RC114 SeptOct 2024 - Magazine - Page 18
CONSTRUCTION
Ottawa’s Shaw Centre, along the Rideau Canal, which incorporated
reused structural steel, is one of the city’s most distinctive buildings.
BEAMING WITH OPPORTUNITY
Building the structural steel reuse industry in Canada
by Kristen Balogh, Isis Bennet and Lucy Yan
W
Kristen Balogh is a Structural
Engineer with WSP in Canada.
Isis Bennet is an Engineer
with WSP in Canada.
Lucy Yan is a Project
Manager for WSP in Canada.
18
RENEW CANADA – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024
overcome them, balancing low embodied carbon with
construction time and cost.
Why target steel reuse as a climate solution?
As steel reuse has the potential to reduce embodied carbon
emissions up to 97 per cent from conventional steel and
has a cost-competitive potential, this emerging practice
represents a serious consideration for the industry.
Based on Canadian industry averages, typical steelmaking processes create the following emissions:
" Blast Furnace + Blast Oxygen Furnace (BF-BOF) + Virgin
Steel 4 1500 kgCO2e/T
" Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) + Scrap 4 410 kgCO2e/T
In comparison, at 50 kgCO2e/T , reused steel has the
potential to reduce emissions by 97 per cent from BF-BOF
and 88 per cent from EAF.
While the act of recycling scrap metal via EAF has
decent carbon savings compared to using virgin steel +
BOF, the process of melting down scrap metal to turn it
into secondary steel still requires signiocant energy and
resource input.
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HILE THERE IS AN ESTABLISHED and mature Canadian
steel recycling industry, estimated by the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries to be
recycling approximately 16-18 million tonnes
each year, the steel reuse industry is still a relatively niche market. The growing market in the
UK has proven that reused steel is a strong contender to
conventional steel, both in terms of cost and its low-carbon superiority. There are now dedicated deconstruction
contractors in the UK who provide an established reused
steel supply chain. As such, steel reuse represents a major
opportunity for Canada to reach our own national decarbonization goals. But like anything in its infancy, there is
work to be done in understanding and developing the technical, policy and economic requirements that can drive this
initiative forward.
This article examines the current Canadian steel reuse
industry and identioes the economic and policy tools that
would facilitate the greater adoption of steel reuse in Canada. It identioes and addresses the challenges that exist
in the current market, and provides solutions for how to
