British Steel moving to EAF production to meet carbon emissions targets

British Steel aim to slash their carbon emissions 82% by 2035. This would fall in line with the UK’s commitments to the Paris Agreement and the country’s own carbon reduction targets, a company official said on Jan. 25.

One way the company plans to achieve the decreases involves a new electric furnace in two to five years at its Scunthorpe works, in Lincolnshire. The company would replace one of the two operating blast furnaces on site, said Lee Adcock, British Steel’s Environment and Sustainability Director, on a webinar titled British Steel – the Decarbonization Roadmap.

British Steel also envisages a carbon capture and storage system for the remaining BF/BOF production routes, Adcock added.

Only two of the blast furnaces at Scunthorpe have operated since around the turn of the century. The plant also has one convertor shop with three vessels, of which two normally operate, Adcock told MetalMiner.

Current crude capacity at the plant rests at about 2.5 million metric tons per year via BF/BOF. Scunthorpe also casts the liquid steel into billets and blooms for rolling on site into 2 million metric tons per year of rods and rails. The company also has a beam rolling mill at Teesside, in northeastern England.

Adcock declined to indicate the planned EAF’s capacity, yet noted that the company does not plan to reduce the site’s steelmaking capacity.

British Steel’s decarbonization roadmap also foresees increasing scrap and ore based metallics in the early 20s. The company will start using renewable energy and hydrogen in its steelmaking processes by the early 30s.

The road map would meet the UK government’s plans to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. In addition, it would achieve a 78% reduction in emission levels from 1990 by 2035, Adcock mentioned.

End users have become more interested in steel with lower-embedded carbon in steel products. British Steel plans to roll steel products with greater durability that do not require replacement as often as earlier products, Adcock added.

The UK domestic market purchases most of British Steel’s rails and about 50% of rod in coil. The export market purchases the other half, Adcock stated.

Trade union Unite also urged the UK government on Jan. 3 to set clear targets on the use of UK-produced steel on the HS2, high-speed rail project. “In the case of HS2, UK producers should have a paramount place in producing steel for the project. Surely that is economic common sense?,” the union quoted its general secretary Sharon Graham as saying.

Financial investment into British Steel’s projects would cost “many millions,” Adcock noted in the webinar, though he declined to say how the company would finance it.

Jingye Group, headquartered in Hebei Province, acquired British Steel from Greybull Capital in 2020.

The Chinese company’s affiliates include Jingye Steel, Ulanhot Steel, Yunnan Jingye Steel and Guangdong Jingye Steel, which produce flats and longs.