Minimizing CO emissions with renewable energy: a comparative study of emerging technologies in the steel industry

• Published in: Energy & environmental science 2020-07, Vol.13 (7), p.1923-1932
• Main Authors: Flores-Granobles, Marian, Saeys, Mark
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1754-5692; 1754-5706
• DOI: 10.1039/d0ee00787k

CO 2 emissions from the steel industry are amongst the most difficult to abate, since carbon is used as a stoichiometric reducing agent in most steel mills. This carbon ends up as a CO/CO 2 mixture in the steel mill gases, which are combusted to generate heat, electricity, and more CO 2 . Strategies to capture and store (CCS), utilize (CCU) or avoid CO 2 in steel production exist, but are highly dependent on the availability of renewable electricity for the production of low-carbon H 2 . Steel mill gas contains energy, and can thus be re-used more easily than combustion gas or process gas from the cement industry. In this study, we evaluate several strategies to reduce CO 2 emissions in the steel industry and rank them according to their renewable electricity requirement. We propose the following steps: (1) shut down the steel plant's power plant, since it produces electricity with a carbon intensity that is even higher than coal-based power plants; (2) replace steel mill gas with natural gas to generate heat within the steel mill; (3) recover the reducing gases, H 2 and CO, from the steel mill gases: e.g. , using pressure swing adsorption to obtain a H 2 -rich stream from COG, and sorption-enhanced water gas shift to obtain a H 2 -rich stream and a pure CO 2 stream from BFG and BOFG; (4) the recovered H 2 converts some of the CO 2 to methanol, excess CO 2 is stored. The proposed CCUS scenario can retrofit existing infrastructure, uses proven technology and reduces CO 2 emissions by 70% for a marginal renewable electricity demand. Other energy-intensive alternatives have the potential to reduce CO 2 emissions by 85%, but require an order-of-magnitude more renewable electricity. Implementing CCUS technologies at existing steel plants reduces CO 2 emissions by 70%, requiring 1.1 MW h per ton of renewable electricity. H 2 -based steel-making and CCU technologies require 4 and 8 times more electricity to reach similar reductions.