of the power needed to run our production facilities from renewable energy.
It’s an exciting time for UK steelmaking and for the construction industry that relies on its production.
You can find out more about our commitment to sustainability here.
