Life cycle impacts of induction furnace technology for crude steel production: case study

Abstract

Recent years have seen an increase in interest in steelmaking from scrap because it has the potential to lessen the environmental effect of steelmaking as a recycling process. This study provides the comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts of steel produced in facilities utilizing electric arc furnace (EAF) and induction furnace (IF) technology. Since there has not been any previous research comparing these effects of these two steelmaking processes, which use scrap as a raw material, this study used the LCA approach to analyze the environmental impacts. A local Turkish steelmaking facility for IF provided the necessary inventory data. Compared to EAF in the rest of the world (4.75x10(5)), steel produced by IF has a better overall single score result (3x10(5)), and IF also emits 7.3% fewer CO2-equivalent (GHG) emissions while using 21.8% less water. In terms of the consumption of mineral and fossil resources and the impacts on global warming, steel produced with IF does have an advantage over steel produced with EAF. The source of electrical supply, along with water consumption and global warming, is responsible for the majority of environmental effects. The IF's single score drops to 2.63x10(5) when European electricity supplies are used in its substitute. This demonstrates that lowering CO2 emissions during the production of electricity is essential for lowering the carbon footprint of steel products and numerous other goods that include steel in their supply chains.