Use of biomass in integrated steelmaking – Status quo, future needs and comparison to other low-CO2 steel production technologies

Extensive review of the opportunities to use biomass-based fuels in iron and steelmaking processes

The iron and steel industry (ISI) is energy-intensive and is responsible for approximately 25% of the global direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from industrial sectors. As the largest steel producer and consumer, China bears the primary responsibility for saving energy and reducing GHG emissions; accordingly, they have developed many strategies for GHG abatement. However, owing to the high investment costs and long equipment service lives, the ISI must carefully weigh the cost and emission reduction potential of these approaches. This review discusses research findings aimed at technological improvements and ultra-low carbon technologies relevant to the ISI, emphasizing their cost-effectiveness and development prospects. Based on the life cycle analysis method, this review establishes a comprehensive analytical framework to integrate the results from different studies to consider more factors in the design of GHG emission reduction strategies. The results indicate that the full application of mainstream technological improvements can reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 43%. Furthermore, combining these strategies with ultra-low carbon technologies can achieve a reduction of 80%–95%. The marginal cost reduction associated with implementing such technological improvements is in the range of −5 to 0.5 USD/kgCO2. Applying carbon capture, utilization, and storage strategies or hydrogen-based technologies in China's ISI for deep decarbonization scenarios is expected to lead to cost reductions between 12 and 35 billion USD by 2050. We propose that China's ISI requires technological improvements in the short term and should prioritize ultra-low carbon technology development for the long term.

A review of CO2 emissions reduction technologies and low-carbon development in the iron and steel industry focusing on China

Industrial decarbonization is a daunting challenge given the relative lack of low-carbon options available for “hard to decarbonize” industries such as iron and steel, cement, and chemicals. Hydrogen, however, offers one potential solution to this dilemma given that is an abundant and energy dense fuel capable of not just meeting industrial energy requirements, but also providing long-duration energy storage. Despite the abundance and potential of hydrogen, isolating it and utilizing it for industrial decarbonization remains logistically challenging and is, in many cases, expensive. Industrial utilization of hydrogen is currently dominated by oil refining and chemical production with nearly all of the hydrogen used in these applications coming from fossil fuels. The generation of low-carbon or zero-carbon hydrogen for industrial applications requires new modes of hydrogen production that either intrinsically produce no carbon emissions or are combined with carbon capture technologies. This review takes a sociotechnical perspective to examine the full range of industries and industrial processes for which hydrogen can support decarbonization and the technical, economic, social and political factors that will impact hydrogen adoption.

Industrial decarbonization via hydrogen: A critical and systematic review of developments, socio-technical systems and policy options

Recent progress on the utilization of waste heat for desalination: A review

Numerical study on gravity-driven granular flow around tube out-wall: Effect of tube inclination on the heat transfer

New insights into the effects of methane and oxygen on heat/mass transfer in reactive porous media

Large amounts of high-temperature solid granular (HTSG) materials, for example iron-ore sinters, cement, coke and slags are produced throughout the world in metallurgy and building materials industries, where as 4.29 billion tons in China, 0.49 billion tons in India and 0.24 billion tons in United States per annum. Those activities are very energy intensive, and therefore the implementation of waste heat recovery technologies would have great potential to make contributions to the reductions of primary energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission in the longer term. In the community of HTSG waste heat recovery in metallurgy and building materials industries, there are two critical features: wide partice size range and wide temperature range. This work aims at reviewing progress on the key fundamental nature, advanced technologies and future issues in waste heat recovery from HTSG materials. The configurations and limitations of current waste heat recovery techniques depending on solid particle size are addressed. In particular, a new waste heat recovery device for solid particles consisting of powder and lump materials is discussed. Additionally, the available multi temperature stages heat recovery techniques, combined usage of different heat recovery manners, and development of compact heat exchangers are critiqued. The available techniques to minimize the negative impacts of HTSG property variations during rapid temperature change are introduced. The key findings of this review provide avenues to promote the development of novel waste heat recovery technologies which is helpful to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emission.

Zhigang Guo

Papers

Numerical study on gravity-driven granular flow around tube out-wall: Effect of tube inclination on the heat transfer

New insights into the effects of methane and oxygen on heat/mass transfer in reactive porous media

Waste heat recovery from high-temperature solid granular materials: Energy challenges and opportunities

Experimental study of commercial charcoal as alternative fuel for coke breeze in iron ore sintering process

Optimization of gaseous fuel injection for saving energy consumption and improving imbalance of heat distribution in iron ore sintering