Materials and Circular Economy

Qatar Steel aspires to be the foremost leader in recycling and reusing within the Qatar industry sector. To accomplish this ambition, we remain committed to using responsibly sourced materials and maximising the use of recycled or scrap materials whenever feasible, while optimising the management of the by-products that are generated within our processes.

USING RECYCLED RAW MATERIALS IN STEEL MAKING

Scrap is our primary raw material for recycling, obtained both from local suppliers and generated internally during our processes. Additionally, we recycle other materials such as MgO-C bricks and reduced briquettes (RBQ) from our operations. Despite our continuous efforts to increase the amount of materials recycled materials, the percentage of scrap and the overall proportion of recycled materials used in our processes decreased in 2023. This decline in scrap recycling can be attributed to a reduced availability of local scrap compared to previous years. To prevent similar situations in the future, we are committed to conducting research to identify new suppliers beyond our local network. After restarting of cold briquetting plant, in 2023 we consumed around 22,000 tons of DRI fines and DRI dust to produce reduced briquettes. These briquettes were then consumed in EAF to produce molten steel.

BY-PRODUCTS MANAGEMENT

As part of our Sustainability Roadmap, Qatar Steel aims to reduce and manage the waste and by-products generated within its operations. Qatar Steel’s focus is to recycle the by-products either internally or through approved third-party contractors. In 2023, there was a nearly 300% increase in waste recycled (diverted from disposal). This substantial rise was primarily attributed to a significant increase in by-product recycling, driven by a higher percentage of EAF slag being diverted from disposal and processed for construction application.

Our focus has been on identifying potential avenues for reusing and recycling steel byproducts aligning with the World Steel NetZero Methodology Pathway. As a result, we have identified several opportunities. Firstly, we successfully commissioned our byproducts briquetting plant, which restarted its operations in 2023. Additionally, we have identified other promising opportunities, including the supply of EAF dust for cement clinker production in a local cement company, recycling lime dust in our DR plant for oxide pellet coating, recycling MgO-C Bricks as a partial replacement of dololime in EAF, and recycling of DR fines and DR dust in the cold briquetting plant.

MATERIAL EFFICIENCY

At Qatar Steel, we have implemented KPIs that holds great importance for our production process. This KPI is determined by calculating the ratio between the raw materials utilised in the process and the quantity of semi-finished products produced. Our material efficiency has remained relatively stable over the past three years, showing little variation.