Material Balance

We promote environmental management taking the environment into consideration at every stage of our operations. As part of this approach, the Group continuously strives for greater energy efficiency; effective use of by-product gases, waste heat, water, and other resources; and the recycling of by-products.

At our Company, 94% of the energy used is consumed by the Steel Business. In fiscal 2022, this business division used 9.33 million tons of iron ore; 4.97 million tons of coking coal and coke; 11 PJ¹ of fuels such as coal, oil, and city gas; and 920,000 MWh of purchased power. Nearly all of the by-product gases—including coke oven gas, blast furnace gas, and converter gas—derived from production processes are effectively reused as fuel for reheating steel or for use in in-house power plants. In addition, by-products produced during production processes, such as iron and steel slag,² dust, and sludge, are also turned to effective use as raw materials in applications such as cement and roadbeds. Together with in-company reuse, 98% of the by-products are recycled in this manner. In the future, Kobe Steel will continue to carry out environmentally friendly manufacturing practices throughout all aspects of its operations, striving for more efficient use of resources and energy and advancing the development of new technologies to that end.

Using metal wire rods, hoops, fluxes, soluble glass, and other raw materials, the Welding Business produces welding electrodes and welding wires. In fiscal 2022, the Fujisawa, Ibaraki, Saijo, and Fukuchiyama plants used a total of 140,000 tons of raw materials, 55,000 MWh of electricity, and 0.2 PJ of city gas and other fuels to manufacture 130,000 tons of products. This generated 11,000 tons of by-products, of which 97% was successfully recycled.