Contribution of CO<sub>2</sub> Emissions from Basic Oxygen Steelmaking Process
The steelmaking process is an energy-intensive multi-stage process, and the step involving the conversion of molten iron to steel, commonly performed in a basic oxygen furnace (BOF), makes an important contribution to greenhouse gas generation. The effective utilization of energy is one of the major...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-05-01
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| Series: | Metals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/12/5/797 |
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| author | Nirmal Madhavan Geoffrey Brooks M. Akbar Rhamdhani Adam Bordignon |
| author_facet | Nirmal Madhavan Geoffrey Brooks M. Akbar Rhamdhani Adam Bordignon |
| author_sort | Nirmal Madhavan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The steelmaking process is an energy-intensive multi-stage process, and the step involving the conversion of molten iron to steel, commonly performed in a basic oxygen furnace (BOF), makes an important contribution to greenhouse gas generation. The effective utilization of energy is one of the major challenges in the process, as minor variations of operational parameters can have significant negative effects on the converter in terms of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions. A recent study published by the same authors analyzed the BOF process by developing a general mass and energy balance model. The present study utilizes these models to quantify the contribution of global warming potential (GWP) from the BOF and analyses its sensitivity with the parameters such as hot metal composition, the temperature of hot metal, tapping temperature, scrap quantity, and levels of post-combustion. The term GWP in this study refers to the quantified CO<sub>2</sub> values obtained by summing up the carbon dioxide associated with the production of CaO associated with the mass of flux and carbon dioxide generated from the off-gas (considering C in hot metal is completely oxidized to CO<sub>2</sub>). The results from the analysis indicates that for a tapping temperature increase from 1650 °C to 1683 °C, the percentage change in the global warming potential (GWP) was found to be approximately 1%. The study identified that increasing the scrap percentage in the feed would be the most effective approach to effectively utilizing chemical energy from the process and reduce CO<sub>2</sub> emissions. However, increasing scrap above 30% of the total feed is likely to raise issues around: (a) the presence of residual elements in scrap affecting the quality of liquid steel, (b) the effective utilization of post-combustion heat within the furnace, and (c) the recovery of off-gas heat for scrap preheating (assuming no steam recovery from the off-gas system). If these issues could be addressed at the industrial level, a significant reduction in CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from the BOF process could be achieved. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:25:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7193a07c62784ed398e2a2912d09d014 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4701 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:25:06Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Metals |
| spelling | doaj.art-7193a07c62784ed398e2a2912d09d0142023-11-23T12:09:30ZengMDPI AGMetals2075-47012022-05-0112579710.3390/met12050797Contribution of CO<sub>2</sub> Emissions from Basic Oxygen Steelmaking ProcessNirmal Madhavan0Geoffrey Brooks1M. Akbar Rhamdhani2Adam Bordignon3Fluid and Process Dynamics (FPD) Group, Department of Mechanical and Product Design Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, AustraliaFluid and Process Dynamics (FPD) Group, Department of Mechanical and Product Design Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, AustraliaFluid and Process Dynamics (FPD) Group, Department of Mechanical and Product Design Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, AustraliaFluid and Process Dynamics (FPD) Group, Department of Mechanical and Product Design Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, AustraliaThe steelmaking process is an energy-intensive multi-stage process, and the step involving the conversion of molten iron to steel, commonly performed in a basic oxygen furnace (BOF), makes an important contribution to greenhouse gas generation. The effective utilization of energy is one of the major challenges in the process, as minor variations of operational parameters can have significant negative effects on the converter in terms of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions. A recent study published by the same authors analyzed the BOF process by developing a general mass and energy balance model. The present study utilizes these models to quantify the contribution of global warming potential (GWP) from the BOF and analyses its sensitivity with the parameters such as hot metal composition, the temperature of hot metal, tapping temperature, scrap quantity, and levels of post-combustion. The term GWP in this study refers to the quantified CO<sub>2</sub> values obtained by summing up the carbon dioxide associated with the production of CaO associated with the mass of flux and carbon dioxide generated from the off-gas (considering C in hot metal is completely oxidized to CO<sub>2</sub>). The results from the analysis indicates that for a tapping temperature increase from 1650 °C to 1683 °C, the percentage change in the global warming potential (GWP) was found to be approximately 1%. The study identified that increasing the scrap percentage in the feed would be the most effective approach to effectively utilizing chemical energy from the process and reduce CO<sub>2</sub> emissions. However, increasing scrap above 30% of the total feed is likely to raise issues around: (a) the presence of residual elements in scrap affecting the quality of liquid steel, (b) the effective utilization of post-combustion heat within the furnace, and (c) the recovery of off-gas heat for scrap preheating (assuming no steam recovery from the off-gas system). If these issues could be addressed at the industrial level, a significant reduction in CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from the BOF process could be achieved.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/12/5/797environmentbasic oxygen steelmakingenergy balancemass balanceoptimizationslag formation |
| spellingShingle | Nirmal Madhavan Geoffrey Brooks M. Akbar Rhamdhani Adam Bordignon Contribution of CO<sub>2</sub> Emissions from Basic Oxygen Steelmaking Process Metals environment basic oxygen steelmaking energy balance mass balance optimization slag formation |
| title | Contribution of CO<sub>2</sub> Emissions from Basic Oxygen Steelmaking Process |
| title_full | Contribution of CO<sub>2</sub> Emissions from Basic Oxygen Steelmaking Process |
| title_fullStr | Contribution of CO<sub>2</sub> Emissions from Basic Oxygen Steelmaking Process |
| title_full_unstemmed | Contribution of CO<sub>2</sub> Emissions from Basic Oxygen Steelmaking Process |
| title_short | Contribution of CO<sub>2</sub> Emissions from Basic Oxygen Steelmaking Process |
| title_sort | contribution of co sub 2 sub emissions from basic oxygen steelmaking process |
| topic | environment basic oxygen steelmaking energy balance mass balance optimization slag formation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/12/5/797 |
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