Production and Technology of Iron and Steel in Japan during 2022

1. Overview of the Japanese Iron and Steel Industry

This chapter reviews the conditions in the global economy, the Japanese economy, the world iron and steel industry and the Japanese iron and steel industry during 2022. Although the global economy emerged from the contraction caused by the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) crisis, the recovery was weaker than originally forecast. Real economic growth of the total global economy from the previous year decreased from 6.0% in 2021 to 3.4% in 2022, and in spite of an outlook for accelerated growth in 2024, growth is expected to be limited to the 2% level in 2023.¹⁾ By region, economic growth in 2022 is estimated to be +2.0% in the United States, +3.5% in the EU, +3.0% in China, +6.8% in India and +1.4% in Japan, as a high level of inflation in commodity prices, tight credit policies in most regions, the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing COVID crisis are all headwinds to growth. Moreover, under these circumstances, neither the struggle for hegemony between the United States and China nor the economic confrontation between the two counties shows any signs of ending, as symbolized by the recent restrictions on semiconductor exports imposed by the US.

Sluggish conditions continued in the Japanese economy, as the damage caused by the COVID crisis that began in early 2020 compounded the effects of a consumption tax increase in October 2019. Although the pace of recovery was also slow in 2021 in comparison with the other advanced countries, ironically, there was almost no decrease in Japan’s growth rate, which remained on the same low level during 2022 due to a slowdown in the global economy. While Japan is a domestic demand-based economy, a situation in which no effective demand creation policies are worked out appears likely to continue, suggesting that low growth will also continue in 2023.^1,2) Moreover, a fundamental strengthening of Japan’s defense capabilities is being discussed in response to changes in the security environment surrounding the country, but if this will be achieved with tax increases, the economic impact will be unavoidable, raising fears of a further decline in the economic growth rate.

In 2022, total world crude steel production decreased to approximately 1.88 billion tons (−4.2% from the previous year). By country, the world’s largest crude steel producers were China at No. 1, followed by India at No. 2 and Japan at No. 3.³⁾ This order has been unchanged since 2018. China’s crude steel production also decreased for the second consecutive year after reaching a peak in 2020. Although the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity (GFSEC), which is a multinational platform for consultation on the problem of excess global production capacity in the steel industry, approved a provisional 1-year extension,⁴⁾ India declined to participate⁴⁾ and China did not respond to calls to participate from Japan.⁵⁾ Since a number of other issues also remain to be addressed, including efforts to realize participation of the Southeast Asian countries which is expanding production, no large changes in concerns about soft market conditions can be expected.

Crude steel production by the Japanese steel industry in 2022 was 89.23 million tons, or a decrease of −7.4% from the previous year.⁶⁾ In 2020, Japan’s crude steel production decreased substantially, to 83.19 million tons, due to the COVID-19 crisis, falling even below the 87.53 million tons recorded after the financial crisis in 2008 (Lehman Shock). However, production rebounded to 96.33 million tons in 2021 accompanying the recovery of the economy, and was only a step away from the major milestone of 100 million tons per year, but again turned toward a decrease in 2022.^7,8) Although a firm trend in domestic demand is seen for 2023, external demand is expected to fall below the level of the previous year.⁹⁾

In spite of the slow growth rate, there was a firm tone in the recovery of domestic steel demand under a recovering national economy. Nevertheless, crude steel production fell below the previous year due to the delayed recovery of the automotive sector, which was affected by semiconductor supply shortages as well as a decrease in external demand. Also, in spite of rapid increases in the prices of raw materials, coupled with the depreciation of the yen, the performance of Japan’s integrated steel makers trended at a high level for a second consecutive year thanks to expanded margins and the progress of structural reforms. With domestic demand creation policies not expected, there are no signs of change in the pessimistic outlook for the long-term growth of domestic steel demand, and in response, steel makers are implementing a variety of structural reforms for domestic facilities, such as idling blast furnaces and consolidating production bases. On the other hand, however, challenging research and development have also begun with the aim of realizing carbon neutrality, and deployment of data utilization at production sites is also progressing.

The following presents an overview of the environment surrounding the iron and steel industry in Japan during 2022 from the perspectives of trends in raw materials for iron and steel, trends in steel consuming industries, the condition of crude steel production in Japan and the world, etc.

1.1. Trends in Raw Materials for Iron and Steel

In 2022, the total iron ore production of the Big Three (Rio Tinto, BHP, Vale) was 846.88 million tons, or a 0.3% increase in comparison with 2021.^10,11,12)

Figure 1 shows the long-term transition of the average annual import prices of iron ore and metallurgical coal. While the price of iron ore declined from the previous year, the price of metallurgical coal more than doubled in comparison with 2021.¹³⁾

Fig. 1.

Transition of world crude steel production and unit price of imported iron ore & metallurgical coal (calendar year).^3,13)

The spot price of iron ore (Fe 62%, CFR China) trended between US＄130/ton and US＄150/ton in the first half of 2022, but slackened in the second half, to around US＄100/ton, in response to decreased production activities by integrated steel makers in China due to the government’s COVID-19 policies, as well as reduced steel production in Europe, the United States, Japan and Korea due to decreased demand for steel for automobiles caused by the shortages of semiconductors continuing from the previous year.^14,15)

Due to the instability of energy supplies caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the spot price of steam coal for use in electric power generation rose rapidly, resulting in an abnormal situation in which the prices of steam coal for electric power and metallurgical coal for steel making were reversed. In addition, the spot price of metallurgical coal also rose, pulled along by the rise in the price of steam coal, and at one time reached an FOB (free on board) price of US＄671/ton, which was the highest price since FY 2014, when use of the spot price for China as an index of the quarterly price for Japan began. Accompanying this, the quarterly price for Japan set a new historical record high of US＄526/ton for shipments loaded in April–June 2022.^14,15)

The transition of the annual average price of steel scrap (H2) in the Tokyo district is shown in Fig. 2. Prices in overseas markets increased rapidly due to the effects of the Ukraine crisis, and the effects of those increases also had a ripple effect in Asia, and as a result, the price of H2 scrap rose sharply in the first half of 2022. Due to the subsequent reaction, prices turned downward in overseas markets, market conditions in Japan entered a correction phase (inventory adjustments), and the influx of inexpensive Russian billets into Asian markets strengthened the feeling of surplus in the steel scrap market. Nevertheless, even though the price of scrap declined in the second half of 2022, the average annual price rose from 36500 yen/ton in the previous year to 40500 yen/ton for 2022.^16,17)

Fig. 2.

Transition of annual average of steel scrap (H2) price in Tokyo area.¹⁶⁾ (Online version in color.)

1.2. Trends in Steel-consuming Industries

According to the Quarterly Report of Iron and Steel Supply and Demand¹⁸⁾ of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF) and materials provided at meetings to explain iron and steel demand sponsored by the JISF, the trends in steel-consuming industries during FY 2022 were as outlined below. For details, please refer to the original sources or the websites of the JISF and the respective industrial associations.

Continuing from FY 2021, a slight increase in overall domestic demand for iron and steel from the previous year is foreseen in FY 2022. In spite of stagnation in demand for steel products due to supply chain disruptions in the auto industry, total domestic steel consumption in Japan is expected to reach 55.40 million tons, or an increase of 1.3% in comparison with FY 2021, due to a moderate recovery in business conditions, increased capital investment in Japan and overseas, etc. The following outlines the trends in steel-consuming industries.

Steel consumption in the civil engineering field as a whole is expected to decrease from the previous year. In public civil works, although the government’s program of “5-year acceleration measures for disaster prevention, disaster mitigation, and national resilience” is in progress, a decrease in public works demand from FY 2021 is forecast due to the combined effects of multiple factors such as labor shortages, construction delays and a sharp overall rise in the prices of materials, among others. On the other hand, in private-sector civil works, an increase from the previous fiscal year is expected accompanying a recovery of capital investment centered on manufacturing industries. However, this will not be sufficient to compensate for the decrease in public works, and as a result, a decrease from FY 2021 is forecast in civil works as a whole.

In the construction field, an increase in steel consumption from the previous fiscal year is expected in construction as a whole. While the number of new housing starts is tracking the recovering trend in rental properties, on the other hand, construction of owner-occupied housing is continuing to decline due to a reduction in measures to support housing purchases, etc. Since both subdivision-type housing and condominiums and detached housing are expected to remain on the same level as in the previous year, a decrease in total residential demand from the previous year is foreseen. However, in new starts of nonresidential floor space, in addition to recovery in demand for factories, etc. against a backdrop of capital investment with the economic recovery, there is also a firm trend in warehouses and logistics facilities continuing from the previous year, and overall, an increase in nonresidential construction demand from the previous fiscal year is expected.

In shipbuilding, a decrease in consumption of steel products from the previous fiscal year is forecasted. Although orders for new ship construction recovered centering on container carriers against the backdrop of so-called “stay-at-home demand” during the COVID-19 pandemic from FY 2021, a significant downturn can be seen from the second half of FY 2022. Dollar interest rates and ship prices have also increased, resulting in a decrease in orders received and a declining tendency in work in hand. Moreover, in addition to this adverse order-receiving environment, other factors also include decreases in the construction capacity of shipbuilders, labor shortages and the like. As a result, the volume of new keels laid is trending below that of the previous year.

In the automotive field, although steel consumption continues to be affected by the above-mentioned semiconductor shortages, an increase is anticipated due to a rebound from the downturn of FY 2021. In domestic consumption of complete automobiles, the large drop that began in FY 2020 is expected to recover from FY 2022, but various factors, including the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, COVID-related lockdowns in China, and restrictions on semiconductor supplies are expected to limit this recovery to a moderate increase. Production of knockdown parts (knockdown sets) is expected to increase due to the recovery of production activities in overseas countries.

Consumption of steel products in the industrial machinery field is forecast to exceed that in FY 2021, when consumption was on a high level. Even though the effects of semiconductor shortages and other parts were felt in production of internal combustion engines, etc. in the first half of FY 2022, corporate capital investment achieved a moderate recovery as a result of the economic recovery in Japan and other countries. Construction machinery, metal processing equipment and machine tools maintained the same high level as last year, driven by the recovery of external demand.

In the electrical machinery field, a slight increase from the previous fiscal year is foreseen, supported by increases in capital investment in Japan and overseas. In heavy electrical machinery, steel consumption increased against the backdrop of increased automobile production and the recovery of capital investment in Japan and other countries. On the other hand, a decrease in household electrical appliances from the previous fiscal year is forecast due to fading stay-at-home demand, the difficulty of procuring parts and materials as a result of COVID-related lockdowns in China, and partial production restrictions.

1.3. Crude Steel Production in Japan

Demand increased in the construction and machinery sectors in 2022. However, as a result of the limited recovery in the automotive sector caused by semiconductor shortages, decreased demand in the shipbuilding sector due to capacity cutdown, construction slowdowns, etc. in response to sluggish ordering, as well as the effects of deterioration of the export environment, including stagnant demand in international markets, etc., Japan’s crude steel production decreased by 7.4% against the previous year, to 89.23 million tons.¹⁹⁾

In 2023, a relatively firm trend in domestic steel demand is expected in spite of downside risks such as continuing high raw material prices due to the effects of the Ukrainian crisis, the global business recession and continuing supply restrictions on parts, etc. accompanying confusion of supply chains. On the other hand, the recovery of domestic steel demand will be limited by slow external demand for automobiles and other products, as the problem of supply restrictions on semiconductors and other parts in the automotive sector will remain unsolved. Since external steel demand is also expected to fall below the previous year as a result of a deceleration of overseas economies, only a slight increase in crude steel production from 2021 is expected.²⁰⁾

By type of furnace, converter steel production was 65.40 million tons (9.1% decrease from 2021), while electric arc furnace steel production was 23.83 million tons (2.3% decrease from 2021) and the ratio of electric arc furnace steel was 26.7% (1.4% increase from 2021) (Fig. 3). By steel type, production of plain carbon steel was 68.82 million tons (6.9% decrease from 2021), and production of special steel was 20.42 million tons (8.9% decrease from 2021) (Fig. 4). The continuous casting ratio of special steel has shown a substantially constant trend since 2014, at around 95%.^19,21)

Fig. 3.

Transition of crude steel production in Japan (calendar year).¹⁹⁾

Fig. 4.

Crude steel production and continuous casting ratio for ordinary steel and special steel.²¹⁾

1.4. World Crude Steel Production

Table 1 shows the transition of crude steel production in the world’s 10 top countries and in the world as a whole. In 2022, total crude steel production in the world as a whole was 1878.5 million tons, representing a decrease of 4.2% from the 1960.4 million tons of the previous year. Looking at the crude steel production of the leading countries, although the No. 2 country, India, recorded 124.70 million tons, or an increase of 5.5% from the previous year, the crude steel production of the No. 1 country, China, was 1013.0 million tons, a decrease of 2.1% from the previous year. No. 3 Japan reported 89.23 million tons, which was a decrease of 7.4% from 2021, and the EU countries and the North and South American region also showed decreases from the previous year.³⁾

Table 1. Top 10 crude steel production countries (Source: WSA: Million tons).³⁾

Order	1995	2000	2005	2010	2015	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	Change Rate (%) 2022/21
1	Japan	China	China	China	China	China	China	China	China	China	▲ 2.1
	101.6	128.5	355.8	638.7	803.8	928.3	1001.3	1064.7	1034.7	1013.0
2	China	Japan	Japan	Japan	Japan	India	India	India	India	India	+5.5
	95.4	106.4	112.5	109.6	105.1	109.3	111.4	100.3	118.2	124.7
3	USA	USA	USA	USA	India	Japan	Japan	Japan	Japan	Japan	▲ 7.4
	95.2	101.8	94.9	80.5	89.0	104.3	99.3	83.2	96.3	89.2
4	Russia	Russia	Russia	India	USA	USA	USA	USA	USA	USA	▲ 5.9
	51.6	59.1	66.1	69.0	78.8	86.6	87.8	72.7	85.8	80.7
5	Germany	Germany	South Korea	Russia	Russia	South Korea	Russia	Russia(e)	Russia(e)	Russia(e)	▲ 7.2
	42.1	46.4	47.8	66.9	68.7	72.5	71.6	71.6	77.0	71.5
6	South Korea	South Korea	India	South Korea	South Korea	Russia	South Korea	South Korea	South Korea	South Korea	▲ 6.5
	36.8	43.1	45.8	58.9	69.7	72.2	71.4	67.1	70.4	65.9
7	Italy	Ukraine	Germany	Germany	Germany	Germany	Germany	Turkey	Turkey	Germany	▲ 8.4
	27.8	31.8	4.5	43.8	42.7	42.4	39.6	35.8	40.4	36.8
8	Brazil	Brazil	Ukraine	Ukraine	Brazil	Turkey	Turkey	Germany	Germany	Turkey	▲ 12.9
	25.1	27.9	38.6	33.4	33.3	37.3	33.7	35.7	40.2	35.1
9	Ukraine	India	Brazil	Brazil	Turkey	Brazil	Brazil	Brazil	Brazil	Brazil	▲ 5.8
	22.3	26.9	31.6	32.9	31.5	35.4	32.6	31.0	36.1	34.0
10	India	Italy	Italy	Turkey	Ukraine	Iran	Iran(e)	Iran(e)	Iran(e)	Iran	+8.0
	22.0	26.8	29.4	29.1	23.0	24.5	25.6	29.0	28.3	30.6
World Total	752.3	848.9	1148.0	1433.4	1622.9	1825.6	1880.1	1880.4	1960.4	1878.5	▲ 4.2

(e) Values based on partial data or data other than WSA.

In China, crude steel production was 1013.0 million tons in 2022 and has now exceeded 1000 million tons for 4 consecutive years since 2019, when the country broke the 1000 million-ton level for the first time. However, production decreased by 2.1% from 2021, and has now decreased from the previous year for 2 consecutive years.^3,22) This was caused by the obstacles to factory operation associated with China’s so-called “zero-COVID policy,” represented by a lockdown that lasted for approximately 2 months in Shanghai, beginning in March, and stagnant demand for steel products for construction due to sluggish conditions in the real estate market against the background of the credit problems of China’s Hengda Real Estate Group, among other factors.^22,23) Because China ended its “zero-COVID” policy and changed directions to a “with COVID” policy in December 2022, in the Chinese economy, a rebound in service industry consumption, particularly for travel and dining, is expected to become a driving force for a bottoming out of business conditions. In addition, many regional governments have set economic growth targets of +6% or more for 2023 and have presented policies that emphasize expansion of investment, suggesting an acceleration of infrastructure investment. However, on the other hand, since extended long-term stagnation in the real estate market and delayed recovery of external and domestic markets due to the effects of the Ukrainian crisis, etc. are also foreseen, a decrease in crude steel production from the previous year is also expected in 2023.^24,25)

In India, crude steel production increased to 124.70 million tons (+5.5% from the previous year) and has now exceeded 100 million tons for 6 consecutive years since 2017.³⁾ Even the global steel demand grows weaker, other factors led to an increase in demand through the period, such as a favorable tone in inquiries for steel products for construction, etc. and strong unit sales of automobiles, as India passed Japan to become the world’s 3rd largest automobile market.²³⁾ Even though there are a number of negative factors, including possible weakening of the momentum of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, a slowdown in the expansion of domestic demand, weighted down by a continuing high level of inflation and tight-money polices, and a slowing tendency in exports owing to deceleration of the global economy, the India economy is predicted to maintain firm growth in spite of deceleration, underpinned by good business conditions in public investment, and as a result, a firm trend in steel demand is expected.²⁶⁾

2. Technology and Equipment

While idling of blast furnaces, consolidation of production bases and other structural reforms of domestic facilities are progressing, on the other hand, Japan’s steel makers have announced investment plans or the start of operation of new equipment as part of the challenge of realizing carbon neutrality. Both Nippon Steel Corporation and JFE Steel Corporation have revealed plans to construct large-scale electric arc furnaces by 2030, and have declared their intentions steadily promote the development of high grade steel production technologies utilizing the large-scale electric arc furnace in order to achieve decarbonization.

In technology, the focus of attention was also on two keywords in 2022: DX (digital transformation) and CN (carbon neutrality) or GX (green transformation). In DX, there have been accelerating moves toward data-driven management to improve corporate performance, in which decision-making on management strategy, etc. is carried out by collecting and analyzing data. These efforts include the construction of data platforms that aggregate and catalog all data company-wide, and a complete transition of head office core systems to an open environment with the aim of effectively utilizing data resources. Moreover, Japan is faced with a variety of challenges, including labor shortages and the transmission of skills at production sites accompanying a rapidly aging population and declining birthrate, as well as the issue of aging deterioration of facilities. Against this backdrop, promotion of “mechanization, remote operation, and automation” through digital transformation (DX) of the production infrastructure has become an urgent issue, and implementation of platforms that use wireless IoT sensors to realize anomaly detection and trend monitoring and a variety of other initiatives, and use at actual production sites, are continuing to expand and yield results. Likewise, 2022 was also the year when the challenge and implementation of CN began in earnest. Full-scale work was begun in “Hydrogen Utilization in Iron and Steelmaking Processes,” which is a project of Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and is budgeted at approximately 200 billion yen as part of the Green Innovation Fund Project (scale of approximately 2 trillion yen). Japan’s integrated steel makers have announced that they will meet the challenge of CN by 2050 and have set intermediate targets for 2030, and have launched ambitious, challenging development projects to achieve those goals. However, their initiatives are not limited to that, as they have either begun sales of low CO₂ materials that include the concept of CN in the name, or have announced plans to do so. Since use of direct reduced iron in combination with the electric arc furnace is one route for achieving CN, interest in electric arc furnace technology has also increased. Many advances have also been seen in the development of “Eco-Products” that contribute to reducing CO₂ emissions through energy saving or improvement of fuel efficiency.

The following introduces the main trends in technology and the technical topics at the Sustaining Members of the ISIJ by field of iron and steel technology.

2.1. Ironmaking and Steelmaking

In 2022, pig iron production was 64.16 million tons, or a 8.8% decrease from 2021, and crude steel production was 89.23 million tons, a 7.4% decrease from the previous year.⁶⁾ In equipment repair and improvement projects, JFE Steel completed the relining of No. 6 blast furnace at East Japan Works (Chiba). As of the end of 2022, 21 blast furnaces were in operation in Japan, which was unchanged from 2021, and 14 of those units were blast furnaces with capacities of 5000 m³ or larger.

In moves to introduce new equipment, Nippon Steel announced that it would begin commercial operation by a newly-constructed electric arc furnace at its Setouchi Works (Hirohata Area) from October 2022. This move will make it possible to manufacture and supply high grade electrical steel sheets in an integrated process which includes an electric arc furnace for the first time in the world. Also based on the knowledge gained here, Nippon Steel announced that it will develop a production technology for high grade steels utilizing the large-scale electric arc furnace with the aim of decarbonization. JFE Steel announced in June 2022 that it has completed implementation of an eco-friendly converter-type molten-iron pretreatment process (DRP: Double-slag Refining Process) at all sites in order to expand the use of steel scrap in converters. This process increases the amount of scrap that can be charged into the converter by maximizing the use of the silicon (Si) in the molten iron as a heat source, making it possible to reduce CO₂ emissions in converter refining.

In the field of iron- and steelmaking refractories, a tight supply-and-demand situation affecting refractory raw materials became apparent in 2020. Shortages are still continuing, and in combination with a sharp rise in energy prices due to the effects of the Ukrainian crisis, this caused a rise in refractory prices in 2022.²⁷⁾ For the same reason, increases were also seen in the prices of ferroalloys such as ferrosilicon, ferromanganese and silicomanganese, which are used as deoxidants or for composition adjustment,²⁸⁾ and these were all factors that increased steelmaking costs.

2.2. Steel Products

2.2.1. Sheets

In the field of automotive steel sheets, in response to the continuing demand for higher strength and downgauging of steel sheets to improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO₂ emissions, expanded application of high tensile strength steel sheets (hereinafter, HTSS) is being promoted. In particular, because forming of ultra-high tensile strength steel sheets (hereinafter, UHTSS) of 980 MPa grade and higher is difficult because of the tradeoff relationship between formability and strength, steel makers are actively conducting research and development for application of these materials to hard-to-form parts.

JFE Steel and ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe jointly developed 980 to 1180 MPa grade HTSS for cold working. UHTSS with high yield strength and high elongation and particularly excellent local ductility were realized by using a steel composition design that improves local ductility and the quenching and partitioning (Q&P) heat treatment process, in which the steel is quenched from a high temperature, and the austenite phase, which contributes to ductility, is stabilized at room temperature by reheating, making it possible to manufacture hard-to-form parts.

“Development of forming technology of ultrahigh-strength steel sheet contributing to evolution of automobiles,” which was developed by Nippon Steel, was awarded the FY 2022 Prize for Science and Technology (Development Category) of the Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Until now, ultrahigh tensile strength materials for cold forming with strengths of 780 to 1470 MPa had been developed, but forming into complex part shapes had been an issue. This development made it possible to prevent forming defects during press forming and form UHTSS into complex shapes by the press forming technologies “Free Bend Sheet Forming (NSafe^®-FORM-LT)” and “Continuous Flange Forming (NSafe^®-FORM-RU),” by which shear deformation is applied to a steel sheet with an optimized shape and the sheet is then formed to the desired part shape.

Nippon Steel and Mazda Motor Corporation jointly developed a lightweight B-pillar with a TWB (tailored welded blank) structure using 1.8 GPa grade and 1.3 GPa grade aluminum-coated steel sheets for hot stamping (hereinafter, AL-HS steel sheets), and applied the developed part practically. Hot stamping is a hot forming process which is applied for automobile weight reduction in the high strength region, where cold press-forming would be difficult, as a forming process for obtaining high strength parts by hot forming. However, this technology had problems in terms of the decrease in productivity resulting from the time required for cooling, decrease in joint strength because aluminum is mixed in welds, and variations in the quality accuracy (quenchability and dimensional accuracy) of parts produced by TWB using materials with different strengths and thicknesses. Nippon Steel realized high joint strength by a TWB joining technology which was developed independently by the company, and achieved a 34% weight reduction by making it possible to omit reinforcing parts from the conventional unitary B-pillar by applying TWB and a partial patchwork technique, while also achieving improved crashworthiness. In addition, variations in quality such as quenchability and dimensional accuracy were stabilized and productivity in part manufacturing was also improved by the direct water-cooling hot stamping method, in which cooling water is introduced into the space between the die surface and the steel sheet, and the sheet is cooled by direct water cooling. Subsequently, Nippon Steel also developed a 2.0 GPa grade hot stamping steel sheet, which has been adopted in the B-pillars of new domestic automobile models.

On the other hand, high strength of steel sheets is also being promoted for reasons other than weight reduction. In underrun prevention devices for medium and large-sized trucks, heavy gauge hot-rolled steel sheets are applied from the viewpoint of collision safety performance, and 590, 780 and 980 MPa grade hot rolled HTSS had been used. However, higher strength became necessary, as higher strength standards were applied under a recent revision of “Uniform Provisions Concerning the Approval of Rear Underrun Protection Devices,” which is established by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Land, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) and is intended to prevent underrun accidents (so-called “submarining” accidents, in which a smaller vehicle, cyclist, etc. runs under a larger truck) and lessen the damage caused by such accidents. Nippon Steel, Isuzu Motors Limited and Press Kogyo Co., Ltd. jointly realize application of 1180 MPa grade hot-rolled HTSS to underrun protection devices.

At JFE Steel, “Development of resource-conserving Si gradient steel that contributes to energy conservation of electrical equipment” won the FY 2022 Commendation for Science and Technology of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Development Category). Because the use of higher drive frequencies in motors, transformers and other electrical equipment is progressing from the viewpoint of downsizing, materials with low iron loss in the high frequency region are demanded in the electrical steel sheets used as core materials. Although increasing the content of Si, which is an element that increases electrical resistance, is effective for reducing iron loss, at the same time, higher Si invites a decrease in saturation magnetic flux density. Therefore, JFE Steel developed a Si gradient magnetic property material which reduces high frequency iron loss by controlling the Si concentration in the sheet thickness direction so as to obtain a high Si concentration distribution in the surface region and a low Si concentration in the sheet center-of-thickness region by using a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) type continuous siliconizing technology. Efforts were also made to optimize the base material composition before siliconizing treatment, and localization of Si in the sheet surface region and a further reduction of high frequency iron loss were successfully achieved by securing an austenite (γ) phase composition in which the diffusion rate of Si during siliconizing treatment is delayed.

2.2.2. Plates

In the field of plates, “Invention of a hull structure with excellent collision safety using high-ductile steel plate (Nippon Steel trade name: NSafe^®-Hull),” which was carried out jointly by Nippon Steel, the National Institute of Maritime, Port and Aviation Technology and Imabari Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., won the Invention Award in the FY 2022 National Commendation for Invention of the Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation. Double hull structures are legally required in crude oil tankers in order to prevent marine pollution caused by oil spills from tankers, but because oil spill accidents have continued, improvement of safety by changing the hull structure, namely, by increasing the ship shell breadth, was studied. Structural measures increase construction costs and reduce transportation speed by increasing the weight of the hull, and can also reduce the amount of cargo oil that can be carried. Therefore, based on accident statistics and other data, Nippon Steel and its partners applied a hull structure using high ductility steel plates with total elongation 1.4 times or more larger than the total elongation values specified in the Unified Requirements (UR) of the International Association of Classification Societies to the outer plates and inner plates of the ship side and their attached reinforcing members in order to reduce ship damage, making it possible to reduce ruptures in ultra large crude oil carriers, even at a quite severe collision speed (12 knots).

“Development of environmentally friendly high-strength steel plate with strong anti-seismic properties that help improve the resilience of Japan” by JFE Steel received the 68th (FY 2021) Okochi Memorial Foundation Technology Award. There are heightened needs for HTSS for ultra-high rise building structures and large spans designed to create more pleasant spaces (by reducing the number of steel columns), and steel plates that possess excellent deformation performance (low yield ratio) and are capable of withstanding even large earthquakes are also demanded. One challenge in the welding of steel plates when fabricating steel columns (box columns) is to ensure high weld toughness in order to enable application of ultra-high heat input welding (maximum heat input: up to about 100 kJ/mm), which can realize high efficiency and large labor savings. JFE Steel established a microalloying technology that achieves high toughness in ultra-high heat input welding by utilizing advanced microstructure control technology and addition of trace elements to obtain an extremely fine dual-phase structure consisting of a soft phase and a hard phase with a low alloy composition design. These plates are produced by applying an advanced plate production technology that makes full use of the company’s proprietary hot rolling and controlled cooling technologies, enabling ultra-high heat input welding and realizing a HTSS product with both high strength and a low yield ratio that displays excellent anti-seismic properties.

2.2.3. Pipes

Nippon Steel’s slip-joint structured utility pole for railways (hereinafter, slip-joint railway utility pole) received the 67th Shibusawa Award from the Dr. Motoji Shibusawa Cultural Merit Award Memorial Committee of the Japan Electric Association. This is a prestigious award that recognizes remarkable achievements in connection with improvement of electrical safety and reliability. The award was received jointly by the staff and employees of the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency (Incorporated Administrative Agency), the Railway Technical Research Institute (Public Interest Incorporated Foundation), Kowa Kogyosho Co., Ltd. and Yoshimoto Pole Co., Ltd., which were the partners in this joint development project.

This award recognized the achievements of the recipients in applying a hot-dip zinc-aluminum alloy coating with excellent corrosion resistance to slip-joint railway utility poles, which have outstanding seismic resistance, and practical application of the developed poles as railway utility poles for new shinkansen superexpress lines (Hokuriku Shinkansen and Hokkaido Shinkansen). Concrete poles were widely used as railway utility poles in the past, but in recent years, lightweight steel pipe poles have been adopted from the viewpoint of high earthquake resistance. However, in some sections of the Hokuriku Shinkansen and Hokkaido Shinkansen lines, railway utility poles with a combination of higher strength and higher seismic resistance than the conventional type of steel pipe poles had been necessary for design reasons. The slip-joint railway utility pole consists of upper and lower steel pipe poles, and a lower pole with a tapered shape is used by inserting that pipe into the upper steel pipe pole. This makes it possible to reduce the weight of only the upper pipe pole (by reducing the thickness of the pipe wall), and thereby improves earthquake resistance. In addition, countermeasures for salt damage are a critical issue in Japan, which is surrounded by oceans on all sides. Although application of a hot-dip zinc-aluminum alloy coating was proposed as one solution, the limitation on the length of objects that can be coated due to the constraints of the coating bath used in post-coating of the railway utility poles was a challenge. The slip-joint structure overcame this limitation, and further improvement in corrosion resistance was realized by application of the hot-dip zinc-aluminum alloy to the railway utility poles.

Nippon Steel also newly developed “NEXAGE^®347AlPha,” a low carbon austenitic stainless steel pipe for chemical industry plants, and announced the receipt of the first order for a customer in Canada.

Nippon Steel has developed proprietary austenitic stainless steel and Ni-based alloys for application in severe environments, and has begun sales as the NEXAGE series as a next-generation material solution. The lineup of low carbon austenitic steels, which feature excellent corrosion resistance even among these products, is contributing to improved maintainability and reduced running costs for users in chemical industry plants where crude oil and gas are heated to high temperatures and cracked and reformed, which is a particularly severe environment.

This new product, “NEXAGE^®347AlPha,” is an originally developed steel with superiority in terms of higher strength than general-purpose 347H steels, in addition to the distinctive corrosion resistance of low carbon austenitic steel and an effect of suppressing the stress corrosion cracking that occurs in welds. This steel is also expected to contribute to the carbon neutrality field because it is a particularly suitable material for plants that produce hydrogen from natural gas.

Nippon Steel and the trading company Sumitomo Corporation held a ceremony in Hague, Netherlands, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the start of supply of steel pipes and tubes to the British company Shell plc (former name: Royal Dutch Shell). The two companies have continued to supply steel pipes and tubes to Shell and its affiliates for 50 years since first shipping OCTG (oil country tubular goods) to Brunei Shell Petroleum in 1972. After 2006, the companies concluded a long-term sales contract for OCTG and linepipe for all global operations and have delivered a cumulative total of more than 1.7 million tons to date to Shell worldwide.

2.2.4. Bars, Shapes and Cast & Forged Steel

Nippon Steel acquired additional certification for its “Process omission steel bar products” and “Process omission wire products” (hereinafter, “Process omission steel bar and wire products”) under the “EcoLeaf Environmental Label” system based on the Japan EPD Program by SuMPO of the Sustainable Management Promotion Program (SuMPO). (EPD: Environmental Product Declaration). The company had previously received certification in February 2022 for its bar & bar in coil, wire rod, bar & bar in coil (building materials) and wire rod (building materials). The EcoLeaf Environmental Label is a certification program that quantitatively visualizes environmental information of products from extraction of resources through manufacturing, distribution, use and disposal and recycling using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, and product users can objectively evaluate the environmental loads in the life cycles of the products they use.

JFE Steel has also acquired EcoLeaf certification for five of its products, namely, H beams, SHH (Super High Slend H beams), extra-thick H beams, construction-steel plates and construction-steel columns, which was the second certification for the company following steel sheets for tinplate products (can materials).

Daido Steel Co., Ltd. received the 2022 “Nissan Global Supplier Award – Global Innovation Award” of Nissan Motor Corporation, which recognizes innovative efforts by supplier companies which lead to improved product appeal or brand strength for Nissan Motors, and was given for “Development of stainless steel for thermal spray coating of cylinder bores of variable compression (VC) turbo engine,” based on a high evaluation of its remarkable contribution to the business performance of Nissan Motors. The optimum stainless steel wire for application in thermal spray coating of the cylinder bores of Nissan’s VC-Turbo engine was developed by optimizing the material composition and applying copper plating to the wire surface to improve thermal spraying performance.

Proterial, Ltd. (former name: Hitachi Metals Ltd.) developed and began sales of the high performance cast roll CR² (Cast Roll for Cold Rolling). CR² (pronounced “C-R two”) is a cast roll that breaks the performance barrier of forged steel rolls and possesses the high wear resistance (roughness retention property) and rolling incident resistance required in the cold rolling process. (Rolling incidents means cracking and sticking of the roll surface due to sudden thermal loads, etc.) Although forged rolls have long been used in cold rolling, no significant progress has been seen in performance such as wear resistance, etc., which are needed when rolling high-tensile strength steels and electrical steel sheets. Because a homogeneous metallographic structure and high hardness are required in cold rolling rolls, cast rolls were generally not used in cold rolling. To overcome these problems, Proterial developed a cast roll for cold rolling utilizing its know-how accumulated in research and development of rolls used in hot rolling, casting technologies for preventing casting defects and high-precision manufacturing technologies. Because CR² offers outstanding performance in comparison with forged rolls, including 3 to 5 times higher wear resistance, 2 times higher fracture toughness and 5 times higher crack resistance, it can be used as a work roll for cold rolling, which is a new field for cast rolls. Introduction of CR² can contribute to improvement of cold rolling productivity thanks to its high wear resistance (roughness retention) and high rolling incident resistance.

2.2.5. Railway, Automotive, Machinery Parts

“Development of New Brake Pad for Shinkansen” by Nippon Steel received the Ichimura Prize in Industry (Distinguished Achievement) in the 54th (FY 2021) Ichimura Prizes. As Japan’s shinkansen superexpress trains have achieved higher speeds, further improvement in braking performance has been required to ensure safety. Because the brake (rigid) pads that had been used since the Tokaido Shinkansen began service had a structure in which a friction material was pressed by a unitary body, thermal deformation of the disk during rapid braking from high speeds resulted in partial contact with the disk, and local high temperature “heat spots” occurred, inviting reduced braking force. Therefore, disk spring components (Belleville springs) were incorporated in the brake so that the brake pad, which is sliding against the thermally-deformed brake disk, follows the thermal deformation of the disk and localized contact is prevented. This device suppresses the occurrence of heat spots and has reduced the surface temperature of the disk by more than 100°C in comparison with the conventional design. Since this temperature decrease also prevents a reduction of the coefficient of friction, shorter braking distances are also realized.

2.3. Instrumentation/Control/Systems

Moves toward data-driven management for improvement of corporate performance by decision-making concerning management strategy and other important matters based on data collection and analysis are accelerating. Because core systems directly related to the content of a company’s business were conventionally constructed based on the individual standards of each manufacturer, these systems had various problems when attempting to implement a “flexible, change-tolerant IT structure,” which is a precondition for utilizing data assets. In particular, these problems included a limited range of options for system configuration, poor extensibility of functions and the difficulty of using state-of-the-art digital technologies. JFE Steel carried out a full transfer of its Head Office core systems to an open environment, which was the first example in Japan of a complete transfer of core systems with a large scale exceeding 40 million steps to an open environment. As the destination for transferring this system, the company adopted a hybrid cloud environment, which was constructed with IBM Japan (now Kyndryl Japan). This environment has the same level of reliability as the conventional system environment and makes it possible to respond rapidly to rapid increases in the volume of data processing. In addition, a further acceleration of work reforms utilizing data has now become possible as a result of the move to an open environment, for example, by improving the efficiency of the entire supply chain through analysis of big data related to orders and deliveries of steel products. Nippon Steel constructed a platform for utilizing wireless IoT sensors, which enables integrated management of the data from all steel works manufacturing sites by using LPWA (low power wide area) communications and cloud technology, and began practical operation for early detection of equipment anomalies at its East Nippon Works Kimitsu Area and Kashima Area. Each manufacturing site at the steel works collects and stores its own sensor data, and data are analyzed at each site and used in production control such as anomaly detection, etc., depending on the knowledge of the site. Introduction of the wireless IoT sensor utilization platform has centralized control of the data acquired from the sensors introduced at each steel works manufacturing site and made it possible to use integrated big data collected from multiple points in equipment detection and trend monitoring has contributed to more sophisticated data analysis, making it possible to construct a data-driven production process and improve labor productivity. Nippon Steel also constructed an integrated data platform that makes it possible to grasp management information and Key Performance Indicator (KPI) in real time and take accurate action. In this system, the data accumulated individually at each steel works are integrated and aggregated, enabling advanced decision-making and problem-solving based on the same data, from the top management level to the front line.

In Japan, “mechanization, remote operation and automation” through digital transformation (DX) of the country’s production infrastructure has become an urgent challenge from the viewpoint of labor shortages and intergenerational transfer of skills at manufacturing sites due to an aging population and low birthrate, as well as deterioration of production facilities with age. Many results have been achieved in the field of operation support systems. For example, in deslagging work, i.e., separation of high temperature slag from molten iron, the operator performs the work by remote operation using heavy equipment while monitoring the work via cameras installed at the work site, but when the condition of the slag changes, judgment based on the knowledge and experience of the operator is important. To efficiently promote the transfer of skills to the next generation, it is necessary to create indexes of the actual work and formulate the skills and know-how of skilled workers as explicit knowledge. In a joint project with a startup company that provides various innovations utilizing AI, Nippon Steel constructed a data analysis platform which visualizes the condition of work by skilled workers in order to realize efficient skill transfer in heavy equipment operation at steel manufacturing sites, and began a demonstration experiment at its Kimitsu Area. Visualization of the current condition of the work was performed by linking sensor data on the position of operation, speed, etc. of the heavy equipment located at the site, video data on the condition of the deslagging operation, the state of the molten material, etc., the treatment date and time, worker information and the like. The company has begun verification of the software that visualizes the operational techniques possessed by workers with at least 10 years of continuous work experience and supports work so that even new employees can carry out the same operation as veterans by the analyzing the degree of proficiency of workers. Drones are also used in steel works in equipment inspections that require work in high places, but there were limits to stable flight and accurate photography in narrow parts and locations in equipment with complex structures. Nippon Steel introduced a small-scale high performance industrial drone, in which an advanced attitude control function is provided in the industry’s smallest class of drone with dimensions of only 20 cm and a weight of 185 g, making it possible to reduce work in high places and lighten the load of maintenance work. The company is also promoting more advanced equipment maintenance by using 3-dimensional data to realize more stable and efficient production. JFE Steel and IHI carried out joint development of automation technology for transport vehicles operating in the steel works from FY 2019 in order to address the labor shortage of truck drivers and improve the working environment, and have completed the development of the basic automation functions related to traveling, turning and stopping. To verify this technology in the actual environment, a transportation test was started in February 2023 using a tractor trailer loaded with actual cargos weighing 100 tons in some sections of the transportation routes at JFE Steel’s East Japan Works (Keihin). Verification of appropriate traffic control methods which inform other vehicles and pedestrians that an automated transport vehicle is approaching by installation of signs, etc. at intersections and crosswalks on the route and signal control is also being carried out to realize a safer transportation process and improve acceptance of the fact that automated transport vehicles are traveling on roads in the works.

2.4. Construction and Civil Engineering

Construction field: Nippon Steel started operation of a plant that supplies advanced solutions to the building and infrastructure structure construction markets. As in initiatives in the automotive field, the aim is to provide a package of “Steel materials × Use technologies” which combines high performance steel products and advanced steel structure technologies, together with total support from the actual materials to design and execution. Nippon Steel expanded its lineup of rolled H-shapes with large cross-sectional sizes to respond to the needs for larger cross sections in steel frames accompanying the larger scale of buildings and further reduction of the construction work period against the backdrop of labor shortages. This entire lineup is environment-friendly and has received certification under the above-mentioned EcoLeaf Environmental Label program. JFE Steel received Building Technology Performance Evaluation Certification from the General Building Research Corporation of Japan (GBRC, Non-profit Organization) for the development, structural safety and design methods for earthquake-resistant products and earthquake-resistant walls for building structures. By using general steel materials in the steel plate panels and appropriately reinforcing the steel plate panels with parts called stiffeners, it is possible to prevent deflection of the steel plate panel perpendicular to the panel plane during an earthquake, enabling the entire earthquake-resistant wall to stably demonstrate resistance. As a result, it is now possible to provide earthquake-resistant walls that realize higher rationality and improved convenience in design to building structure designers.

In building materials, expanded application of titanium alloys is progressing. Nippon Steel is promoting branding that emphasizes the design property, and these products have also been adopted in international markets, as seen in use in the roof of an international convention center in Jiangsu Province, China and the entrance of a research and development facility in Thailand, among others. Nippon Steel’s “Designing Titanium Brand (Tran Tixxii)” received the Red Dot Design Award 2022, which was the first time in the world that a metal material has won this prestigious award. The Red Dot Design Award is an international product design award and is considered to be one of the world’s three major design awards.

Civil engineering: The five companies, JFE Steel, Nippon Steel, Penta-Ocean Construction Co., Ltd., Toa Corporation and Nippon Kaiko K.K., jointly developed a “Calcia improvement soil batch-type in-situ mixing method, which is a new construction for sea bottom ground improvement using the recycled steel slag material “Calcia improvement soil” and makes it possible to improve the surface layer of soft sea bottom ground. A demonstration test of this technology was carried out in the actual waters of the Port of Hiroshima Dejima Area from July to August 2022 in cooperation with the Chugoku Regional Development Bureau of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Land, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) and Hiroshima Prefecture. Calcia improvement soil is a material with improved properties, which are achieved by mixing steel slag as a raw material with soft dredged soil, and has properties such as strength development and hardening. As features of this construction method, it is possible to simplify the construction process because mixing is performed in-situ (i.e., at the sea bottom), and the turbidity associated with clay mixing does not occur because the materials are mixed in a closed bucket. The development of this method is expected to expand the applications of Calcia improvement soil to new uses such as improvement of shallow layers of soft sea bottom ground, earth-retaining submerged breakwaters for shoals, tidal flats, etc. As another new civil engineering product, JFE Steel demonstrated the structural performance of an earth-retaining steel wall as a wall structure and the structural performance of concrete slab joint, and received technology examination certification from the Advanced Construction Technology Center (ACTEC, Non-profit Organization). By utilizing the wall structure as both a temporary retaining wall as a permanent underground wall, the method realizes rapid construction under difficult conditions in comparison with conventional construction methods, and provides a compact steel retaining wall structure with high rigidity. It is expected to realize thinner walls and a space-saving construction in urban settings, and to contribute to expansion of roadways and railways. Nippon Steel cooperated in receiving an order for a composite slab bridge as part of a Japanese government Official Development Aid (ODA) project for Tanzania by Nippon Steel Engineering Co., Ltd., and this structure was adopted for the first time in an overseas project. Because work at the site is simplified and shortened by integrating the steel shells of the main girders of the bridge and the composite slab in advance in the shop, it is possible to erect the bridge with a minimum of traffic restrictions, particularly when a bridge crosses a road or railroad, and traffic congestion and other burdens on the surrounding area can also be reduced. This method is expected to contribute to exports of “high-quality infrastructure” that drives the development of developing nations by utilizing Japan advanced technologies, which is a priority initiative of the Japanese government.

2.5. Environment and Energy

2.5.1. International Moves and Efforts of the Japanese Government on Climate Change

The Paris Agreement, which is an international framework for climate change countermeasures with the participation of almost 200 countries and regions, sets a target of limiting global temperature rise to no more than 1.5°C. The 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) held in Glasgow in the United Kingdom in November of 2021 resolved that all countries should “pursue efforts” to achieve the 1.5°C target. In the assessment of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in reports to date, assuming that emissions continue at their current levels, global temperatures will reach the 1.5°C limit in about 10 years, and it will be necessary to reduce emissions by 45% from 2010 in order to achieve the 1.5°C target by 2030. However, global emissions are currently showing an increasing tendency, and according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions for 2021 set a new record high accompanying the economic recovery from the COVID pandemic. Under these circumstances, the General Conference of the IPCC held in April 2022 summarized policies for limiting the average global temperature increase to no more than 1.5°C from preindustrial levels, and stated that limiting warming to no more than 1.5°C will require that global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions peak by 2025 at the latest.²⁹⁾ COP27, which was held in November 2022, reached a “breakthrough agreement to provide ‘loss and damage’ funding” to support vulnerable developing countries that are affected by climate disasters. While the final statement also set a target of reducing emissions by 43% against 2019 by the year 2030, language calling for “peaking out of global emissions by 2025” was not included in the statement, which was limited to asking that all countries resubmit their reduction targets by COP28 in 2023.³⁰⁾ In December 2022, the IEA published a report forecasting that global coal use in 2022 will set a new record high, reaching 8025 million tons, or an increase of 1.2% from 2021, as a result of energy shortages in the EU caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising demand in China, India, Southeast Asia and elsewhere.³¹⁾

Looking at the situation in Japan, in October of 2020, then-Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared that Japan would achieve “carbon neutrality by 2050.” Then, in March 2021, the Cabinet approved a revision of the Act on the Promotion of Global Warming Countermeasures, and in April, the government announced the goal of reducing GHG by 46% from FY 2013, to be achieved by FY 2030. In addition to the 46% reduction in FY 2030, which is an ambitious goal that is consistent with achieving the target for 2050, the declaration also called for “pursuing an even loftier goal of a 50% reduction.” However, recognizing the difficulty of realizing this goal under the current circumstances, including the situation in Ukraine, etc., there was a dramatic change in the response of the Japanese government, as a meeting of the Green Transformation (GX) Implementation Council in December 2022 declared that Japan will now allow nuclear power generation to be “used sustainably in the future” as part of the basic policy for realizing a decarbonized society. This was a sharp change from the policy that new and additional construction and replacement of nuclear power plants was “not envisioned,” which had held since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.³²⁾

2.5.2. Efforts of the Japanese Steel Industry

The Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF) established Phase II of the Commitment to a Low Carbon Society, targeting FY 2030, and now is engaged in activities for its achievement. The basic concepts of these voluntary activities are four pillars: the “three ecos” of “Eco Processes,” “Eco Products” and “Eco Solutions,” together with “Innovative Technology Development.” The aim of Eco Processes is energy-saving and CO₂ reduction in iron and steel production processes, while Eco Products contribute to reduction in the product use stage by the supply of high functionality steel products, and Eco Solutions contribute to reductions at the global scale through the transfer and diffusion of energy-saving technologies which were developed and applied practically by the Japanese iron and steel industry. As Innovative Technology Development, the Japanese steel industry is mainly engaged in the development of an innovative steelmaking process (COURSE50) and the development of an innovative iron-making process (Ferrocoke). In February 2021, the JISF announced the “Basic Policy of the Japan Steel Industry on 2050 Carbon Neutrality Aimed by the Japanese Government,” stating that “the Japanese steel industry supports Japan’s ambitious policy of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and it will aggressively take on the challenge to realize zero-carbon steel¹ with the aim of contributing to the Japanese government policy.” Specifically, while continuing efforts in connection with the above-mentioned “four pillars,” because the realizing zero-carbon steel is a challenge with extremely high hurdles, the steel industry will explore multiple pathways to CO₂ reduction using a combination of every possible means, including a combination of drastic reduction of CO₂ emissions from the blast furnace utilizing the COURSE50 and Ferrocoke technologies currently under development plus CCUS (Carbon dioxide Capture, Utilization and Storage), the development of “super innovative technologies” such as hydrogen-based iron-making, etc., and expanded use of scrap, recovery of low- and medium-temperature waste heat and use of biomass. To realize these technologies, stable, large volume supplies of zero-emission (carbon-free) hydrogen and electric power and the development of economically rational CCUS processes will be indispensable. The industry also requested that the government adopt policies to support the realization of zero-carbon steel, which will include the establishment of a national strategy, promotion system and institutional design and financial support for a decarbonized society. Based on environmental changes such as equipment consolidation by the major integrated steel makers, expanded use of scrap, etc., in March 2022 the JISF reviewed the target of “9 million ton reduction from FY 2005 to be achieved by FY 2030” in its Commitment to a Low Carbon Society, Phase II and changed the name of this program to “Carbon Neutrality Action Plan, Phase 2.” At the same time, the JISF also set a new target of reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in FY 2030 by 30% from FY 2013, which is equivalent to a reduction of approximately 57.90 million tons-CO₂. Although the Japanese iron and steel industry has already achieved the world’s highest level of energy efficiency, it will not only introduce BAT (Best Available Technologies), which it has promoted until now, but will also heighten the ambitiousness of its efforts by including new viewpoints such as utilization of cold iron sources, etc.³³⁾

In response to a call for applicants by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Organization (NEDO), Nippon Steel, JFE Steel, Kobe Steel, Ltd. and the Japan Research and Development Center for Metals (JRCM) jointly proposed the development of a hydrogen reduction technology utilizing the blast furnace and a direct hydrogen reduction technology for reducing low grade iron ore using only hydrogen, and this proposal was adopted in December 2021. The budget for the 10 year implementation period of FY 2021 to 2030 is 193.5 billion yen.³⁴⁾ Figure 5 shows the assumed schedule of the project and its social implementation. In the development of hydrogen reduction technologies, etc. utilizing hydrogen in the steel works, a research and development period extending to around FY 2029 is envisioned, targeting practical application by 2030. For other items, a research and development period to FY 2030 is assumed, including demonstration experiments. On the other hand, special steel makers such as Daido Steel Co., Ltd., Aichi Steel Corporation and Sanyo Special Steel Co., Ltd., which produce steel by the electric arc furnace route, generate less CO₂ in their production processes than the integrated (blast furnace) steel makers, but because CO₂ emissions from electric power and city gas account for about 80% to 90% of their total emissions, these companies are mainly working to decarbonize fuels and electric power.

Fig. 5.

Estimated plan for “Hydrogen Utilization in Iron and Steelmaking Processes” project.³⁴⁾ (Online version in color.)

¹  CO₂ emissions will be reduced to zero by a combination of a changeover from carbon (coal) to hydrogen and Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) of CO₂.

2.5.3. Efforts of Individual Companies

Based on the JISF’s “Basic Policy of the Japan Steel Industry on 2050 Carbon Neutrality Aimed by the Japanese Government,” in 2021, Japan’s three integrated steel makers each announced visions with the aim of realizing carbon neutrality by 2050, and have positioned this as a top priority issue for management, resulting in increased levels of activity in initiatives by each steel maker.

[Direct reduction] A consortium of Midrex Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Kobe Steel, and Paul Wurth S.A., the licensee, received an order for a MIDREX H₂™ direct reduced iron plant for the Swedish steel company H₂ Green Steel (official company name: H2GS AB). This plant will be the world’s first commercial 100% hydrogen direct reduced iron facility, and is scheduled to start operation in 2025 with an annual production capacity of 2.1 million tons. H₂ Green Steel plans to construct steel works that do not use fossil fuels, aiming at a reduction of approximately 95% in CO₂ emissions in comparison with the conventional iron-making and steelmaking route. Kobe Steel has also decided to invest in the company and began discussions toward future purchases of green HBI (hot briquetted iron). JFE Steel, together with the Japanese trading company Itochu and Emirates Steel Arkan, the largest steel maker in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will conduct feasibility studies on the establishment of a supply chain for “Ferrous Raw Material for Green Ironmaking with Low-carbon Emission” at a candidate project site in Abu Dhabi. Natural gas will be used to reduce iron ore, and the CO₂ emitted by the process will be injected into oil fields in the UAE for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) as a form of CCUS treatment.

[Electric arc furnace and scrap] Nippon Steel began commercial operation by a newly-constructed electric arc furnace at its Setouchi Works Hirohata Area from October 2022, making it possible to manufacture and sell high grade electrical steel sheets produced by an integrated process utilizing an electric arc furnace for the first time in the world. In the future, Nippon Steel plans to develop an actual machine of an integrated process with a large-scale electric arc furnace (treatment capacity: approximately 300 tons/charge) using direct reduced iron and scrap as the raw materials. The company aims to establish technologies such as control of the concentration of impurities, etc. for production of high grade steels that can be used in automotive outer panels by 2030. JFE Steel is studying a plan to shut down one blast furnace at the timing of a relining scheduled for 2027–2030 and introduce a high efficiency, large-scale electric arc furnace at its West Japan Works (Kurashiki). The company also aims to satisfy both high production efficiency and high quality steelmaking by technical development with a test electric arc furnace constructed at its East Japan Works (Chiba) as a GI (Green Innovation) Fund project and introducing the electric arc furnace technology in the JFE Group.

[CCUS] Nippon Steel concluded a joint study agreement on capture, liquefaction and maritime transportation of CO₂ to a large-scale offshore floating CO₂ capture and storage hub project to be developed by deepC Store Limited, and plans to conduct a study of the commercial feasibility of capture, liquefaction and maritime transportation of 1 million to 5 million tons/year-CO₂ from steel works. Nippon Steel also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a subsidiary of the American company ExxonMobil located in Singapore and the Japanese trading company Mitsubishi Corporation toward realization of CCS, and announced that the partners will begin study of a project in which CO₂ generated by steel works in Japan will be separated and captured, and will then be stored underground in CCS facilities in Australia, Malaysia and elsewhere. On the other hand, JFE Steel is conducting tests for practical application of CO₂ utilization technologies. In the project “Development of the Optimum System for Methanol Synthesis Using CO₂,” which is a joint initiative of JFE Steel and the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE), the two partners plan to construct a test facility at JFE Steel’s West Japan Works (Fukuyama), aiming at practical application of a large-scale CCU process combined with an innovative iron-making process such as the carbon recycling blast furnace. JFE Steel is also planning to construct a test facility at its East Japan Works (Chiba) for “Research and Development of Innovative CO₂ Fixing Technology through Quick, Large Quantity Carbonation of Steel Slag,” which is a joint research project with Ehime University, targeting completion of the practical application test by the end of FY 2025.

[Electric power and hydrogen] With the aim of decarbonizing its electricity use, Aichi Steel Corporation plans to introduce renewable electricity by purchasing FIT Non-Fossil Certificates (certificates of the non-fossil fuel energy value of FIT electricity purchased through a FIT scheme) on the non-fossil fuel energy trading market of the Japan Electric Power Exchange. The volume of these purchases will contribute to a reduction of a total of approximately 10000 tons/year-CO₂, which is equivalent to that of the company’s four plants, centering on Kariya and also including the Seki, Gifu and Higashiura plants. The Kariya and Gifu plants have introduced “carbon neutral city gas” since 2021. The Seki, Gifu and Higashiura plants will become carbon neutral simultaneously with this introduction of renewable electricity. The Kariya plant will realize carbon neutrality in FY 2022 by completing fuel conversion of fuel oil furnace in addition to introduction of renewable electricity. The Kobe Steel Group plans to conduct a demonstration test of a “Hybrid-type hydrogen gas supply system” at its Takasago Works from around March 2023 toward achievement of carbon neutrality in 2050. This system consists of a cryogenic liquid hydrogen vaporizer, a water electrolysis-type High-purity Hydrogen Oxygen Generator (HHOG) and an operation management system, and is being developed to provide solutions for “stable and economical hydrogen production,” which will be the key to the introduction of hydrogen by small- and medium-size enterprises. By adopting hybrid type system with a parallel arrangement of a liquid hydrogen vaporizing process and a water-electrolysis hydrogen generator, which uses renewal energy, the system will simultaneously satisfy both cost minimization and elimination of the supply instability that is an inherent disadvantage of renewable energy. Daido Steel began development of a radial tube burner using hydrogen fuel in 2021 and has conducted a number of combustion tests. During FY 2022, the company successfully conducted hydrogen mixed firing and exclusive firing tests, which will enable operation in the switchover transition period before the hydrogen infrastructure is in place. The burner is being developed for application to heat treatment furnaces, and demonstration and evaluation at the actual machine equivalent level are planned for the future.

[Low CO₂ blast furnace steel] Integrated steel makers using the blast furnace route have begun moves to sell “low CO₂ blast furnace products” by the mass balance method, in which the CO₂ reduction effect of their own process is allocated to specific products. Kobe Steel was the first steel maker in Japan to commercialize low CO₂ steel products, which are marketed under the trade name “Kobenable Steel” and are produced by reducing the CO₂ emissions from the blast furnace by charging a large amount of HBI produced using its proprietary Midrex technology in a blast furnace at Kakogawa Works. The company has decided to apply these products to automotive parts and steel frames. The CO₂ reduction effect is calculated in accordance with ISO 20915, and third-party certification has been obtained from DNV Business Assurance Services UK Ltd., a certification service organization in the UK. Nippon Steel and JFE Steel will also begin sales of low CO₂ blast furnace steel products in FY 2023. Although the sales volume is still limited by the scale of CO₂ emission reductions, Nippon Steel has scheduled a supply volume of approximately 300000 tons as an annual rate in FY 2023, while JFE Steel forecasts sales of 5 million tons/year in FY 2030.

[Regional cooperation] JFE Steel concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for conducting a joint study toward the realization of carbon neutrality in the industrial complex in the city of Chiba. Based on this MOU, the Yokokawa Electric Group and nine other companies in different types of industries with operations in the districts where the complex is located, including the energy industry, petrochemicals industry, chemical industry, steel industry, basic materials industry, etc., will cooperate in studying the feasibility of commercializing activities in (1) Introduction of an inter-industry energy management system to minimize CO₂ emissions, (2) Capture and effective utilization of CO₂ through inter-industry collaboration, and (3) Reduction of CO₂ emissions through inter-industry collaboration in utilizing such as hydrogen and other by-product gases from existing processes, to be achieved by around 2030, and a study of the necessary measures for realizing carbon neutrality in the industrial complex located in the districts in 2050. JFE Steel is also participating in a conference on decarbonization in the Mizushima industrial complex in Okayama Prefecture. In the Chubu region as well, the 18 companies participating in the Chubu Hydrogen Utilization Council, including Nippon Steel and JFE Steel, in cooperation with local municipal governments and local economic organizations, are accelerating various efforts such as improvement of the infrastructure for importing, storage, supply and use of hydrogen, establishment of plans, etc., as well as efforts contributing to promotion of the use of hydrogen, with the aim of social implementation of a hydrogen supply chain, which will play a critical role achieving carbon neutrality in 2050.

3. Technology Trade and Development

3.1. Technology Trade

Figure 6 shows the transition of technology trade in the steel industry up to FY 2021.³⁵⁾ The total amount of payments received for technology exports increased by +23% in comparison with the previous fiscal year as a result of large increases in exports to both North America and Asia during FY 2020. Exports to Asia were on a high level, second only to the 11.9 billion yen of FY 2013. Payments for technology imports remained on a low level, continuing from FY 2020.

Fig. 6.

Technology trade balance of steel.³⁵⁾

3.2. Research Expenditures and Number of Researchers

The following three items up to FY 2021 were arranged using data in Table 3 “Research Activities in Companies” of the statistical tables in the outline of results in “Statistical Survey of Researches in Japan” published by the Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. The results are shown in Figs. 7, 8, 9.³⁶⁾

Table 3. Main organization in technology creation activities of Production Technology Division.

Class	Content of activities
Technical Committees	• Object:	Designated fields related to iron and steel production as a whole.
	• Classification of committees:	Ironmaking, Coke, Steelmaking, Electric Arc Furnace, Special Steel, Refractories, Heavy Plate, Hot Strip, Cold Strip, Coated Steel Sheet, Large Section, Bar and Wire Rod Rolling, Steel Pipe & Tubes, Rolling Theory, Heat Economy Technology, Control Technology, Plant Engineering, Quality Control, and Analysis Technology (total of 19 Technical Committees).
	• Participants:	Steel and steel related company engineers and researchers, staff of universities, etc.
	• Purpose of activities:	Technical exchanges related to iron and steel production for the purpose of improvement of production site technology levels, identification and solution of technical of technical problems in various fields, training of young engineers, improvement of technology by industry-academic collaboration, and trend survey of overseas technologies.
	• Activities:	Committee meetings (1–2 times/year), meetings of Interdisciplinary Technical Committees handling designated topics, lecture meetings for training of young personnel and various other types of plans, etc.
Interdisciplinary Technical Committees	• Object:	Interdisciplinary or inter-industry technical subjects spanning various fields of the iron and steel production process.
	• Classification of committees:	Interdisciplinary Technical Committees on “Control of inhomogeneity to enhance mechanical properties of modern structural steels,” “Desirable Steel Materials for Automobiles” “Materials for Pressure Vessels” and “Structural steels and their related technologies for steel structures” (total of 4 Interdisciplinary Technical Committees).
	• Content of activities:	Technical study for technological directions and problem-solving, surveys and other types of research, information exchanges with other associations, etc.

Fig. 7.

Trend of the ratio of research expenditure to sales.³⁶⁾ (Online version in color.)

Fig. 8.

Trend of the number of researchers per 10000 employees.³⁶⁾

Fig. 9.

Trend of R&D expenditure per researcher (10 M yen/person).³⁶⁾

[Ratio of Research Expenditures to Sales (Fig. 7)] In comparison with the previous fiscal year, this item decreased by 0.3 points for all industries. During the period, total research expenditures by all industries increased by 363.6 billion yen, but due to a large increase in sales, which exceeded the increase in research expenditures, the ratio of research expenditures to sales decreased significantly. The steel industry recorded a decrease of 0.5 points against the previous fiscal year, resulting in a larger degree of decrease than in all industries. Although the results for the steel industry were also affected by a large increase in sales, on the other hand, research expenditures as such decreased from the previous fiscal year, resulting in a larger decrease in the ratio of research expenditures to sales.

[Number of Regular Researchers per 10000 Employees (Fig. 8)] The steel industry showed in increasing tendency until FY 2011, when it reached its highest value, but decreased in FY 2012 and then trended on the same level thereafter.

[Research Expenditures per Regular Researcher (Fig. 9)] The results for all industries were on a flat level in comparison with the previous fiscal year. The steel industry recorded a large decrease in FY 2021 in comparison with the previous fiscal year.

3.3. Trends in Research and Development Utilizing Public Funds

As iron and steel-related research and technology development themes being carried out with public funds, many projects in the fields of processes, environment/energy, materials development, etc. are underway. The main themes are shown in Table 2. The principal continuing projects among iron and steel-related technology development projects included “Development of Technologies for Carbon Recycling and Next-Generation Thermal Power Generation” (FY 2016–2025, managing organization: NEDO), “Environmentally Harmonized Steelmaking Process Technology Development (Step 2)” and “Development of Technologies for Hydrogen Refueling Stations” (both FY 2018–2022, managing organization: NEDO), “Research, Development and Demonstration of CCS Technology” (FY 2018–2026, managing organization: NEDO), “Green Innovation Fund Project/Hydrogen Utilization in Iron and Steelmaking Processes” (FY 2021–2030, managing organization: NEDO), “New Innovative Structural Materials Research and Development” (FY 2013–2022, managing organization: NEDO), “Materials Science on Mille-Feuille Structure (MFS) – Development of Next-Generation Structural Materials Guided by New Strengthening Principle –” (FY 2018–2022), etc. New projects begun during the year were “Green Innovation Fund Project/Development of Next-generation Storage Batteries and Motors” (FY 2022–2030, managing organization: NEDO), “Thermally Stable Corrosion Resistant Alloy (CRA) and Sealing Technology for Enhanced Geothermal Power Systems” (FY 2022–2023, managing organization: The Nippon Foundation) and “JCM Feasibility Study (FS) for GHG Emission Reduction Project by Installation of Tundish Plasma Heater at Electric Arc Furnace (Steel Making) Plant in Indonesia” (FY 2022).

Table 2. Examples of themes utilizing public funds in steel industry.

Class	Name of project	Managing organization	Start (FY)	End (FY)
Processes/ Equipment	Environmentally Harmonized Steelmaking Process Technology Development (STEP2)	NEDO	2018	2022
Global environment/ Carbon neutrality	Green Innovation Fund Projects/Hydrogen Utilization in Iron and Steelmaking Processes	NEDO	2021	2030
	Green Innovation Fund Projects/Development of Next-generation Storage Batteries and Motors	NEDO	2022	2030
	Thermally Stable CRA & Sealing Technology for Enhanced Geothermal Systems	Nippon Foundation	2022	2023
	JCM Feasibility Study (FS) for GHG Emission Reduction Project by Installation of Tundish Plasma Heater at Electric Arc Furnace (Steel Making) Plant in Indonesia	METI	2022	2022
Element technologies	Development of Technologies for Carbon Recycling and Next-Generation Thermal Power Generation	NEDO	2016	2025
	Research, Development and Demonstration of CCS Technology	NEDO	2018	2026
Products	New Innovative Structural Materials Research and Development	NEDO	2013	2022
Others	Project for Super-Rapid Development Infrastructure Technologies for Super-Advanced Materials	NEDO	2018	2022
	Materials Science on Mille-Feuille Structure (MFS) - Development of Next-Generation Structural Materials Guided by a New Strengthen Principle -	MEXT	2018	2022

NEDO: New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization

4. Development of Human Resources in Technical Fields

The Iron and Steel Institute of Japan (ISIJ) conducts corporate human resources training programs (Iron and Steel Engineering Seminars, Iron and Steel Engineering Seminar special courses, Advanced Iron and Steel Seminars) and human resources training programs for students on an ongoing basis to develop cross-industry human resources.

As human resources development programs for students, in addition to the “Student Iron and Steel Seminars” which the ISIJ has conducted for many years, the ISIJ took over the Industry-Academic Partnership for Human Resources Development in FY 2011 and conducts the “Introduction to Iron and Steel Engineering Seminar” for master’s course students and the “Experiential Seminar on Advanced Iron and Steel” for undergraduates. In FY 2021, holding and operation of the seminars in the human resource training programs for students and the corporate human resources training programs were seriously affected by the COVID pandemic, but in FY 2022, measures to prevent the spread of infection were lifted and face-to-face activities were resumed.

Among programs for students, in FY 2021, the “Experiential Seminars on Advanced Iron and Steel,” which focus mainly on plant tours, were all cancelled because it was not possible to make arrangements to receive the participants at company steel works, and the risk of infection during the itinerary was also a concern. However, in FY 2022, it was possible to hold the seminars at four steel works, as in normal years, by taking measures such as limiting the number of participants, checking their physical condition in advance, etc. In FY 2021, the “Introduction to Iron and Steel Engineering Seminar” and “Student Iron and Steel Seminar” were held online, as these seminars center on lectures and discussion, but both the instructors and the students expressed opinions that the online discussions did not explore the topics in depth, etc. In FY 2022, the “Experiential Seminars on Advanced Iron and Steel” was held in person, with similar measures such as limiting the number of participants and advance checks of the physical condition of the participants, etc.

In the corporate human resources training programs, the “Iron and Steel Engineering Seminars” and “Advanced Iron and Steel Seminars” were all canceled in FY 2021, as these are camp-type seminars, but these programs were resumed on a face-to-face basis by taking appropriate measures such as limiting the number of participants, checking the physical condition in advance, etc. However, the “Iron and Steel Engineering Seminars,” which had been held with approximately 170 to 180 students in normal years, were limited to around 70 students this time, as this was the first time since the COVID crisis, and in holding these events, priority was given to ensuring social distance between the students.

“Advanced Iron and Steel Seminars” were planned for a total of five special courses. Four of these seminars were held in person, while one was held online. Among other events, “University Special Lectures by Top Management” by top managers of steel companies were held at 10 universities, and “Special Lectures on Iron and Steel Technology” were held at 13 universities. These special lectures programs attracted a total of about 2000 students.

In addition to the various projects described above, in FY 2022, the ISIJ also began a new project for education/educational support to convey the appeal of steel to high school and technical college students. Specifically, this project consists of three initiatives, i) Expansion of eligibility to participate in tours of steel works (travel expenses paid) from university undergraduates to high school, technical college and the entire university including graduate school, ii) Financial support for university education teaching visits to high schools and technical colleges and iii) Preparation of video educational materials which can be used as study materials at high schools and technical colleges.

As new programs from FY 2022, online lectures and courses for individual members of the ISIJ were also started. As described at the ISIJ website, the content consists of three types, i) Lectures on industries, policies and technologies related to iron and steel (ISIJ web lectures), ii) Lectures on the front line and trends in iron and steel technologies (Web lecture: Front Line of Iron and Steel Technology Series) and iii) Course on Basic Iron and Steel Technologies (Web course: Introductory Course Series). Regarding iii), this course is designed to provide a commentary on articles published in the introductory course in the Bulletin of the ISIJ, “Ferrum,” so that comparatively young iron and steel engineers and researchers can acquire an understanding of the related scientific background and peripheral technologies, and is also useful as a study material for students and other beginners.

5. Technology Creation Activities in the ISIJ

The ISIJ surveys technical information in connection with iron and steel production technologies, identifies issues for technology development and carries out activities to solve those problems, centering on Technical Committees and Interdisciplinary Committees, which belong to the ISIJ’s Technical Society. In initiatives related to carbon-neutral iron and steel, the ISIJ established a new “Committee on Carbon-Neutral Steel” in April 2022 for the purpose of clarifying the issues that should be addressed by the ISIJ as a whole, not limited to the Technical Society but also including the Academic Division. Activities are being conducted through an industry-academic tie-up in a form that takes over the recommendations of its predecessor organization, the “Committee for Global Warming Mitigation Technologies for the Steel Industry (abbreviation: CGS).”

5.1. Technical Committees

Technical Committees, which promote activities related to iron and steel production in their designated fields, regularly hold Committee Meetings, and actively discuss key issues at the present time as common and important topics every year (Table 3). Even with the lingering effects of the COVID pandemic, activities of the Technical Committees in FY 2022 such as Committee Meetings, etc. were held either online, in a hybrid form combining online and face-to-face meetings, or as face-to-face meetings with comprehensive measures to prevent the spread of infection. Including participation via the internet, a total of 2436 persons participated, showing a further recovery from the 1610 participants in FY 2020. This number included 56 researchers from universities, etc. (number in FY 2021: 39). As a result of including online participation in the methods for holding meetings, some Committees gained more participants than before the COVID crisis, and innovative moves to find more diverse approaches suited to the respective purpose and meeting environment could be seen. Moves to resume various programs for training younger persons and various types of Technical Committee study group activities on individual themes were also seen, but international exchange activities continued to be postponed.

5.2. Interdisciplinary Technical Committees

Interdisciplinary Technical Committees (Table 3) study interdisciplinary and inter-industry issues. Four committees were active during the year. Even though the effects of the COVID pandemic continued in FY 2022, meetings, research presentations and other activities were conducted using the internet, as in FY 2021. The activity period of the Interdisciplinary Technical Committee on “Control of inhomogeneity to enhance mechanical properties of modern structural steels” was extended by 1 year due to the COVID pandemic in FY 2020, and the report was completed as scheduled in FY 2022. In the Committee on “Desirable Steel Materials for Automobiles,” a joint symposium was held by the Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan (JSAE) the Japan Institute of Metals and Materials and the ISIJ, and issues related to hydrogen embrittlement of special steels were discussed with the JSAE. In the Committee on “Materials for Pressure Vessels,” the “Working Group on Study of Standards for Steel Materials” and the “Working Group on Advanced Heat-Resistant Steels” continued their respective activities. Continuing from the previous fiscal year, the Committee on “Structural steels and their related technologies for steel structures” mainly studied issues related to new construction, expansion and improvement measures, design and execution of construction of steel structures in steel works, together with operation and maintenance (O&M).

5.3. Research Grants

The system related to research grants of the ISIJ is shown in Table 4. In “Grants for Promotion of Iron and Steel Research,” 29 new projects (including 19 by young researchers) were selected to begin receiving grants in FY 2022. Together with 30 projects that began in FY 2021, a total of 59 projects based on grant topics were carried out in FY 2022. In addition to “Grants for Promotion of Iron and Steel Research,” a new program of “Grants for Research on Carbon-Neutral Iron and Steel” was established from FY 2022. As distinctive features, this program supports research contributing to carbon neutrality/green transformation (GX) in which study has already begun and emerging research which is still at the stage of ideas, and also includes chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and other fields in addition to iron and steel. In FY 2022, 24 topics were selected in the framework of this grant program. This program will have a core function of bringing together and integrating innovative wisdom from many fields, and is expected to lead to the creation of technologies that contribute to reduction of CO₂ generation.

Table 4. Research grant system of ISIJ.

Class	Content of activities
Grants for Promotion of Iron and Steel Research	• Purpose:	Activation of iron and steel research, support for basic and infrastructural research related to iron and steel, training of young researchers.
	• Application process:	Selected each year based on public invitation; grant period is 2 years.
	• Features:	Object is individual researchers, establishes a framework for young researchers.
	• Number of projects:	29 (number of aid recipients in FY 2022).
Grants for Research on Carbon-Neutral Iron and Steel (newly established in FY 2022)	• Purpose:	Clarification of issues to be addressed by the ISIJ for prevention of global warming.
	• Application process:	Selected by public invitation; in principle, period of activity is 1 year or 2 years.
	• Features:	Supports research contributing to carbon neutrality/green transformation (GX) in which study has already begun and emerging research still in the stage of ideas, and includes chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, etc. in addition to iron and steel.
	• Number of projects:	24 (number of recipients for FY 2022).
Research Groups	• Purpose:	Activation of iron and steel research, creation of foundations for technical innovation, creation of human research network by industry-academic collaboration.
	• Application process:	Selected each year based on proposals, public invitation; in principle, period of activity is 3 years.
	• Features:	Establishes “Research Group I,” which treats “seed”-led basic/advanced themes from universities and other research institutions, and “Research Group II,” which treats “need”-led applied/industrial themes from iron and steel companies. Participation of industry and academia.
	• Number of projects:	21 (number in progress at end of December, 2022).
ISIJ Research Projects	• Purpose:	Solution of technical problems of iron and steel industry, research on areas which are both important and basic, development to National Projects, etc.
	• Application process:	Selected by public invitation; in principle, period of activity is 3 years.
	• Features:	Research and development projects of key technologies contribute to industrial applications based on needs of steel industries. Participation of industry and academia.
	• Number of projects:	3 (number in progress as of end of December, 2022).

“Research Groups” are grants to industry-academic teams. In FY 2022, 21 Research Groups were active, including 5 that completed their activities during the year. Of the Research Groups that began new activities during FY 2022, 5 projects involved Research Group I (“Seeds type”) activities and 2 were Research Group II (“Needs” type) activities. Research Groups that begin from FY 2023 include 5 Research Group I projects and 1 Research Group II project. In ISIJ Research Projects, although no projects beginning activities from FY 2022 were selected, one new project is scheduled to begin activities from FY 2023.

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