Review
Energy & Fuels
Behnaz Rahmatmand, Arash Tahmasebi, Hannah Lomas, Tom Honeyands, Pramod Koshy, Kim Hockings, Apsara Jayasekara
Summary: Blast furnace technology remains the main ironmaking route, accounting for 70% of global share. Reducing fossil carbon consumption and CO2 emissions in blast furnace operations is crucial for decarbonizing steelmaking. Various solutions such as introducing renewable carbon-based materials, using hydrogen-enriched reducing gases, oxygen enrichment, and carbon capture and storage/utilization have been considered. Improving the hydrogen-to-carbon replacement ratio is key to enhancing the sustainability of blast furnace operations. This paper reviews the impact of alternative reducing agents on coke gasification behavior, degradation mechanism, and consumption rate in blast furnaces.
Review
Chemistry, Physical
Zhiyuan Fan, S. Julio Friedmann
Summary: With the urgency to transition to a net-zero CO2 economy, governments and industries are focusing on decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors like steel making. Current decarbonization technologies have limitations, and achieving deep decarbonization in the iron and steel industry will require a combination of factors including cost and technical maturity.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Wang Liang, Guangwei Wang, Runsheng Xu, Xiaojun Ning, Jianliang Zhang, Xingmin Guo, Chunhe Jiang, Chuan Wang
Summary: This study aims to assess the impact of life cycle assessment on the traditional fossil fuel blast furnace ironmaking process and the biomass hydrochar blast furnace ironmaking process. The Simapro v9.0 software is used to comprehensively evaluate the life cycle impacts of biomass hydrochar in the blast furnace ironmaking process. The results show that biomass hydrochar used in the metallurgical process is more suitable for sustainable development of the ecological environment.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
A. A. Adeleke, J. K. Odusote, P. P. Ikubanni, A. S. Olabisi, P. Nzerem
Summary: This study focuses on the physicomechanical durability and energy content of briquettes made from subbituminous coal and torrefied biomass using bentonite as a binder. The density of the briquettes increased with an increase in bentonite content, while the water resistance decreased. The briquettes made with 2% bentonite content exhibited better physicomechanical durability with equivalent energy content.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Shungo Natsui, Azuma Hirai, Koki Terui, Yusuke Kashihara, Akinori Murao, Yuji Miki, Hiroshi Nogami
Summary: This study investigated the impact of fine coke particles on gas flow and clogging in the coke packed bed, revealing the potential for improving blast furnace efficiency. Mechanical destruction of cokes was found to change bed permeability, affecting gas flow distribution and pressure drop. The study demonstrates that forming bridges among cokes can maintain permeability and increase the possibility of low-coke operations.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Yichao Hu, Thomas E. Rufford, Jian Chen, Liangyuan Hao, Mengran Li, Yinxuan Qiu, Sahil Garg, Victor Rudolph, Geoff Wang
Summary: This study evaluates the potential energy savings and CO2 emissions reductions by converting CO2 in blast furnace gases to CO using an electrochemical process and recycling it back to the furnace. Modeling results show that introducing CO2 electrolysis can reduce coke consumption to 260 kg/tHM and achieve up to 40% reduction in CO2 emissions per ton of hot metal. However, realizing these savings requires zero-carbon electricity and improvements in the efficiency and selectivity of CO2 electrolysis.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Julian Steer, Mark Greenslade, Richard Marsh
Summary: The injection of coal into blast furnaces is a widely used method to reduce coke usage and improve iron making efficiency. Research shows that coal type is the most important predictor of coal rate, while laboratory-tested coal properties play a minor role in the prediction model. The reactivity of char from coal in relation to coal and coke rates during production was found to have some correlation, despite the challenges of identifying strong correlations between laboratory data and process control adjustments in the furnace.
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Ruishuai Si, Zhenyang Wang, Jianliang Zhang, Jianhua Dai, Song Zhang, Dewen Jiang, Haoyuan Wei
Summary: The porosity distribution of burden beds in the blast furnace is influenced by the gas flow distribution and chemical reactions. The initial porosity distribution in the furnace is determined by the original burden distribution. This study investigates the effect of multiple particle sizes on the porosity distribution in the throat region using the discrete element method. The results show that porosity decreases with increasing dispersion of the materials and that descending velocity and layer height play a significant role in reducing porosity.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Yuting Zhuo, Yansong Shen
Summary: A three-dimensional transient CFD model was developed to investigate the effects of key blast conditions on in-furnace phenomena in an industrial scale BF. The simulation results showed that higher blast rate and oxygen enrichment improved the combustion of coal and coke, leading to higher coal burnout rate and more reducing gas production.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Daniel J. C. Stewart, David Thomson, Andrew R. Barron
Summary: Zinc-contaminated steelmaking by-products pose a recycling challenge, but Rotary Hearth Furnaces offer a solution by recovering iron and zinc through carbothermal reduction. New RHF processes like ITmk3 and e-nugget produce pig iron nuggets from iron ore concentrates and coal, achieving quality separation of iron and gangue without additional melting units. Computational studies show that high-quality pig iron nuggets can be produced from BF dust and BOS dust with the addition of SiO2 and MgO at a specific temperature.
RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Zhenfeng Zhou, Ruihao Wang, Qiujie Yi, Guang Wang, Chunyuan Ma
Summary: The study proposed a targeted oxygen-enrichment technology to enhance coal combustion in an ironmaking blast furnace. Oxygen utilization and coal burnout were significantly increased under targeted oxygen-enrichment. However, the cooling effect of room-temperature oxygen had adverse effects on coal combustion. The study also found that the temperature of coal particles has a noticeable impact on coal combustion.
Article
Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering
Anne Heikkila, Mikko Iljana, Eetu-Pekka Heikkinen, Aki Koskela, Timo Fabritius
Summary: Blast furnace is the most commonly used equipment for iron production, where materials descend and form final slag as they melt. Replacing fossil-based carbon with bio-based coal has varying effects on slag composition and properties.
STEEL RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Wenhe Wu, Rong Zhu, Guangsheng Wei, Kai Dong, Juanjuan Jiang, Bin Chen
Summary: Ironmaking and steelmaking industries are major sources of CO2 emissions, but using recycled CO2 gas in blast furnaces can help reduce emissions. The reaction of CO2 with carbon can produce CO gas, which further undergoes oxidation to CO2. However, this process may cool the furnace and impact its operation, requiring heat supplementation methods to offset the heat loss.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2021)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Qiang Wang, Zhu Liu, Huiqing Tang, Zhancheng Guo
Summary: Replacing 10% ore with CCB can efficiently improve BF operation for coke saving. The CCB reached a full iron-oxide reduction above the cohesive zone and a carbon conversion of 85% during charging operation.
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Ziguang Zhao, Xiaobing Yu, Yansong Shen
Summary: This study investigates the impacts of wet burden charging on in-furnace phenomena of ironmaking blast furnaces using a transient BF model. The results show that charging wet burden significantly increases the coke rate and decreases the top gas temperature. Remedies for heavy rain weather are also studied, indicating that reducing oxygen enrichment and reusing dry burden can restore BF performance.