About this Research Topic
As one of the most important engineering and construction materials, steel is one of the core pillars of today’s society and present in many aspects of our lives. To cover the world-wide demand, the steelmaking industry produced 1,885 Mt of crude steel in 2022. Steelmaking, however, is connected with emissions of carbon dioxide. The use of coal, coke and natural gas in the steelmaking process leads to average CO2 emissions of about 1.9 t CO2 per ton steel produced. With that, the steel industry is a major contributor to CO2 emissions, accounting for approximately 5% within the EU and 7% globally, making it one the three biggest carbon dioxide producing industries worldwide.
To align with the EU's and other national climate targets, there is an urgent need to develop and commercialize new technologies and fuels within the next years and decades to massively reduce the CO2 emissions of steelmaking. However, the energy intensity per ton of steel produced is at already down to around 20 GJ/t from more than 50 GJ/t in the 1960s. So, further substantial reductions are not expected as the processes like direct reduction, electric arc furnaces (EAF) or reheating furnaces are already well established and optimized.
While hydrogen is at the core of almost all decarbonization pathways and roadmaps published by the major steel companies around the world, there is room and need for biocarbon and biofuels in the steelmaking process. Steelmaking will need sustainable carbon
sources to introduce carbon into the hydrogen reduced iron to reach the needed carbon levels of steel alloys, but also to operate the processes efficiently e.g. by foaming slag in the EAF with biocarbon. In addition, or competition to hydrogen also biofuels like biomethane or
DME can play an important role in de-fossilizing the reheating furnaces of steel plants.
In this research topic contributions on recent advances in all aspects of biomass and biofuels use in the steelmaking industry are welcome. Specific areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Use of biomass and biofuels as reducing agents for iron and steelmaking
- Use of biocoke as carburizer for steel melts
- Combustion of biofuels in reheating furnaces
- Integration of biomass conversion in steel plants
- Impact of biomass use on the carbon footprint of steelmaking
To align with the EU's and other national climate targets, there is an urgent need to develop and commercialize new technologies and fuels within the next years and decades to massively reduce the CO2 emissions of steelmaking. However, the energy intensity per ton of steel produced is at already down to around 20 GJ/t from more than 50 GJ/t in the 1960s. So, further substantial reductions are not expected as the processes like direct reduction, electric arc furnaces (EAF) or reheating furnaces are already well established and optimized.
While hydrogen is at the core of almost all decarbonization pathways and roadmaps published by the major steel companies around the world, there is room and need for biocarbon and biofuels in the steelmaking process. Steelmaking will need sustainable carbon
sources to introduce carbon into the hydrogen reduced iron to reach the needed carbon levels of steel alloys, but also to operate the processes efficiently e.g. by foaming slag in the EAF with biocarbon. In addition, or competition to hydrogen also biofuels like biomethane or
DME can play an important role in de-fossilizing the reheating furnaces of steel plants.
In this research topic contributions on recent advances in all aspects of biomass and biofuels use in the steelmaking industry are welcome. Specific areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Use of biomass and biofuels as reducing agents for iron and steelmaking
- Use of biocoke as carburizer for steel melts
- Combustion of biofuels in reheating furnaces
- Integration of biomass conversion in steel plants
- Impact of biomass use on the carbon footprint of steelmaking
Keywords: Biomass, Biocoal, Biochar, Biofuel, Steelmaking, Ironmaking, Cokemaking, Reheating, Combustion, Reduction, Biocarbon, Biogenic Reductant, Decarbonization
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