A Cost Saving Strategy for Near Term Carbon Footprint Reduction
The world steel industry is currently on an aggressive path to reduce GHGs and particularly CO2. There are dozens of technologies and steelmaking techniques being developed for wide use. Most are very costly and complex technologies which will not fully mature for several years.
There is one existing technology currently available which when implemented can dramatically decrease CO2 and at the same time substantially reduce mill costs in the manufacture of galvanized steel. For the most part, it merely requires a shift in manufacturing technique and no Capex (or very little) to provide both lower cost and greener galvanized steel.
The technology is a patented RoHS compliant waterborne chemical coating called InterCoat©ChemGuard (ICCG). It changes the corrosion resistance of zinc in such a way that equivalent corrosion performance can be achieved reliably with far less zinc. It comes with the only comparative performance Warranty available in the worldwide galvanize industry. Zinc reduction without sacrificing performance is a revolutionary concept creating value on every ton produced. Basically, only G30(Z90) need ever be produced for any application, with varying levels of ICCG providing each equivalent traditional zinc coating performance up to G235(Z700).
The other half of the benefit from using this product derives from direct and quantifiable CO2 reduction. Life Cycle analyses of zinc show that for every ton of special high grade zinc ingots produced for the manufacture of galvanized steel, 2.6 tons of CO2 is released into the atmosphere. The most common zinc coating weight in use worldwide is G90(Z275). By substituting G30(Z90) coated with ICCG, there is a 67% reduction in zinc and a concomitant 67% reduction in CO2. By merely producing only G30(Z90) as a universal coating to meet all corrosion performance parameters, a mill can achieve both goals: cost reduction and greener galvanized products.
Ultimate success in carbon reduction is inevitable given our need to protect the planet. However, the time to success is greatly shortened by using currently available proven technologies like ICCG. What makes achieving environmental targets especially attractive is that implementation of this strategy also has an immediate effect on profitability.
Our product has been extensively tested over a ten-year period, and we have thousands of data points supporting our product claims.