As steel production accounts for about 7% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, there are significant opportunities for the industry, including its supply chain to make improvements and share data transparently to inform business decisions. Steelcon, a Canadian firm that designs, fabricates, and builds industrial, commercial, institutional, and multi-residential projects made from structural steel, published its first environmental product declaration (EPD) in early 2024 for its unique SIN Beam product. This involved a detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) covering the many aspects of steel production and steel fabrication, and verified by a third-party to communicate the environmental performance of the product.

The SIN Beam is a steel gravity framing member similar to a conventional W-Shape beam. However, the SIN Beam differs in having a sinusoidal web. In other words, the middle part of the W-Shape is wavy. This allows for material optimization and the same structural load can be supported with up to 31% less steel. 

Even though the original SIN Beam used less steel, the LCA provided Steelcon with a better understanding of the product’s carbon footprint and opportunities to reduce it further. Based on this information, Steelcon determined that buying lower-carbon steel from its suppliers presented the largest opportunity to reduce carbon. After shifting to a new supplier whose manufacturing process is less emission-intensive, their latest EPD for the product shows a roughly 50% reduction in product emissions compared to before, at near cost parity.

As a company that purchases steel coil, and plate and welds it together, Steelcon explored several decarbonization pathways. Taking a data-driven approach, they focused on efforts that were both cost-neutral and yielded significant emissions reductions. 

A Green Fabrication Factory?

You might immediately think that Steelcon should “go green” for all its fabrication facility operations. For years we have been encouraged to decarbonize buildings and homes. Why not do the same at the industrial level?

Let’s assume, for argument’s sake, that the “greening” process is very successful. So much so, that the fabrication factory now consumes no electricity and burns no natural gas. What does that look like?

Surprisingly, the facility’s operations contribute less than 1% of the product’s carbon impacts, also known as global warming potential (GWP). Therefore, decarbonizing the fabrication facility provides a limited return on the required capital investment.

Buy Electric

While Steelcon’s SIN Beam fabrication facility is located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Steelcon’s upstream steel mills are spread out over Canada and the U.S. This assortment of mills had very diverse production technologies and data collection standards. Some steel mills had product-specific EPDs quantifying their impacts, whereas others only described their production methods at a high level, necessitating the use of industry-average data and providing less accurate information.

There are two main methods of producing steel in the Steelcon supply chain. The first is the blast furnace – basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) method. Under this method, iron ore is heated with coke (a type of refined coal) in a blast furnace to create a mixture of elemental iron and carbon. This mixture is then sent to a BOF where it is shot with oxygen to reduce the carbon content to the desired level. This process releases significant amounts of CO₂. By contrast, the scrap – electric arc furnace (EAF) pathway dramatically cuts back on emissions. Under this process, recycled steel is sent to an EAF where it is melted down with electricity.¹

The disparity in emissions impacts between the two steel production methods was evident in the LCA for Steelcon’s first EPD. Out of a total SIN Beam GWP of 2,390 kg CO₂ equivalent per tonne of steel (CO₂e/t), steel milling from all sources accounted for 91% of the SIN Beam’s carbon footprint. This is a massive GWP impact that dwarfs many other sources of emissions such as utilities at Steelcon’s facility. 72% of the SIN Beam’s carbon impacts came from the upstream production of BF-BOF steel, despite BF-BOF steel accounting for 66% of all purchased steel. By comparison, the relative impact of EAF steel was much smaller.

Recognizing that steel supply was by far the largest driver of SIN Beam emissions, Steelcon sought out a lower carbon supplier of steel coil. After a thoughtful investigation, Steelcon selected North Star Bluescope Steel in Delta, Ohio to supply 100% of its SIN Beam steel. As a result, Steelcon ensured that their entire supply of steel was produced from scrap in an EAF. The results of this transition on SIN Beam emissions are noticeable: GWP declined from 2,390 kg CO₂e/t steel to 1,220 kg CO₂e/t steel – an almost 50% reduction. While decarbonization so often involves chasing small gains on the margin, massive emissions reductions such as that seen by Steelcon are a cause for celebration. Additionally, the design of the SIN Beam means it uses up to 31% less steel than an equivalent W-Shape. Including this reduction in steel yields an even lower GWP, demonstrating the commanding position SIN Beam has taken in the green structural steel space.

Buy Closer

An additional benefit of switching to North Star Bluescope steel was the savings in transportation emissions. While transportation emissions were never the main source of emissions for SIN Beam, their impact was non-trivial. Importantly, as the emissions from steel milling are reduced, transportation takes on relatively more prominence.

Steelcon’s original steel supply chain was widespread across North America, with mills supplying Steelcon from as far as the U.S. West Coast. The total impact of transporting steel coil across vast distances by truck amounted to roughly 255 kg CO₂e/t steel, a not insignificant amount.

With the switch to North Star Bluescope, all steel was now coming from Delta, Ohio, which is much closer to St. Catharines, Ontario. The result was an over 65% reduction in transportation impacts, down to 80 kg CO₂e/t steel. 

Through this work, Steelcon has demonstrated that the two largest hotspots for decarbonization in steel fabrication are upstream steel supply and transportation. Mill product-specific EPDs are also essential in decarbonization efforts so that fabricators can accurately understand the potential carbon impacts of their steel supply and enable data-based decisions. As the industry continues to transition to a low-carbon economy, Mantle encourages the steel industry to share data transparently and refine its procurement practices to make it easier to purchase low-carbon steel.