Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel is planning to switch to electric arc furnace-based production to male cleaner steel in an effort to reduce costs and maintain its market share in the face of the competition with China, Bloomberg reports.
While the company stayed away from electric arc furnaces for a long time, the cost of building an electric arc furnace is much smaller compared to a blast furnace and the carbon dioxide emissions from an electric arc furnace are four times less than those from a blast furnace. The cheaper-to-set-up electric arc furnaces will enable the Japanese steelmaker “to expand in many regions [including Asian economies] more flexibly and quickly,” Bloomberg quoted Tatsuya Kikkawa, an analyst at JPMorgan Securities Japan Co., as saying
Nippon Steel will also produce electrical steel via an electric arc furnace for the first time to be used in electrical vehicle motors. The company is also working on its target for lower emissions by 2030 and 2050 and it is expected to share the details by March next year.