Bearing lifecycle in steel industry: an environmental friendly point of view

Steel and non-ferrous metal is the basic material in a modern industrial society and a scale of its development. They have a wide range of applications in all major industries.

In cooperation with renowned plant manufacturers and operators, the Schaeffler Group develops rolling bearings for the steel, aluminum and non-ferrous metal industries. The extreme requirements and different operating conditions are a challenge for machines and rolling bearings. The tailor-made Schaeffler rolling bearings have proven themselves even in the most critical applications, ensuring maximum system availability thanks to their quality.

The production of green steel is energy-intensive and must be done from sustainable sources. It is realized through the use of the direct reduction method, in which hydrogen produced from renewable energies is used instead of coking coal, thus enabling a 95 percent reduction in the CO2 emissions produced with previous methods.

The use of green hydrogen for the direct reduction of iron ore is a crucial component in making steel clean and sustainable in the future. Hydrogen is an important technology and growth area for Schaeffler. Schaeffler target is to make its supply chain carbon neutral by 2040.

Last but not least, new rolling bearings are frequently fitted, although the existing bearings could be returned to an as-new condition by means of expert reconditioning. In many cases, it is more cost effective to recondition used rolling bearings than to install new ones.