Tata Steel UK EAF switch under discussion

India-based steelmaker Tata Steel and its London-based Tata Steel Europe Ltd. business unit reportedly are seeking an agreement that would see the United Kingdom government provide about $630 million in funding so its blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BOF) complex in Port Talbot, Wales, can switch to electric arc furnace (EAF) technology.

“Tata Steel is continuing to discuss with the U.K. government a framework for continuity and decarbonization of steelmaking in the U.K. amidst very challenging underlying business conditions given that several of its heavy end assets are approaching end of life,” Tata Steel says in a statement released Sept. 3.

“Given the financially constrained position of our U.K. business, any significant change is only possible with government investment and support as also seen in other steelmaking countries in Europe where governments are actively supporting companies in decarbonization initiatives."

While Tata Steel does not name any countries specifically, steel producers in France, Spain, Luxembourg and across the Atlantic Ocean in Canada all have announced such government-supported conversions or upgrades just in this decade. EAF technology typically relies on a higher percentage of recycled steel scrap as furnace feedstock, though some producers are turning to hydrogen-powered direct-reduced iron (DRI) production.

An early September BBC report notes the reported funding figure at $630 million. The report also refers to difficult questions to come from the mill’s workforce and politicians regarding a large number of jobs likely to be eliminated when the blast furnace/BOF complex switches to more automated EAF technology that also removes iron preparation stages.

That report indicates the number of jobs to be lost could reach as high as 3,000, out of roughly 4,000 people now employed at the Port Talbot location.

The BBC report quotes a U.K. House of Lords member as saying, “All investment [is] welcome, but electric arc furnaces aren’t [the] only route to steel decarbonization. Hydrogen, etc., must also be in mix, so all types of steel can keep being made, and [the] future of every steel plant safeguarded.”

The House of Lords member, Neil Kinnock of the U.K.’s Labour Party, also says unions with a presence at the mill “must be fully involved and [the] workforce must support the plan.”