Greater Energy Independence with Sustainable Steel Production

Abstract

Global energy market price volatility and an upward trajectory of prices per unit of electricity have sent all industrial sectors and many economies to the brink of recession. Alongside the urgent need for decarbonisation of all industries, achieving a globally higher level of energy independence across all sectors seems imperative. A multi-disciplinary approach with a proposed system of CO2 emissions reduction and capture technologies has the potential for short-term emissions reduction to near-zero in the steel industry—although some of the mechanisms can be implemented across most heavy industries. The findings of this research show a CO2 emissions reduction of ~30% from 977 t of CO2 to 684 t in one single blast furnace production cycle (based on 330 tonnes of liquid iron production capacity, with the mean of 2.1–3.2 tonnes CO2/t of steel and chemical reactions emissions applied), by switching the electricity provider for operating the electric heaters to providers generating energy exclusively from renewable sources. Replacing coal with biomass and adding post-combustion capture units to the blast furnace operation, will add carbon neutrality into the process—resulting in CO2 emissions reduction to near-zero. Carbon capture from biomass utilisation (BECCS) will add the benefit of carbon-negative emissions to the cycle. Simultaneously, energy-saving and process improvement measures implementation (up to 60% efficiency increase), excess heat recovery <30% of energy savings, and retrofitting renewable energy technology resulted in an energy independence of 88%. Engineering solutions, partly subsidised in the UK, are readily available for implementation in the iron and steel manufacturing industry.