worldsteel LCA eco-profile
Global | Sections - Construction

Declared product

The presented results refer to a declared unit of 1 metric tonne of sections representing the Global industry average.

Product description

A steel section rolled on a hot rolling mill. Steel Sections include I-beams, H-beams, wide-flange beams, and sheet piling. This product is used in construction, multi-storey buildings, industrial buildings, bridge trusses, vertical highway supports, and riverbank reinforcement etc.

Scope

The assessment covers the cradle-to-gate LCA results of the declared steel products including end-of-life-recycling (see Figure 1).

The cradle-to-gate LCI study with end-of-life recycling includes net credits (the amount of end-of-life scrap minus any scrap consumed in the production of the product) associated with recycling the steel from the final products at the end-of-life (end-of-life scrap) with a 90% end-of-life recycling rate. This study does not include the manufacture of the downstream final products or their use.

The primary data collected from the steel companies relates to the production from 2017 to 2022 and is believed to be representative of global steel production during this time frame. 155 steel production sites from 43 companies have contributed to the 2022 worldsteel LCI data release. Allocation of environmental impacts between the steel product and resulting co-products follow the worldsteel methodology applying system expansion (see worldsteel 2022 LCI Study Report for further details).

The calculation is based on Sphera background data – LCA for Experts software version 10.7.0.183, database version 2022.2. Therefore, allocation in the supply chain follows the assumptions of the Sphera-database. Further information of the applied background data is given in the worldsteel 2022 LCI Study Report.

End-of-life allocation follows the approach defined according to worldsteel’s LCI methodology, whereby the net amount of scrap reaching the end-of-life stage is calculated. This is then reported separately to the cradle-to-gate impacts.

This evaluation complies with the requirements of ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.

It represents a basis for potential B2B and B2C communication of the environmental impacts of the analyzed steel products.

LCA Results

The presented results refer to the life cycle related environmental footprint of 1 metric tonne of steel product. Table 1 presents the product’s potential environmental impact according to selected indicators following EN 15804+A2:2019, given that this is a standard often used for construction products. The chosen indicators refer to the selection applicable for sustainable building certification according to the DGNB system.

Table 1: Results of the LCA – Environmental impact and indicators according to selected indicators of EN 15804+A2:2019: 1 metric tonne of steel product

*Modular approach according to EN 15804.

Content of recycled steel

The total amount of iron and steel scrap used to make the product is 0.734 metric tonnes scrap/tonne of steel product.

In this case, the scrap input refers to the net scrap input, i.e., it does not consider the recirculating, internal, or home scrap that is generated in the processes that are being studied. Scrap from the sections production process that goes back into the BOF or EAF is not included as an external scrap input for sections.

Thus, the scrap input is often considered to be external to the production of the product as well as post-consumer scrap, i.e., scrap produced in processes downstream of the production of the steel product in question: on the steel plant, fabrication, and manufacturing scrap as well as end-of-life scrap (see further information in the worldsteel methodology report, 2017).

References