The market
The global steel market in 2010 is estimated at $ 400 billion and reached 1.3 billion tonnes. The largest steel company ArcelorMittal, controlled by Lakshmi Mittal, is listed on the Dutch Stock Exchange, with a turnover greater than 30 billion euros. This conglomerate controls around 10 % of world sales. While the steel industry was once an American affair, it has resolutely transformed into an Indian and Chinese affair. More than a third of global steel production is produced in China. However, the leaders of the Indian market carried out a series of global acquisitions after the sector has experienced a deep consolidation, fighting for two decades against overcapacity, which made them the captains of this growing industry. Strategically, the Indians have a competitive advantage over the Chinese since India is the third producer of importance iron ore, after Australia and Brazil. Today, more than half of India's ore is exported, which is likely to change to secure strategic reserves. Steel is the most recycled material on earth. The total volume of steel recovered as part of industrial and general public recycling programs is greater than that of paper, plastic, aluminum, copper and combined glass. About 30 % of all the steel used today is recycled. Arc electric ovens in Germany and Japan work with 100 %recovered steel, which has the great advantage of being able to be reused indefinitely. The industry has made great progress, the recycling rates of steel in the automotive industry in Europe reached almost 100 % after the European Union has imposed the strictest standards. However, more than two thirds of all manufactured steel are still wasted. Steel house recycling rates are particularly low. American households get rid of 100 million cans of steel per day (36.5 billion per year) and the non -recycled part is sufficient to install a New York pipeline in Los Angeles and vice versa every day. Thanks to its magnetism, steel is easy to sort and recycle. A tonne of recycled steel saves 1.1 tonnes of ore and 630 kg of coal. Recycled steel in North America saves enough energy to supply 18 million households. One of the greatest challenges of steel remains its greenhouse gas emissions, a natural by-product since the creation of the industry, more than 4,000 years ago. Energy needs per tonne of steel have decreased by 30 % in the past 20 years. However, each tonne of steel generates two tonnes of CO2 equivalent, which, even if it is much lower than aluminum which emits 11 tonnes, still represents a major contribution to global climate change.
Innovation
The steel industry has a vast innovation program, ranging from high resistance steel production to minerals extraction, including the production of steel coverings, including the revolutionary coating of steel With thin layer solar cells. The recovery of the size of the steelworks has prompted engineers to create mini-acires that reduce capital investments by production installation while offering greater flexibility and a reduced environmental impact, which gives the management more possibilities of Recover the lost heat, especially by cooling the molten steel. This process makes it possible to further compact the size of the factories and to bring together industrial activities. However, one of the areas that require strategic attention is that of scrap and slag. Although this is not new, it has always been a question of recycling with low added value or without added value. Ji Gengxin, a demobilized soldier of the People's Liberation Army of China, studied the massive accumulation of more than 10 million tonnes of slag which escapes the steers of his country each year. Internationally, most of this waste is recycled for the construction of road roads. However, the recycling slags await large plots of arable land generating serious contamination of air and soil. Mr. Ji realized that the slag contains 15 % used steel and that the rest is known to be a very resistant material: resistant to wear, tear and corrosion. Mr. Ji then created the Wuhan Metallurgical Slag Environment Engineering Company and started with 25 unemployed and a small credit of 30,000 yuan ($ 4,600) to work in the recovery of this pollutant. Mr. Ji and Mr. Chen Yimin from the Chinese Academy of Construction Materials have managed to demonstrate that finely crushed slag powder - the rest after steel recovery - can replace 20 % of cement as an active Additive Reinforcing Concrete resistance. Instead of recycling slag as a raw material of lower quality for road roads, it is now a high -value ingredient in the construction industry. Generating more value by moving the waste flow from one industry to another is a typical characteristic of the blue economy.
The first cash flow
Their patented technique, including crushing, wet magnetic selection, sieving separation and the grinding system, was used for the first time successfully in cement to build pillar beams for the large Xia Bai bridge through The sea in the province of Fiji. This made it possible to make the breakthrough necessary to start reprocessing a hundred hectares of slag of slag at the Wuhan Iron and Steel Group (WISCO), the first Chinese Supergian Industrial Complex which started its activities in 1958. Statistics show that more than 1 , 4 million tonnes of slag are rejected each year by this steelworks. The creative and scientific work of the Wuhan team has created a new industry which reports on average 200 yuan ($ 30) net per tonne of slag, including the provision to restore polluted land. In a decade, this slag recycling company increased from two dozen to 500 employees.
The opportunity
If steel slag continue to be used to pave motorways in the rest of the world, they are rarely used for this purpose in China. It is also very unlikely, because the slag generates multiple income. The Wuhan group has now introduced its technology into the building industry with a large project portfolio implemented, including airports, metros and dams. After 17 years, all the lots of slag around Wuhan have been removed. Steel content has first been completely recycled and now the remains generate more income than the value of the scrap. The annual production of slag of this Wuhan factory only generates net income of more than $ 100 million, a performance greater than any other slag processing company. This is an opportunity to start using the mining waste from steelworks and starting to build a bunch around it. There is no doubt that this portfolio of innovations, offering better quality with what is available locally, offers a platform for entrepreneurs who can be repeated in any old steelworks around the world, Provided that there are entrepreneurs to get there.
