Sustainable Steelmaking using Biomass and Waste Oxides

A new process for ironmaking was proposed to employ renewable energy in the form of wood charcoal to produce hot metal. The process was aimed at the market niche of units ranging from 400,000 to 1 million tons of hot metal a year. In the new process, a Rotary Hearth Furnace (RHF) would be combined with a smelter to produce hot metal. This combination was proposed to overcome the technical hurdles of energy generation in smelters and the low productivity of RHFs.

Development Status	Products
Research

Development Status

Products

Research

Sustainable Steelmaking using Biomass and Waste OxidesCosts & Benefits

Parent Process: Direct Reduced Iron
Energy Savings Potential	Productivity gains as high as 50% could be achieved replacing coal with Wood Charcoal. An Increase of less than 5% in total carbon consumption is achievable.
CO2 Emission Reduction Potential	If Wood charcoal is used for Iron production net CO2 and sulfur emissions can be significantly reduced.
Costs