Abstract:
Market pressure to use recyclable resources and reduce CO2 emissions is driving the expansion of EAF furnaces with consequent increase of scrap utilization. On average 80% of EAF operational expenses depend on raw material purchasing costs. Availability of scrap is foreseen to increase; however, the biggest increase is coming from obsolete goods with higher contaminants levels. When processing scrap internally, steelmakers can benefit by obtaining a better control on the quality of the scrap (and, consequently, of the final product) and, at the same time, improve EAF’s costs and performances. Danieli has a unique position on the market, strong of the know-how gained over the years of experience both in the field of steelmaking and scrap processing and wants to present, in the following article, the benefits of an integrated approach from ferrous raw material to steelmaking. A valuable and representative example is given by a real case study for a meltshop in East Europe. This study highlights the profitability of incorporating an internal scrap facility in the meltshop, integrating the treatment of raw materials with the whole steelmaking process.
Firstly, the make or buy analysis shows that internally processing the scrap has a very quick return of investment (ROI less than 1.5 year), thanks to a cost saving of ≈30-35 €/ton (data relative to a plant in East EU, December 2022).
Secondly, scrap densification allows a reduction from 3 to 2 the number of charging buckets, improving the overall productivity. Furthermore, having a higher yield and more controlled composition of the input material for the furnace leads to an additional cost reduction. The overall saving from the improvement in the performances of the EAF is ≈7 €/ton good billet.
The total saving of the vertically integrated approach adds up to 42 €/ton.
