Advantages of Electric Arc Furnace For Steelmaking
The use of EAFs allows steel to be made from a 100% scrap metal feedstock. This greatly reduces the energy required to make steel when compared with primary steelmaking from ores. Another benefit is flexibility: while blast furnaces cannot vary their production by much and are never stopped for years at a time, EAFs can be rapidly started and stopped, allowing the steel mill to vary production according to demand. During the peak of global financial meltdown in 2009, an estimated quantity of only 1 million tonne was produced in USA employing EAF technique. Although steelmaking arc furnaces generally use scrap steel as their primary feedstock, if hot metal from a blast furnace or direct-reduced iron is available economically, these can also be used as furnace feed.
A typical steelmaking arc furnace is the source of steel for a mini-mill, which may make bars or strip product. Mini-mills can be sited relatively near to the markets for steel products, and the transport requirements are less than for an integrated mill, which would commonly be sited near a harbour for access to shipping.
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