Can there be a sunrise in steel town?

Abstract

A sustainable UK steel industry is vitally important to UK’s future growth prospects. This article first analyses the grand trends and challenges that the UK steel industry is facing. Then alternative iron making processes are briefly reviewed with regard to its flexibility in raw material and energy and its reduction in CO₂ emissions. It is concluded that in the long-term, the scrap-based EAF route can be considered as a viable process route for the UK steel industry. For the current integrated process, its sustainability can be achieved by substantially improving its energy/material efficiency and by focusing on the creation of value-added steel products. It also points out that ensuring the sustainability of the UK steel industry requires a clear strategy, substantial capital expenses and support from the government and the industry itself. The UK has to invest in/re-shape steel-related research creating new competences for the viability of the industry.

Keywords:

• UK steel industry
• Ironmaking
• Steelmaking
• CO₂
• Process and product innovation

Acknowledgements

The author ZL would like to sincerely thank the support from EPSRC under grant EP/011368/1. The authors would like to thank Professor Ken Mills (Imperial College London, UK) and Professor Geoff Brooks (Swinburne University of Technology, Australia) for their valuable comments during the preparation of the article.