Impact of the Natural Gas Revolution on the North American Steel Industry New Technologies That Will Maximize the Natural Gas Benefit

摘要

In the last years the steel industry was characterized by a continuous negative trend in the industrialized countries: low margin, high competition and overcapacity. Some regional situations can change the scenario in a positive way. The low cost of natural gas could have an important impact on the North American steel industry's new technologies development. Natural gas is a key cost factor in the US Iron & Steel industry, that has recently obtained significant results in terms of improvement of its production technologies from the point of view of energy consumption, both in blast furnace and in electric steelmaking.