Energy Consumption and CO₂ Emissions in Ironmaking and Development of a Novel Flash Technology

Journal Article · 26 December 2019 · Metals

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/met10010054 · OSTI ID:1799182

Sohn, Hong Yong  ^[1]

---

1. Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; OSTI

The issues of energy consumption and CO₂ emissions of major ironmaking processes, including several new technologies, are assessed. These two issues are interconnected in that the production and use of fuels to generate energy add to the total amount of CO₂ emissions and the efforts to sequester or convert CO₂ require energy. The amounts of emissions and energy consumption in alternate ironmaking processes are compared with those for the blast furnace, currently the dominant ironmaking process. Although more than 90% of iron production is currently through the blast furnace, intense efforts are devoted to developing alternative technologies. Recent developments in alternate ironmaking processes, which are largely driven by the needs to decrease CO₂ emissions and energy consumption, are discussed in this article. This discussion will include the description of the recently developed novel flash ironmaking technology. This technology bypasses the cokemaking and pelletization/sintering steps, which are pollution prone and energy intensive, by using iron ore concentrate. This transformational technology renders large energy saving and decreased CO₂ emissions compared with the blast furnace process. Economic analysis indicated that this new technology, when operated using natural gas, would be economically feasible. As a related topic, we will also discuss different methods for computing process energy and total energy requirements in ironmaking.

• Research Organization: American Iron and Steel Institute, Washington, DC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• Grant/Contract Number: EE0005751
• OSTI ID: 1799182
• Journal Information: Metals, Journal Name: Metals Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 10; ISSN 2075-4701; ISSN MBSEC7
• Publisher: MDPICopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English