Material Balance

Our Iron & Steel Business accounts for 95% of all energy used at Kobe Steel. In fiscal 2011, we consumed 11.35 million metric tons of iron ore, 5.95 million metric tons of coke and coking coal, 10 PJ of fuels such as coal, oil and city gas, and 1.04 million MWh of purchased electricity. We take almost all of the byproduct gases generated by different stages of the production process, such as coke oven gas, blast furnace gas, and converter gas, and effectively reuse them as fuel for the reheating furnaces at the rolling mills and the in-house power generation plants. We also actively reuse recovered waste heat to generate electricity. Combined with byproduct gases, this means that over 50% of the power that we use in our production processes is generated from recovered energy sources.

We also recycle 97% of the other byproducts of the production process, such as iron and steel slag*, dust and sludge, as raw materials for cement, paving material, and other applications.

We remain committed to improving the efficiency of our raw material and energy use, and we will continue developing technologies that enable us to manufacture our products while preserving the environment.

*Iron and steel slag: Byproduct separated and recovered from molten metal during the refining process

The Welding Business produces welding wires and welding electrodes using steel wire rods and hoops, flux and liquid glass as raw materials. In fiscal 2011, our plants in Fujisawa, Ibaraki, Saijo and Fukuchiyama used a total of 200,000 metric tons of raw materials, 70,000 MWh of electricity, and 0.2 PJ of city gas for energy. We manufactured 180,000 metric tons of welding products. As a consequence, 11,000 metric tons of byproducts were generated, of which 96% were recycled.

The Aluminum & Copper Business uses aluminum and copper ingots, scrap metal and other materials for the production of a wide range of aluminum and copper products. In fiscal 2011, we used 350,000 metric tons of raw materials, 450,000 MWh of electricity, and 3.5 PJ of city gas as energy to produce 340,000 metric tons of products.

Despite producing 27,000 metric tons of waste, including slag and dust from melting and casting and waste sludge, we managed to recycle 96% of that total.