High strength steel in cranes

To use advanced, high strength steel in a truckmounted crane arm is an effective way of cutting the crane arm’s weight and thereby increasing the system’s load capacity. The weight of the truck where the crane is mounted is also reduced through upgrading of the steel. This leads to increased transport capacity and thereby reduced environmental impact.

In a case study, the environmental benefit is estimated of using high strength steel in a crane arm when the crane operates on a truck bed. The environmental benefit of upgrading the steel in the crane arm has been quantified through life cycle assessments.

Through upgrading the steel to high strength steel, greenhouse gas emissions could be cut by 4.7 tonnes CO_2e. If the corresponding upgrade were carried out on 4,000 cranes, the greenhouse gas emissions could be cut by 68,000 tonnes CO_2e. This is roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of 28,000 private cars in Sweden.

The fact sheet is a summery from a case study within the environmental research program The Steel Eco-Cycle.
Learn more about the program.