News

Scrap is an important component of the entire steel industry, and its importance in reducing CO2 emissions, saving resources and driving the industry’s economic development is gradually increasing. Despite this, the problems existing in various scrap processing links pose challenges to steel companies.

As governments around the world strive to meet their own net zero emissions commitments and introduce stricter recycling regulations, the pressure on the steel industry to meet these challenges will only increase.

As described in the journal published by the World Steel Association, steel is one of the most widely used materials in the world. From buildings and bridges to cars and household appliances, steel is everywhere. But what happens when steel products reach the end of their useful life in all these applications? In fact, reaching the end of the useful life does not mean the end of the steel life cycle. Because steel can be recycled 100% infinitely without degrading its quality. When scrap steel reaches the end of its useful life, it is melted down and new steel can be produced.

This involves several stages:

Recycling

A large amount of scrap steel currently used in the steelmaking process is recycled before it enters the trading market. This scrap steel is also called new scrap steel. It is the scrap generated during large-scale industrial manufacturing processes, such as the production of household appliances, cars and electronic products. This type of scrap is collected in one place, so it is less contaminated by other materials, making it more valuable and widely and fully utilized.

However, when consumers think of scrap, they are most likely to think of steel that has reached the end of its useful life (or depreciated scrap). This is because household items or other products are sent to specialized recycling stations after their useful life ends. This type of scrap also includes scrap collected from unfamiliar sources, such as dismantled ships and old industrial facilities. The wide variety of scrap sources and potential contaminants makes it challenging to collect depreciated scrap in an environmentally friendly and safe manner and transport it to steel mills.

Sorting

Scrap needs to be sorted and separated according to the type and quality of the product. Steel is made from a mixture of various alloys and materials (such as carbon, chromium, manganese, nickel, etc.), so the grade of steel to be produced needs to be matched with scrap with the corresponding properties. It is not just the type of alloys contained in the scrap that complicates the production process, but also the amount of each alloy. Different levels of carbon in the steel can significantly affect the hardness, strength or weldability of the final product, so these factors need to be taken into account.

Of course, the scrap mix also contains many completely unwanted elements, many of which (such as copper) are difficult to separate from the iron contained in the steel. There is a great deal of variation between the different sorting methods, ranging from using magnets to separate the scrap from the non-ferrous metals, to using specially developed high-precision sorting equipment, or equipment that is developed and patented by the recycling company or steel company itself. The initial cost and maintenance requirements of the equipment can be considerable, so companies are always looking for ways to improve efficiency.

In addition, the management of unwanted elements in a safe and environmentally friendly manner, storage and location issues also have corresponding costs and risks.