EAFs in Japan get big cash injection

Nippon Steel has announced major investment in its drive for ‘greener’ steel with a EUR 5.28 billion package of investment at three sites in Japan.

The steel producer is being supported by EUR 1.53 billion in Japanese government funding to boost capacity by 2.9 million tonnes by 2029 through the expansion of its electric arc furnace (EAF) portfolio.

The three sites are:

• Kyushu in Kyoto – new EAF supplying two million tonnes per year
• Setouchi near Osaka – expansion of existing EAF adding 500 000 tonnes annually
• Yamaguchi near Hiroshima – 400 000 tonnes added by modifying and restarting an existing EAF

Capital investment

In a statement, Nippon Steel says the conversion from blast furnace steelmaking to EAFs will reduce CO₂ emissions but it requires substantial capital investment and means considerable increases in production costs, including costs for raw materials and electricity.

In 2021, the company committed to to achieve carbon neutrality with the use of high-grade steel production in large-sized EAFs, production of direct reduced iron using hydrogen and hydrogen injection into blast furnaces.

Carbon neutrality
‘Nippon Steel will push forward with the development and implementation of [these] three breakthrough technologies and, in doing so, we will realize the “Nippon Steel Carbon Neutral Vision”, which aims to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2050,’ the company statement added.

Meanwhile, the industry awaits developments in Nippon’s proposed takeover of Pittsburgh-based US Steel. President Donald Trump recently promised that he would approve the bid having opposed it during the presidential election campaign. It’s thought the federal government might retain some governance stake in the new entity.