Stainless steel goes green

Citation

(1998), "Stainless steel goes green", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Vol. 45 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/acmm.1998.12845daa.001

Stainless steel goes green

Stainless steel goes green ...

Keywords Environmentally friendly, Recycling, Stainless steel

Figures released by a leading producer of stainless steel long products (Ugine-Savoie, based in Europe) show that serious moves are being taken to ensure that some metals are produced with far less impact on the environment.

It comes as a surprise to many people to learn just how much steel is now recycled, with the consequent overall energy savings compared to making steel from ore that is mined and transported around the world. At Ugine-Savoie the proportion of recycled scrap steel now used in a typical furnace charge for the production of stainless steel is around 80per cent. Of this scrap, a proportion is derived internally by re-melting unusable production such as billet ends and the rest is sourced externally from other companies.

The Usinor group, one of Europe's leading steelmakers of which Ugine-Savoie is a part, has made considerable progress in managing its environmental responsibilities in recent years. The company has made it part of its daily business to work towards the objective of sustainable development that was outlined at the Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Energy consumption in the group's steel plants dropped overall by 3 per cent from 1995 to 1996 and CO₂ emissions fell by 10per cent.

The steel industry has been a great consumer of water, but since recycling began at Usinor sites, the water taken from natural sources has been considerably reduced. New equipment in some special steel units has led to significant progress, and the improvement of certain metal working procedures has generated even greater water savings. A reduction of 25 per cent has been achieved between 1993 and 1996.

Details from Ugine-Savoie UK Ltd. Tel: +44(0)121 382 6666; Fax: +44(0)21 382 9339.