Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE), Charlotte, N.C., a steel products manufacturer and SFIA member, has been making news in the area of sustainability.
One of its executives recently appeared on a popular construction podcast. The company also recently announced a partnership with the University of Kentucky Research Foundation to test an innovative carbon dioxide capture system.
Podcast: EAFs, EPDs, More
The Construction Brothers podcast recently featured Dennis Pilarczyk, manager of building solutions at Nucor’s Construction Solutions Group.
On the podcast, Pilarczyk explained how steel can help building designers meet their sustainability goals. He discussed the difference between electric arc and basic oxygen furnaces, environmental product declarations (EPDs), high-strength steel and net-zero carbon steel.
Here are some podcast highlights:
- Electric arc furnaces, or EAFs, represent 70% of the steel production capacity in the United States
- The primary feedstock for EAF production is scrap steel, rather than iron ore
- EAFs use electricity from the grid, rather than burning coal
- EAFs significantly cut back on greenhouses gas compared with basic oxygen furnaces, or BOFs
Sustainability through EAFs
Pilarczyk said BOFs emit a little over 2 tons of greenhouse gas for every 1 ton of steel produced. In contrast, EAFs emit a 1/2 ton of greenhouse gas for every 1 ton of steel made.
Thus, BOF steel production is about four times as carbon intensive versus EAF steel production. Pilarczyk said all Nucor steel is produced using EAF technology.
Facility-Specific EPDs
Pilarczyk also encouraged building owners and designers to consult environmental product declarations, or EPDs, which report on the global warming potential of products and can be used to calculate a lifecycle assessment of that product for a building.
The domestic steel industry sees the need to produce facility-, or mill-, specific EPDs, rather than industry-average EPDs. A facility-specific EPD can help a designer “sharpen [their] pencil,” Pilarczyk said, and be more specific in their lifecycle assessments.
The move to release facility-specific EPDs is happening quickly. On January 1 2021, Nucor had only one EPD for one product produced by one facility. Today, Nucor has 7 EPDs covering 6 products at 35 different facilities, Pilarczyk said.
Nucor Steel Gallatin in Ghent, Kentucky, will be testing an innovative carbon dioxide capture system. Photo courtesy of Nucor.
Nucor Steel Gallatin in Ghent, Kentucky, will be testing an innovative carbon dioxide capture system. Photo courtesy of Nucor.
Nucor, University of Kentucky to Study Carbon Capture
In related news, Nucor is partnering with the University of Kentucky Research Foundation to test an innovative carbon dioxide capture system at Nucor Steel Gallatin in Ghent, Kentucky.
This is one of 12 research projects being funded by a U.S. Department of Energy grant to advance point-source carbon capture and storage technologies that can capture CO2 emissions generated from natural gas power plants and industrial facilities which produce commodities like cement and steel.
Once this pilot is complete Nucor and UK will have a better understanding of the costs and effectiveness of carbon capture technology for flue gas with low CO2 content and the feasibility of replication of this technology at other electric arc furnace steel mills.
“Nucor teammates, along with researchers at the University of Kentucky Research Foundation, recognized that to reach specific carbon reduction goals at industrial facilities, technologies like carbon sequestration need to become economically feasible,” said Nucor Steel Gallatin General Manager, Scott Laurenti.
This project is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.
About Nucor
Nucor and its affiliates are manufacturers of steel and steel products, with operating facilities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Products produced include: carbon and alloy steel — in bars, beams, sheet and plate; hollow structural section tubing; electrical conduit; steel racking; steel piling; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; fabricated concrete reinforcing steel; cold finished steel; precision castings; steel fasteners; metal building systems; insulated metal panels; steel grating; and wire and wire mesh.
Nucor, through The David J. Joseph Company, also brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron and hot briquetted iron / direct reduced iron; supplies ferro-alloys; and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap. Nucor is North America’s largest recycler.
Additional Resources
- Nucor to Build Sheet Mill in West Virginia, Acquires California Steel Industries
- Steel Industry Pushes Toward Net-Zero Energy Target
- SFIA Releases Industry Environmental Products Declaration for Cold-Formed Steel Framing