Beyond The Recycled Label

Production Route, Carbon Accounting and Mechanical Evidence in the Assessment of Recovered Steel for Civil Infrastructure

Abstract

Civil infrastructure requires steel that performs reliably, efficiently and enables a strong foundation. However, the production process of steel also causes the emission of greenhouse gases. Therefore, this paper seeks to answer the question as to whether steel made using recovered material can aid in the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions all the while fulfilling the basic requirements of civil infrastructure.

This review examines the process of how steel is produced, the different available methods that are available for assessing its environmental effects, understanding the mechanical performance of the material and how each of these factors are taken into consideration while building different projects.

Classifying steel as the primary or recycled only answers a part of the question. The overall impact varies on other different factors such as the source of electricity, furnace inputs, the manufacturing process and the method of calculation that is used.

The reviewed literature does not support a single carbon value or a mechanical disadvantage for recycled steel. The finished product is therefore assessed using the evidence relevant to the source material properties and the application that it’s intended for.

The proposed study intends to combine steel origin data, laboratory tests and carbon calculations. At this stage in time, this merely stands as a research proposal, and no experimental results from that study have been reported here.