Steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel (AM/NS) India will set up three ferrous scrap processing centres in Hazira and Ahmedabad in Gujarat and in Khopoli in Maharashtra at a time of the country's decarbonisation efforts.
The steelmaker is planning to invest 1bn rupees [$11.9mn] for the three centres that will process domestic industrial and end-of-life vehicle ferrous scrap, the company said.
It currently uses a scrap mix of 3-5pc of the total steelmaking capacity at the 4.6mn t/yr electric arc furnace (EAF) at Hazira and aims to increase that to 9pc by the end of 2025.
AM/NS operates a 9.6mn t crude steel plant at Hazira (4.6mn t/yr EAF and 5mn t/yr Conarc) and a scrap processing centre will be located at the plant. It also operates a 1.2mn t/yr downstream plant at Khopoli but it is unclear yet if a scrap processing centre will be set up there.
The firm has lowered its carbon emissions by 32pc in the calendar year 2022 from 2015 levels, it said.
Concerns about growing global scrap protectionism and the government's impetus on increasing scrap usage in steelmaking processes have prompted Indian steelmakers to invest in scrap processing centres. Scrap imports in India have remained firm despite the country launching a national vehicle scrapping policy in August 2021 that was aimed at increasing domestic scrap metal processing capacity.
India's Tata Steel operates a 500,000 t/yr steel recycling plant at Rohtak in north India's Haryana state since 2021, while JSW Steel in 2022 had announced plans to set up scrap shredding facilities in India in a joint venture with New Zealand's metal recycler National Steel Holdings Limited.
