ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel to spend ₹100 cr on three scrap-processing centres

livemint.com:

₹100 crore in the three centres—one at the flagship plant in Hazira, another in Ahmedabad, and the third in Khopoli, Maharashtra—by December 2024. These investments will also help the company achieve its carbon-emissions reduction targets by maximizing the use of steel scrap, it said. “...

we aim to significantly increase the scrap mix while simultaneously reducing dependence on steelmaking from primary raw materials like iron ore and coal," said Dilip Oommen, chief executive of ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India. AM/NS India has a current steelmaking capacity of 9 million tonnes a year and expects substantial potential for maximising the use of steel scrap during steelmaking. The company claims it achieved a 32% reduction in CO2 emissions intensity by December 2022 from 2015 levels.

With these scrap processing centres, the company aims to achieve a 9% scrap mix by the end of 2025 with its new basic oxygen furnace and the existing electric arc furnace (EAF). Currently, it has a scrap mix of 3-5% of its total steelmaking capacity in the EAF. India does not generate enough scrap to meet the industry's demands and depends on imports to a large extent.

Imports are set to take a hit as countries around the world are recycling more scrap domestically to reduce the use of pollutive feedstocks such as iron ore in the steel-making process. While India clocked high imports of about 7 MTPA of steel scrap in 2022-23, companies anticipate imports will drop and are looking at ways of processing scrap within the country. Major steel manufacturers are setting up scrap yards across India to ensure availability.