Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Resource issues in the Steel Industry
Industrial Technologies 2012Integrating nano, materials and productionResource-Efficient Process Industries WorkshopAarhus, 19-21 June 2012
Jean-Pierre BIRAT, Jean-Sébastien THOMAS, Pete HODGSON, Phlippe RUSSO, Valentina COLLA, José Ignacio BARBERO, Borja PEÑA, Hermann WOLFMEIER, Enrico MALFA
PolicyPolicy Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Steel production, world (Mt/yr)
Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Access to Resources, Security of Supply, Scarcities, Criticity, Material Efficiency
PolicyPolicy Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Concepts, words & practices
• access to resources: the Steel model has been globalization, since the 1908s, with very large capsize vessels and sourcing from Brazil & Australia of very high grade iron ore and coals
• security of supply: not an issue for the time being in Europe
• Scarcity-scarcities:• Long-Term scarcity: absolutely not!• Short-Term scarcity: definitely yes!
• Materials efficiency: Reduce, Reuse & Recycle (3R's), organize Industrial Ecology synergies
• Materials efficiency: Reduce, Reuse & Recycle (3R's), organize Industrial Ecology synergies
PolicyPolicy Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Resources for steel and structural materials
• Virgin Iron (iron ore) – virgin metal (ores)• Scrap Iron (recycled, secondary) – metal scrap• Reducing Agent (coal, coking coal, natural gas, oil,
electricity)• Alloying elements (Mn, Cr, Ni, Ti, Va, Nb, Al, B, Cu, Pb,
Mo, Si, S, Zr, Fe)• Refractories• Logistics (transportation infrastructure and transport
vehicles/vessels, "oceans' viginity")• Land and ecological services
Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Raw materials for the Steel sector
PolicyPolicy Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Major traits and trends
• Long-term scarcity is never an issue• Short-term scarcity induces price volatility and forces strategies of
vertical upstream integration• Criticity is not an issue: this is the reason for the robustness of the
steel sector, a core, structural & sustainable (historically!) material with high social value
• a few hot spots (Ni, Ti, low-Fe bauxite, etc.) related to geopolitical issues, oligopolies, not real scarcity. But this may be just as serious…
• Recycling of iron works well but we are moving to a closed loop economy for steel & iron: new issues…
• many Industrial Ecology synergies already in place: more can be done, but the price needs to be right
• limits are due to the finiteness of the planet, not of resources we need (logistics, land use)
PolicyPolicy Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Iron mines in the world…
PolicyPolicy Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
New mines opening up in Scandinavia
PolicyPolicy Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Vertical integration of the steel business (example of ArcelorMittal)
Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Ecodesign3R's "Reduce"
PolicyPolicy Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Ecodesign, reduce, dematerialization
• Ecodesign of steel processes ( SAT), steel grades, steel solutions, consumer goods
• Ecodesign of the life-cycle: design for recycling (DfR), design for dismantling (DfD), design for shredding (DfS), design for sustainability (DfS)
• Sustainability Assessment of Technologies (SAT)• Lightweighting & its limits, do more with less• more durable, longer-life products• more intensive use of products (car sharing, curbside cars)• dematerialization, lean economy, zero and near-growth, slow
economy, etc.• need for methodologies…
Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Reutilization3R's "Reuse"
PolicyPolicy Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Reuse…
• the model of the pre-industrial and traditional societies• beams, rails, sheet piles are fairly commonly reused• (Julian Allwood, WellMet2050 project)• DfR: Design for Reuse. What might the business
models look like and what systems would need to be in place for these to be viable?
Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Recycling, material to material3R's "Recycle"
PolicyPolicy Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Recycling (material to material)
• Steel is recycled indefinitely ("the most recycled material"): 85%• Steel recycling is NOT an externality (=makes money, has been
making money)• Recycling leads to a closed-loop economy, over possibly the next
50 years…
• Steel recycling allows for the co-recycling of other alloying elements
0,00
0,10
0,20
0,30
0,40
0,50
0,60
0,70
0,80
1960 1980 2000 2020 2040 2060 2080 2100 2120
scrap ratio (%)
PolicyPolicy Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Recycling… (C2B, material to material)
• there are many different kinds of recycling
• Recycling does not always make good sense! Neither from a physical nor from an economic standpoint (e.g. cement, many plastics, CO2)
Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Industrial ecology models of downgraded recycling
PolicyPolicy Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Other recycling… B2B
• a recognized practice. Examples from the steel sector: slag to clinker, EAF dust to Zn smelting, waste heat to district heat, etc.
• a matter of economics… best routes should pay for themselves; subsidies and taxes should remain within reason and help new technology start up their learning curve
• there are most probably many potential new options and opportunities to examine and many models (zero waste, urban mining, industrial mining, waste water recovery), which ought to be examined critically.. not simply taken for granted!
Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Conclusions?
PolicyPolicy Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Conclusions…
• a long, 35 page ESTEP roadmap… with more than 40 directions to explore, which ought to let steel and steel-using sectors (=virtually the whole economy) become more resource- and energy-efficient, greener and more sustainable…
• no serious long term resource issues (scarcity), but price volatility due to oligopolies, market organization, speculation
• recycling in general requires much thought for the future at a technical level (quality of scrap, etc.) and in terms of internalization (industrial ecology synergies)
• Resource scarcity applies to things like logistics and ecological services (water, ocean, biodiversity)
PolicyPolicy Research and Innovation
Research and Innovation
Thank you!
• Jean-Pierre BIRAT, Jean-Sébastien THOMAS, Pete HODGSON, Phlippe RUSSO, ARCELORMITTAL, France
• Valentina COLLA, SSSA, Italy• José Ignacio BARBERO, Borja PEÑA, Tecnalia, Spain• Hermann WOLFMEIER, voestalpine, Austria• Enrico MALFA, CSM, Italy
Top Related