JFE aims to build electric arc furnace in 2027 to replace blast furnace

JFE Holdings

08/11/2023 12:19

TOKYO, Nov 8 (Reuters) - JFE Steel, Japan's No.2
steelmaker, aims to build a new large-scale electric arc furnace
(EAF) to replace the No.2 blast furnace at its Kurashiki plant
in western Japan in around 2027 to cut carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions, its president said on Wednesday.
    Steelmaking - one of the most CO2-intense industrial
production processes - is under pressure to cut CO2 emissions to
help tackle climate change.
    JFE, a unit of JFE Holdings  5411.T , by 2030 aims to lower
its emissions by 30% versus 2013 levels.
    JFE is considering building an EAF that can produce 2
million metric tons of high-grade steel a year in around 2027
when the No.2 unit is due for refurbishment, JFE President
Yoshihisa Kitano said.
    He noted the EAF would reduce CO2 emissions by 2.6 million
tons a year from current levels emitted by the blast furnace. 
    "We are thinking of building one of the world's largest EAFs
to produce high quality steel to be used for automotive steel
sheets and electrical steel sheets," Kitano told reporters and
analysts. Currently, such steel is produced in blast furnaces. 
    JFE plans to import low-carbon steel-making raw material, or
"reduced iron" produced using natural gas and carbon capture
storage (CCS), from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 
    Reduced iron is produced by removing oxygen from the iron
ore to make metallic iron without melting it. 
    "By utilising low-carbon materials, we want to realise the
world's first large-scale supply system for green high-grade
steel that is comparable to the blast furnace method," he said.
    In July, JFE signed a memorandum of understanding with
Japanese trading house Itochu  8001.T  and Emirates Steel Arkan,
the UAE's largest steelmaker, to create a green iron supply
chain.
    JFE is also working to develop new and cleaner steelmaking
methods at blast furnaces using hydrogen and methanation, but
the use of EAF is a feasible and quick solution to reducing
emissions during the transition period, Kitano said.

 (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; editing by Jason Neely)
 ((Yuka.Obayashi@thomsonreuters.com; +813-4520-1265;))