Summary Reader Response Draft #2

The article “How green steel made with electricity could clean up a dirty industry” written by Crownhart(2022), introduces green steel - the production of steel without fossil fuels. 

According to Crownhart (2022), as steel is used around the world, it is expected to have a high demand. This, in turn, would result in a higher production rate to meet the demand. It is reported in the article that the steel industry produces nearly 2 billion tonnes of steel annually. As a result of such high production rates, steelmaking contributes to about two tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions for every tonne of steel produced, adding up to about 10% of such emissions globally. With the steel industry expected to grow by about 30% by 2050, the steel industry needs to find a cleaner way to produce steel, thus the invention of steel’s new competition, green steel. Green steel has a chance to become a better alternative to traditional steel due to its ability to be of the same quality as traditional steel despite the differences in its manufacturing processes and the resources used, though some critics claim that it would not be feasible due to its high production cost.


Green steel is also known as “carbon-free” steel as it produces steel without releasing carbon emissions. This is due to the difference in the manufacturing processes between traditional steel and green steel. In the article, Crownhart (2022) mentioned that traditional steel is produced in fossil fuels where coke, a coal-derived material, reacts with iron ore, a mixture of iron oxides. Through this process, liquid iron is formed, and carbon dioxide is released. However, molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) uses a different resource - electricity. In this process, electricity flows through a cell that contains a mixture of oxides and other materials, emitting oxygen into the atmosphere. Another way of producing green steel would be through hydrogen-based direct reduction. Hydrogen-based direct reduction uses green hydrogen to react with the iron ore to form steel and release water vapour (Wolf, 2022). As the two production methods for green steel emit oxygen and water vapour, which is essentially harmless to the environment, green steel can significantly reduce the emissions produced by steel manufacturing.


Another reason why green steel is a better alternative to traditional steel would be the use of renewable energy. As both MOE and hydrogen-based reduction use renewable electricity and green hydrogen, it does not have to rely on finite resources such as coal and natural gas. Mining is required to extract resources like coal, which is harmful to the environment as it leads to deforestation, water pollution, and most importantly, the emission of greenhouse gases (Haddaway et al.,2019). With green steel utilising renewable energy in its production, it brings about benefits as it emits little to no greenhouse gases and air pollutants (Ren21, 2019), once again reducing the negative impacts steel manufacturing poses on the environment.


Another feature that makes green steel superior to traditional steel would be its ability to replicate the quality of traditional steel (Aranca, 2022). As such, green steel possesses the potential to replace regular steel in its various applications. With the global energy sector aiming to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 worldwide (Crownhart, 2022), the use of green steel would provide steel manufacturers with a major advantage as the world works toward a cleaner and greener society. 


Despite all the advantages surrounding green steel, there are still some drawbacks, one being its high production cost. The cost of production for hydrogen-based steel is approximately 20% to 30% higher compared to traditional steel. With the higher cost corresponding to the price of carbon which ranges from $70 to $100/tCO2, green steel is expected to sell at a price range of $91 to $130 (RMI, 2019). Moreover, when electricity is converted into hydrogen, about 30% of it is lost. This would be a problem in large-scale manufacturing as there is bound to be a limit on clean electricity and hydrogen for a few decades (Gordon, 2023).


In conclusion, green steel is a better alternative to traditional steel as it can be of the same quality as traditional steel despite the differences in its manufacturing processes and the resources used. Additionally, with green steel, steel manufacturers would be able to achieve their goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.


References: 

Aranca (2022, June 7). Green Steel: How one of the world’s most emission intensive industry plans to decarbonize

https://www.aranca.com/knowledge-library/articles/business-research/green-steel-how-one-of-the-worlds-most-emission-intensive-industry-plans-to-decarbonize


Crownhart, C. (2022, June 28). How green steel made with electricity could clean up a dirty industry.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/06/28/1055027/green-steel-electricity-boston-metal/


Gordon, O. (2023, January 20). The four-horse race to decarbonise steel.

https://www.energymonitor.ai/sectors/industry/the-four-horse-race-to-decarbonise-steel/


Haddaway, N.R., Cooke, S.J., Lesser, P. et al. (2019). Evidence of the impacts of metal mining and the effectiveness of mining mitigation measures on social–ecological systems in Arctic and boreal regions: a systematic map protocol.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-019-0152-8


Ren21. (2019, May 28). Why is renewable energy important?

https://www.ren21.net/why-is-renewable-energy-important/


RMI (September 2019) The Disruptive Potential of Green Steel.

https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/green-steel-insight-brief.pdf


Wolf, F. (2022, August 23). Green steel: Making steel with renewable energy and fewer emissions. 

https://mergeflow.com/research/green-steel




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