China will continue making efforts to lift the contribution from electric arc furnaces (EAFs) to total steel production so as to reduce air pollution, allowing the country to become more self-sufficient in raw materials supply, Yin Ruiyu, a former deputy minister of China’s Ministry of Metallurgical Industry told delegates at a July 24 online conference.
“The steel scrap resources China enjoys will ensure sufficient supply in the future as the country progresses towards (more) scrap-consuming EAFs in steelmaking. In the meantime, this will reshape the structure of raw materials in the (domestic) steel industry, reducing (China’s) demand for imported iron ore,” Yin said at the 11th (2020) China Iron & Steel Development Forum.
The volume of steel scrap available for use in domestic steelmaking is expected to reach 180 million tonnes this year, rise to 240-260 million tonnes by 2025, and soar further to 270-290 million tonnes by 2030, according to his projection.
Presently, the combination of blast furnace (BF) and converter is the dominant technology in China’s steel industry where the primary costs are for iron ore and coal rather than steel scrap, and where 90% of the iron ore consumed has to be imported, according to him. China imported 1.07 billion tonnes of iron ore in 2019, up 0.5% on year, according to China’s Customs data.
Globally during 2018, EAF technology contributed to 28.8% of total crude steel output, but when China is omitted from the equation, the EAF share would have leapt to 46.96%, he told delegates.
On the other hand, China’s abundance of low-priced electricity could also be a boon for EAF development, Yin explained, pointing out that China generated 7.14 trillion kwh electricity in 2019 of which the steel sector consumed only 500 million kwh. Besides, the prices of electricity for industrial use have been declining during the past few years.
Yin suggested that more EAF units should be introduced in the developed areas of the country such as Shanghai and Jiangsu in East China and in South China’s Guangdong, where steel consumption is higher than in other regions and where steel scrap resources are plenty. Also, those newly-built EAFs should first be used for making rebar and wire rod, the steel types which China produces and consumes the most of, he added.
In the broader scope, the greater use made of EAFs for steel production could also reduce carbon dioxide emissions and so help combat global warming, Yin noted. Producing one tonne of steel via the blast furnace route generates 2-2.4 tonnes of CO2 emissions while making that same tonne of steel using an EAF generates only 0.5-0.7 t, he pointed out.
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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