U.S. Steel Fires Up EAF at Fairfield

U.S. Steel has successfully started its new electric arc furnace steelmaking facility at Fairfield, Ala. The EAF commenced its first arc, charged and melted scrap and on Oct. 20 tapped its first heat of liquid steel.

FairfieldEAF EAF #1 at Fairfield Tubular will have an annual steelmaking capacity of 1.6 million tons and is part of U.S. Steel’s “Best of Both” strategy, incorporating both integrated and EAF-based steelmaking.

“The EAF significantly enhances our ability to deliver customer-centric solutions and results,” said President and CEO David Burritt. “We made a commitment to add electric arc steelmaking to our operating footprint as part of our ‘Best of Both’ strategy. This successful start-up delivers on that promise, and I am very pleased with the way our people safely accomplished this while navigating the disruptive influences of the COVID-19 pandemic. We had the added benefit of using this project as a tool for technical collaboration with the EAF experts at our ‘Best of Both’partner, Big River Steel. Fairfield EAF #1 adds significantly more sustainable steelmaking technology to our portfolio.”