Nucor Mississippi plant seeks permit to use tires to make steel

FLOWOOD, Miss. (Sept. 30)—Nucor Steel Jackson Inc. steelmaking facility in Flowood will soon file an application with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to use tires as an ingredient in steel manufacturing. "We don't want the tires for their BTU advantage; our main goal is to recover their carbon and steel," said James Sheble, the Flowood plant´s general manager. Carbon and recycled steel are key ingredients in Nucor's method of fueling its steel furnaces, Sheble said, and the company estimates that the average steel-belted radial tire contains about five pounds of steel. One of Nucor´s 15 other facilities, in Auburn, N.Y., has used tires as fuel for about 18 months.