Evaluating emission reduction in EAF steelmaking: The role of renewable energy and circular economy solutions

Despite sustained efforts to mitigate emissions within the heavy industrial sector, limited research exists on the full environmental impact of integrating renewable energy in electric arc furnace (EAF) for steelmaking in Nigeria, particularly from a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) perspective. As such, this study was undertaken to evaluate the potential of renewable energy integration in mitigating environmental impact of electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking. A cradle-to-gate LCA was performed using GaBi software, covering scrap processing, transportation, melting, casting, reheating, and rolling. Three energy scenarios were formulated to explore varying levels of renewable integration. These are traditional EAF system (Scenario A), a hybrid renewable-integrated EAF (Scenario B), and a fully renewable-powered system (Scenario C). The findings revealed that scenario A emitted 681 kg CO2-eq per tonne of steel, while Scenario C achieved emission reduction of 61–72%, depending on the renewable mix. Scenario B demonstrated a 26–39% reduction, indicating that even partial substitution with renewable offers significant benefits. The results support the feasibility of decarbonizing EAF steelmaking through renewable integration and highlight the need for further techno-economic analysis to assess cost and scalability.