Title

ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS ON ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY INITIATIVES IN THE STEEL INDUSTRY

ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS ON ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY INITIATIVES IN THE STEEL INDUSTRY

Authorship

Marchal, Emmanuel Robert Jacques; Lima, Cassiano Vinhas de; Silva, Fábio Angelo dos Santos; Martino, Guilherme de Castro

Marchal, Emmanuel Robert Jacques

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Lima, Cassiano Vinhas de

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Silva, Fábio Angelo dos Santos

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Martino, Guilherme de Castro

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DOI

10.5151/5463-5463-35060

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Abstract

With the increasing stakeholder pressure for lower carbon footprint practices, all businesses are searching for economically viable technologies that can bridge the current emission gap to a greener future. This transition is harder for companies in traditional process industries like steel making. Even more when the productive units are very old and emit, by nature of the technology, huge amounts of CO2. This is typically the case of the classic blast furnace (BF) - basic oxygen furnace (BOF) route in integrated steel plants. Many initiatives to lower CO2 emissions have been studied by the steelmakers. Among them, we can mention: preheating scraps in order to reduce the proportion of hot metal in the converter; injecting hydrogen in the blast furnace as a substitution of carbon-based fuels; charging sponge iron in the blast furnace to reduce the need of iron reduction inside the furnace. From a technical point of view, the decrease of the overall CO2 emission can be calculated using a balance model that considers all the emissions, both direct and indirect. This paper introduces the economic impacts of such initiatives in different contexts of prices and potential penalties on CO2 emissions. At what price is it economically viable to charge more scraps at the converter? What should be the price of hydrogen and sponge iron to compete with coke and iron ore? We will present a few insights on this subject using our integrated mathematical model aiming for the least production cost.

With the increasing stakeholder pressure for lower carbon footprint practices, all businesses are searching for economically viable technologies that can bridge the current emission gap to a greener future. This transition is harder for companies in traditional process industries like steel making. Even more when the productive units are very old and emit, by nature of the technology, huge amounts of CO2. This is typically the case of the classic blast furnace (BF) - basic oxygen furnace (BOF) route in integrated steel plants. Many initiatives to lower CO2 emissions have been studied by the steelmakers. Among them, we can mention: preheating scraps in order to reduce the proportion of hot metal in the converter; injecting hydrogen in the blast furnace as a substitution of carbon-based fuels; charging sponge iron in the blast furnace to reduce the need of iron reduction inside the furnace. From a technical point of view, the decrease of the overall CO2 emission can be calculated using a balance model that considers all the emissions, both direct and indirect. This paper introduces the economic impacts of such initiatives in different contexts of prices and potential penalties on CO2 emissions. At what price is it economically viable to charge more scraps at the converter? What should be the price of hydrogen and sponge iron to compete with coke and iron ore? We will present a few insights on this subject using our integrated mathematical model aiming for the least production cost.

Keywords

Mathematical model; CO2 emission; Integrated steel plant; Economic evaluation.

Mathematical model; CO2 emission; Integrated steel plant; Economic evaluation.