Cliffs files for EAF air permit at Middletown

Integrated steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs has filed for an air permit related to a potential future electric arc furnace (EAF) at its Middletown, Ohio, integrated steel mill.

The permit was filed for a parcel at the Middletown steelmaking site that appears to contain a handful of buildings. The Middletown blast furnace has a production capacity of 2.3mn short tons (st)/yr, according to data from the Association for Iron and Steel Technology.

The air permit listing cites "proposed installation of an EAF melt shop and associated operations to produce steel slab."

The company has no plans to replace the Middletown blast furnace, which was relined a year ago and has at least 15 years of life left, Cliffs said in a statement. The blast furnace revamp was made to allow it to use more hot briquetted iron (HBI) in its melt operation, reducing its reliance on coking coal and lowering its carbon emissions.

"As far as permits, we at Cliffs always tend to plan ahead and keep options available for the future," the company said. "We have done that several times in Minnesota. For example, not all permits are acted upon and certainly not all approved permits will result in [capital expenditure] deployment. The requested air permit you have seen is just that: a possibility for a distant future."

Multiple US steelmakers are currently moving forward with plans for new EAFs. Integrated steelmaker US Steel is building a new 3mn st/yr flat-rolled mill in Arkansas, adjacent to its existing 3.3mn st/yr Big River Steel mill, while EAF steelmaker Nucor is building a 3mn st/yr flat-rolled mill in West Virginia.

By Rye Druzin