Japanese steelmakers would be more interested in the new process if they weren't going through such a severe recession, Suwa says. They're cutting back on capital spending and are in no mood to spend money on a new concept that hasn't been proven commercially viable. Nevertheless, Suwa's laboratory has received inquiries from more than 20 interested parties here and overseas, he says. Japanese minimills are compelled to operate only at night, when power rates are lower. The NSR system also could lower melting costs and reduce the amount of energy used, Suwa says.
Electricity is consumed to produce oxygen from air.
But this is considered when calculating energy units, Suwa says. Assuming an average of 0.45 kW, the NSR process requires 45 kW of electricity per hour to produce 100 Nm3 of oxygen. The figure would be about 900 Mcal if one assumes more electricity is consumed. Dust from EAF mills currently goes to zinc smelters to enrich the zinc concentration to more than 50 percent before it's recycled to users. But dust from an NSR minimill can be sold directly to users.