Posted on 11 Jan 2024
Japan's second-largest steelmaker, JFE Steel Corp, has announced details relating to the construction of a plant at its East Japan Works south of Tokyo to process 60,000 tonnes/year of waste plastic, some of which will be used as a substitute for raw materials such as coking coal in blast furnaces, and coke ovens.
On Tuesday, the steelmaker said that it has finalized a framework under which it will partner with its new joint venture, J Circular System, to establish a plastic-recycling system to support its plan to increase its use of waste plastic in steelmaking.
J Circular System, a waste plastic recycling business established last July, is owned 66% by J&T Recycling, a JFE group company that recycles plastics and other waste materials, and the balance by Japan's largest rail company, JR East, and JR East's resource recycling subsidiary. Though JFE notes that besides railways, JR East also manages retail facilities and hotels, it will be the plastic waste such as PET beverage bottles collected from JR stations and trains that will account for much of the waste feeds.
Last November, JFE Steel had announced that it and JFE Group companies would be spending Yen 6.75 billion ($46 million) to build the plastics recycling plant at its steelworks in Keihin in Kanagawa prefecture that should go into operation this October.
The plant will be "one of the largest recycling facilities of its kind in Japan...and is expected to reduce JFE Steel's CO2 emissions by approximately 160,000 t/y in Fiscal 2030," it said at the time.
In its Tuesday announcement, JFE Steel did not give a breakdown for the end-use ratio of the recycled products, such as the volume emerging as recycled pellets, and that used in gasification and chemical raw materials such as coke, for example.
However, its rival in steelmaking, Nippon Steel, says that of the waste plastics it collects through its collaboration with local governments, some 40% are used as hydrocarbon oil, another 40% as coke furnace gas and the remaining 20% in coke production. Nippon Steel says that currently, it is processing about 200,000 t/y of waste plastics annually or about 30% of the volume collected nationwide. Its recycling plant is in the Yawata area of its Kyushu Works in western Japan.
Source:Mysteel Global
