Sustainable Steel: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Presentation Type
Long presentation (faculty/staff) 15-20 minutes
Campus
Daytona Beach
Status
Staff
Faculty/Staff Department
Civil Engineering
Start Date
13-11-2023 10:10 AM
Presentation Description/Abstract
Sustainable Steel; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Early in the 20th century and after World War II it was not uncommon for vehicles to be abandoned by the roadside at their end of life. Cars were often set ablaze in a crude attempt to separate recyclable materials until the passage of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, OSH Act made automobile recycling unprofitable. The Institute of Scrap Iron and steel claim that at least 20 million abandoned cars were littered across America by 1970. Beginning in the mid 1960s technology was developed that allowed efficient recycling of cars and appliances (white goods) by shredding them into pieces that could be separated into ferrous, non-ferrous and residue streams. Around the same time (1969) the EAF (Electric Arc Furnace) design that had been used primarily to create specialty steels since the turn of the twentieth century was brought into use by Nucor to make long steel products. The EAF process feedstock is comprised of recycled materials as opposed to primary steel production requiring iron ore and other raw materials mined from the Earth and transported long distances. Today, 70% of steel production in the US is produced by an EAF. EAF steel production is 75% less GHG intensive and 99% of byproducts are recyclable with current technology. As new processes are being developed for carbon neutral steel, the industry serves as a model for sustainable materials production.
Keywords
Sustainability, steel, recycling, material science, civil engineering
Sustainable Steel: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Sustainable Steel; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Early in the 20th century and after World War II it was not uncommon for vehicles to be abandoned by the roadside at their end of life. Cars were often set ablaze in a crude attempt to separate recyclable materials until the passage of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, OSH Act made automobile recycling unprofitable. The Institute of Scrap Iron and steel claim that at least 20 million abandoned cars were littered across America by 1970. Beginning in the mid 1960s technology was developed that allowed efficient recycling of cars and appliances (white goods) by shredding them into pieces that could be separated into ferrous, non-ferrous and residue streams. Around the same time (1969) the EAF (Electric Arc Furnace) design that had been used primarily to create specialty steels since the turn of the twentieth century was brought into use by Nucor to make long steel products. The EAF process feedstock is comprised of recycled materials as opposed to primary steel production requiring iron ore and other raw materials mined from the Earth and transported long distances. Today, 70% of steel production in the US is produced by an EAF. EAF steel production is 75% less GHG intensive and 99% of byproducts are recyclable with current technology. As new processes are being developed for carbon neutral steel, the industry serves as a model for sustainable materials production.