French consultant predicts US ferrous scrap self-sufficiency

The Washington-based Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) is citing a study prepared by a French consulting firm that backs the notion that enough domestically generated ferrous scrap is in the United States for recycled-content electric arc furnace (EAF) mills to supply nearly all the steel the country's needs.

The 18-page report, titled “A Transition towards Scrap-based EAFs Accelerates the Competitiveness and Decarbonization of the American Steel Industry,” has been prepared by French consulting firm Laplace Conseil.

According to the SMA, the study helps confirm that EAFs in the U.S. already produce the same high-quality steel as blast furnaces and basic oxygen furnaces.

Lead author Marcel Genet finds that the U.S. scrap reservoir already tops 4 billion tons "and keeps growing."

The organization says EAF-made steel accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. production and is expected to make up 90 percent by 2040.

The study also indicates the shift from the blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BOF) steelmaking method that depends primarily on coal and iron ore to recycled-content EAF production “dramatically reduces carbon emissions."

“In short, due to a long history of steel production, significant imports of steel and steel-containing products, and mature steel consumption, the scrap reservoir available to be recycled yearly in the United States is substantial and growing,” Genet writes.

“This robust scrap reservoir is supplemented by a rising global supply, which can support a transition toward a higher share of EAF steelmaking. Scrap quality is improving too, and is not a limitation to producing even the most advanced grades and types of steel.”

While steelmakers in the U.S. have at times expressed reservations about the quality or chemistry of the U.S. ferrous scrap stream, Genet cites reasons for optimism.

He lists “incentivizing recyclers to improve automatic copper extraction processes” as one of eight measures being taken to improve scrap quality, along with, “measuring copper content systematically with gamma neutron analysis systems with flow diversion sieves and trommels, and increasing robotization.”

“The study from Laplace Conseil confirms what steelmakers in America and around the world already know: The future of steel is in recycling, not mining," SMA President Philip K. Bell says. "The availability of scrap and the quality of low-emissions production means that in the United States, in particular, the need for high-emissions steelmaking in blast furnaces and basic oxygen furnaces is diminishing. That change is good news for the environment and the competitiveness of American manufacturing.”