The need to produce less steel if we want to achieve zero emissions: Research
Steel is one of the most important materials in the world, essential to our cars, the buildings we live in, and the infrastructure that allows us to move. Steel also causes 7 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. 45 countries committed in 2021 to continue with almost emission-free steel over the next decade. But how is it possible to produce the steel society needs without emissions?
A new study focused on the Japanese steel industry shows that if we are truly committed to zero emissions, we must prepare for a scenario where the amount of steel produced is lower. Japan has set a goal of reducing steel emissions by 46 percent by 2030 and zero emissions by 2050. For now, the road map to achieve this is heavily dependent on future technological innovations. Hope is expected for the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen-based technologies.
In the study, Dr Takuma Watari, a researcher at the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan, who is currently working with the University of Cambridge, claims that there is no such thing as a silver bullet. He said current plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions underestimate how difficult it will be to develop CCS and hydrogen technologies and deploy them widely.
“These technologies still have serious technical, economic and social challenges and have yet to be adopted on a large scale. And most importantly, it is highly uncertain whether these technologies will become available in sufficient amounts of emission-free electricity. We must face the possibility that the technological innovations may not be ready in time , so that we can maintain the current level of steel production while cutting emissions to zero,” Watari said.
The study mapped the current steel flows of the Japanese industry and examined with the help of a model how the industry could change if a strict carbon budget were applied.
Dr. Watari explains that the quantity and quality of steel produced with current practice will deteriorate dramatically with a zero-emissions carbon budget. This is due to the lack of resources and the practice of down-cycling, where new products are made from steel scrap containing impurities. These impurities are difficult to remove, so the new products have a different quality and functionality than the original steel.
According to Dr. Watari, “Emission-free steel production is possible by 2050, but limited in quantity and quality compared to current total production. This is due to the limited availability of emission-free compatible resources and the down-cycling practices of scrap steel.”
The study shows that with a zero-emissions carbon budget, the production of steel products would be dramatically limited compared to the current level and would at best reach about half of the current level. In this case, the production of higher quality steel (e.g. steel plate) would suffer particularly hard.
The consequence is clear. It is not enough to rely on a technological silver bullet that will change to change the supply of steel. We also need to seriously consider strategies to reduce demand by changing our culture of steel use and improving our material efficiency. We must also strive to recycle high quality steel from scrap steel.
This requires cooperation between those who use steel and those who manufacture it. Steel products could be made more resource efficient if they are designed to last longer or be light. When steel products reach the end of their useful lives, recycling can be achieved through advanced sorting and shredding to remove impurities from scrap steel. As a society, Japan may also need to become less dependent on steel and move to a model of “using services” instead of owning products. Unlike today, when steel is abundant and cheap, a net-zero future requires us to use scarcer, more expensive steel resources more efficiently.
Dr. Watari concludes that we need to invest in technological innovations, but we can’t just wait for them to appear. Instead, steel users must prepare for a world where steel is less available. “We do not deny the need to invest in innovative production technologies. Rather, we want to emphasize that we should look for much more strategic alternatives instead of relying only on silver lead production technologies. Putting material efficiency and recycling at the core of decarbonization plans can reduce over-reliance on innovative production technologies and prepare for the risk that these technologies will not necessarily expand in time enough,” he added.
HT
Source: ANI