Most steel is made by one of two industrial families: the integrated blast furnace–basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) route or an electric arc furnace (EAF). BF-BOF first reduces iron ore with coke to make hot metal, then converts that hot metal to steel with oxygen. EAF steelmaking melts a metallic charge—usually recycled steel, but sometimes direct-reduced iron (DRI) or hot metal—with electricity. DRI is an ironmaking step or feedstock, not a complete steelmaking route by itself.
The choice affects raw materials, plant design, energy demand, emissions and the kinds of steel a mill can produce. Scrap supply and quality, access to iron ore and metallurgical coal, electricity prices and cleanliness, and the availability of natural gas or hydrogen all influence the practical route.
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Ironmaking and steelmaking are different steps
Ironmaking produces metallic iron units from ore. Steelmaking adjusts those iron units to a controlled composition by removing excess carbon and unwanted elements, then produces a castable liquid steel. In a conventional integrated works, the blast furnace is the ironmaking unit and the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) is the steelmaking unit. In an EAF mill, the furnace itself melts and refines a metallic charge; that charge may be scrap, DRI, hot metal or a combination.
This distinction matters because “EAF steel” does not always mean scrap-only steel, and “DRI-EAF” describes two linked operations rather than one furnace. The reductant used to make DRI and the electricity used in the EAF both affect the final environmental profile.
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How the BF-BOF route works
1. Prepare the ore, fuel and fluxes
An integrated mill prepares iron ore so that air can move through the blast furnace. Metallurgical coal is converted into coke, which supplies heat and acts as the principal chemical reductant in the conventional furnace. Limestone and related fluxes help capture impurities in a molten slag. Recycled steel can be added later in the BOF charge.
World Steel Association representative figures for 1,000 kilograms of crude steel on the integrated route are 1,370 kilograms of iron ore, 780 kilograms of metallurgical coal, 270 kilograms of limestone and 125 kilograms of recycled steel. These are route-level illustrative inputs, not a universal recipe: actual quantities vary with ore chemistry, furnace practice, product grade and plant efficiency.
2. Reduce ore in the blast furnace
Hot air is blown through the lower part of the blast furnace. Coke burns and generates the heat and reducing gases needed to remove oxygen from iron oxides. As the burden descends, iron-bearing material is reduced and melts. The furnace produces hot metal, often called pig iron when solidified, with a relatively high carbon content, plus slag and top gas.
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The hot metal is transferred to a basic oxygen furnace, where a lance blows high-purity oxygen through the molten charge. Oxygen combines with excess carbon and other elements; the resulting oxides enter the gas stream or the slag. Scrap can be included to cool the bath and provide additional metallic input. The BOF produces crude steel with a composition suitable for subsequent ladle treatment and casting.
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4. Adjust chemistry and solidify the steel
After the primary furnace, mills commonly use ladle metallurgy to fine-tune carbon, alloying elements, temperature and cleanliness. The liquid steel is then cast into slabs, blooms or billets and may be reheated and rolled into plate, sheet, bar, rod or structural products. Those downstream operations change shape and properties but do not replace the ironmaking and primary steelmaking steps.
How scrap-EAF steel is made
1. Assemble a metallic charge
An EAF can melt 100% scrap, although the actual mix depends on what is available and on the chemistry required for the product. Clean, well-sorted scrap is valuable because residual copper, tin, chromium and other elements can be difficult to remove once they enter the melt. Mills may blend obsolete consumer scrap, manufacturing offcuts and purchased iron units to control dilution and quality.
2. Melt with electrical energy
Electrodes create an electric arc above or through the charge. The arc rapidly supplies heat, while oxygen injection, carbon additions and slag practice help melt and refine the bath. Electricity replaces the blast furnace’s coke-based heat and reduction system for the metallic material already present in the charge. The EAF can be started and stopped more flexibly than a continuously operated integrated furnace, but its power demand is concentrated and sensitive to grid capacity and electricity price.
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3. Refine, sample and cast
Operators sample the liquid steel, adjust alloy additions and remove impurities in the furnace and ladle. The refined steel is cast and rolled using the same broad downstream equipment used by integrated mills. Product requirements determine how much refining, vacuum treatment or inclusion control is needed.
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World Steel Association’s representative scrap-EAF profile for 1,000 kilograms of crude steel lists 710 kilograms of recycled steel, 586 kilograms of iron ore, 150 kilograms of coal and 88 kilograms of limestone, plus 2.3 gigajoules of electricity. The presence of ore and coal in this illustrative profile shows why route labels should not be treated as recipes or as proof that every EAF charge is identical.
How DRI-EAF steel is made
1. Reduce ore without melting it
Direct reduced iron is produced by removing oxygen from iron ore while keeping the material in a solid state. The product is porous iron, commonly supplied as DRI or compacted into hot-briquetted iron (HBI) for handling and transport. Direct reduction separates ore reduction from the melting step performed later in an EAF.
2. Supply a controlled iron unit to the EAF
DRI can be charged with scrap to dilute residual elements and provide predictable iron chemistry. It can also be used with hot metal or other metallic inputs, depending on the plant. The United States Department of Energy describes DRI and HBI as iron inputs that can feed EAF production.
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Commercial DRI commonly uses natural gas as the reducing agent today. Hydrogen is a possible alternative in emerging or changing configurations, but using hydrogen does not by itself make the entire route emissions-free: electricity for the EAF, upstream energy, ore preparation, plant efficiency and any carbon additions still matter. DRI-EAF therefore has a different emissions profile from scrap-EAF even though both finish steel in an electric furnace.
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BF-BOF, scrap-EAF and DRI-EAF compared
The following indicators are World Steel Association route averages for 2024. They are not a controlled comparison of identical products made at identical plants. The route profiles use different assumed scrap shares: 10% for BF-BOF, above 70% for scrap-EAF and below 30% for DRI-EAF.
| Factor | BF-BOF | Scrap-EAF | DRI-EAF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main metallic feed | Ore reduced to hot metal, with some scrap | Primarily recycled steel; may include other iron units | DRI plus scrap, with route-specific mixes |
| Primary heat or reductant | Coke and coal for reduction and heat | Electricity to melt metallic feed | Reductant for DRI plus EAF electricity |
| 2024 CO2 intensity | 2.34 t CO2/t crude steel | 0.69 t CO2/t crude steel | 1.47 t CO2/t crude steel |
| 2024 expanded GHG intensity | 2.66 t CO2e/t crude steel | 0.71 t CO2e/t crude steel | 1.66 t CO2e/t crude steel |
| 2024 energy intensity | 23.88 GJ/t crude steel | 9.84 GJ/t crude steel | 23.30 GJ/t crude steel |
| Main constraint | Ore, coke and integrated plant infrastructure | Scrap availability and quality; electricity supply | DRI feed and reductant supply, plus EAF electricity |
The expanded greenhouse-gas indicator includes direct methane and nitrous oxide as well as upstream mining emissions. It is not interchangeable with the CO2-only indicator. A lower route average also does not guarantee lower emissions for every mill, because electricity generation, fuel source, scrap share and operating practice can change the result.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why scrap availability changes the answer
Steel is durable and remains in buildings, vehicles, appliances and machinery for decades. That creates a large future scrap resource, but not an unlimited current supply. A region with insufficient collected scrap cannot run all of its steelmaking on scrap-EAF. Scrap quality is equally important: tramp elements that accumulate through repeated recycling may restrict the flat products a furnace can make unless the charge is diluted with DRI, hot metal or high-purity iron.
World Steel Association reports that EAF production can use 100% scrap, while BOF production can use up to 30% scrap. Those are route capabilities, not promises about every plant. Integrated mills remain important where ore, coke and large continuous output are available; EAF mills are especially useful where scrap, reliable power and flexible production are competitive.
Energy and emissions: how to read the numbers
BF-BOF
The integrated route carries the energy burden of making new iron from ore. Coke supplies both process heat and chemical reduction, so the route’s 2024 indicator is 23.88 gigajoules per tonne of crude steel and its expanded GHG intensity is 2.66 tonnes of CO2e per tonne. The high value reflects the ore-to-iron step as well as the BOF conversion.
Scrap-EAF
Scrap-EAF avoids most primary ore reduction because the feed is already metallic. Its 2024 route indicators are 9.84 gigajoules per tonne and 0.71 tonnes of CO2e per tonne on the expanded measure. Those averages are strongly influenced by the assumed high scrap share and by the electricity used. An EAF on a carbon-intensive grid will not have the same result as one supplied with lower-emissions power.
DRI-EAF
DRI-EAF still performs ore reduction, so its 2024 energy indicator, 23.30 gigajoules per tonne, is close to the BF-BOF figure. Its expanded GHG intensity is lower at 1.66 tonnes of CO2e per tonne in the reported average, but the result depends on the DRI reductant, electricity mix and scrap proportion. Switching from natural gas to lower-carbon hydrogen can reduce process emissions only when the hydrogen and electricity are produced with correspondingly low emissions.
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- Choose or retain BF-BOF where: a mill has large-scale ore and coke logistics, integrated furnace infrastructure and a need for continuous high-volume production.
- Choose scrap-EAF where: suitable scrap is available, electricity supply is adequate and flexible output or regional mini-mill production is valuable.
- Choose DRI-EAF where: a producer needs cleaner iron units than local scrap can provide, has access to natural gas or potential hydrogen, and can support the EAF with dependable power.
These are engineering and supply-chain choices rather than a universal ranking. Product chemistry, furnace size, local energy prices, transport distance, emissions rules and the age of existing assets can outweigh a route’s nominal advantages.
What happens to older open-hearth furnaces?
Open-hearth steelmaking uses a regenerative furnace to heat a shallow bath and refine iron over a much longer cycle than modern BOF or EAF practice. It is now a legacy technology. World Steel Association reports that open-hearth furnaces account for about 0.4% of global steel production, so they are historically important but no longer one of the dominant industrial routes.
A practical way to interpret any “green steel” claim
- Identify the route: BF-BOF, scrap-EAF or DRI-EAF.
- Check the metallic charge, including the percentage of scrap, DRI and hot metal.
- Ask whether the quoted figure is CO2 only or an expanded CO2e measure that includes methane, nitrous oxide and upstream mining.
- Check the boundary: energy and emissions may cover the furnace only or additional upstream operations.
- Look for the reporting year and whether the number is a plant result, a route average or a modeled estimate.
- For EAF steel, examine the electricity source; for DRI, examine the reductant used to make the iron.
Without those qualifications, “electric” or “recycled” is too broad to describe the environmental performance of a particular tonne of steel.
The bottom line for readers
BF-BOF makes new iron from ore with coke and then refines hot metal with oxygen. Scrap-EAF melts mostly recycled steel with electricity. DRI-EAF first makes solid iron from ore and then melts it, usually with scrap, in an EAF. Scrap-EAF has the lowest 2024 route indicators in the reported comparison, but its advantage depends on scrap quality and electricity. BF-BOF remains a high-volume ore-based system, while DRI-EAF offers an alternative where controlled iron feed and lower-carbon reductants are available.
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