Steel Mills
SDI’s Millett: Innovation Will Resolve Scrap Supply Issues
Written by Laura Miller
May 23, 2022
With significant EAF capacity coming online over the next few years, the talk of a tight scrap market creating problems for the EAF community has been an ongoing concern. But Mark Millet, president and CEO of Steel Dynamics Inc., is not overly concerned. He says innovation is the key to overcoming this potential obstacle.
Speaking at the Association for Iron and Steel Technology’s AISTech Town Hall Forum last week in Pittsburgh, Millett explained that the team at SDI’s Butler works in Indiana has reduced its prime scrap usage from 65-70% down to 40% over the past eight to nine months. If other EAF producers across the country were to do that as well, it would free up a reasonable amount of prime scrap, he said
America has a shred flow that is “almost limitless,” he said, and a massive reservoir of obsolete material that, if processed correctly, can reduce a lot of steelmakers’ prime scrap needs. Adding hot-briquetted iron (HBI) can do the same, Millett said.
“The technology has already been developed and will continue to be improved,” he said. “Innovation, creativity, ingenuity…these fix problems.”
Just this month, SDI acquired Mexican ferrous and nonferrous scrap recycler Roca Acero SA de CV in a move to bolster its scrap supply to its new Sinton, Texas, sheet mill. The $1.9 billion, three million tons per year facility was completed in the first quarter of this year.
By Laura Miller, Laura@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Laura Miller
Read more from Laura MillerLatest in Steel Mills
Algoma to shut down line in Ontario ahead of EAF start
The 106” Mill was part of Algoma's plate and strip combination facility.
Nippon trial vs. US government to begin early next month: Report
Nippon Steel’s litigation against the US government is set to begin in early February, according to a report by Japan’s Kyodo News Agency. Nippon will file its opening brief on Feb. 3. And both parties will conclude their claims by March 17 in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Kyodo […]
Nucor carbon targets certified by GSCC
Nucor’s “ambitious” carbon targets by the end of the decade and beyond have been certified by the Global Steel Climate Council (GSCC). The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker used a base year of 2023 for its science-based emissions targets (SBET). It set an SBET of 0.975 metric tons (mt) of CO2 emissions per mt of hot-rolled steel […]
SSAB halts talks with Feds on Miss. green steel plant
The Department of Energy's Industrial Demonstrations Program page states that it is no longer moving forward with SSAB.
Cleveland-Cliffs CEO seeks ‘American solution’ for U.S. Steel
He said a new entity would operate under the U.S. Steel name and would retain its Pittsburgh headquarters.