Low carbon-dioxide emission technologies for melting iron-bearing feed materials OR smart carbon usage and improved energy & resource efficiency via process integration (Clean Steel Partnership) (IA) -

Expected Outcome

Projects outcomes will enable achieving the objectives of the Clean Steel Partnership (CSP) by contributing to one of the following two aspects:

Projects related to the above point 1 are expected to contribute to one or more of the following outcomes:

• Innovative or improved melting processes for next-generation clean steel production, such as, but not limited to, charging and pre-heating technologies for iron-bearing feedstock to reduce the CO2 emission by at least 20 % compared to current state of the art;
• Integration of next generation melting technologies into an existing and optimised steelwork, with the objective to enable transformation towards a low-CO2 production site. Proposed solutions should consider also the supply chain to strongly reduce the environmental footprint of the steel melting process;
• Enhance the use of iron-bearing feedstock intermediate products with variable content of carbon and variable metallisation, including low-value iron-based sources. (e.g., DRI, recovered by-products) in melting processes.

OR

Projects related to the above point 2 are expected to contribute to one or more of the following outcomes:

• Use advanced information and communication technology (ICT) to achieve process and energy integration and optimisation of the efficiency of steelmaking and downstream processing (heating and treatment furnaces) in steel plants;
• Improve the injection of metallurgical gases, as well as hydrogen-rich gases (e.g., a mixture of hydrogen and methane) and/or hydrogen, within the steel making processes;
• Adaptation of gas handling systems to new gases and their related properties;
• Utilisation and recycling of gases (e.g., carbon-containing process gases, oxygen, external gases, such as but not limited to, waste gases from a neighbouring chemical plant or syngas produced from an external pyrolysis plant) in integrated plants with mixed technology routes;
• Enhance production and energy management of integrated plants with mixed technology routes (e.g. blast furnace–basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF), direct reduction-electric arc furnace (DR-EAF)), to drastically reduce the consumption of coal and the CO2 emissions.

Scope

Proposals should aim at one of the following two aspects, corresponding respectively to the points 1) and 2) outlined under the expected outcomes section:

Multidisciplinary research activities should address one or more of the following:

• Adding variable percentages of steel scrap and/or a wide range of iron-bearing feed materials with variable content of carbon and variable metallisation to the melting process, including low-value iron-based sources (i.e., >5% of acidic gangue and/or residue) without prejudice to the yield of the metallic charge;
• Adaptations on existing melting processes to replace the traditional use of carbon and hydrocarbons (e.g., for re-carburisation of the liquid, for promoting slag foaming or charge heating) with climate-neutral sources and/or hydrogen;
• Reduction of the specific consumption of the melting step to achieve a low carbon process by optimisation of energy inputs (electrical vs. chemical) depending on the charge mix (scrap, DRI, HBI, pig iron, low-value iron-based sources) and/or by pre-heating of the iron-bearing feed materials;
• Handle a variability of iron-bearing feedstock in the melting process by methods to assess the material quality within production chains, to recover metal contents from low-value iron-ore feedstock or residues by pre-reduction or reduction smelting with H2, biogas, CO2-lean electricity, and carbon-bearing residues;
• Controlling of tramp elements in molten liquid obtained by low iron-bearing feedstock to ensure quality and castability of melted steel and improvement of yield and quality of process and product;
• New sensors and tools for real-time management inside the melting process such as liquid metal and slag temperature and composition and/or reliable energy forecasting to optimal setup and process control.

OR

Multidisciplinary research activities should address one or more of the following:

• Process integration through injection of metallurgical gases or biogas or O2 and H2 (H2-rich gases or pure H2) into metallurgical reactors (e.g. BF, DR, or EAF) to minimise the need for fossil carbon, including new developments regarding the related process technology and control technology;
• Utilisation and recycling of gases as substitutes in existing steel processes such as, but not limited to, coking plant, sinter plant, BF, DR, BOF, EAF;
• Consider techniques and tools, which support the immediate decrease of the carbon footprint on the industrial level, with measures such as, but not limited to, involve the production cycle, the energy, and materials supplied;
• Adapt gas handling and distribution to new gas properties and amounts and consider process needs, safety issues, and economic aspects;
• Integrate new measuring technologies and/or digital tools for monitoring and control inside the novel architectures of ICT covering the processes considered (existing and new processes), conditions and resources; the extensive use of Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) approaches should allow the easy and fast integration of the new measurement techniques into the set of data streams to be monitored and offline / online used for process setup and control and knowledge extraction;
• Provide concepts addressing the re-optimisation of the process integration in future integrated steelworks based on clean steel production technologies and considering the stepwise transition of production lines from current conventional iron and steelmaking to future low carbon technologies including relevant intermediate states with mixed production chains.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on Clean Steel.

Activities are expected to start at TRL 5 and achieve TRL 6-7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

[1]https://www.estep.eu/assets/CleanSteelMembersection/CSP-SRIA-Oct2021-clean.pdf

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