Kobe Steel, Ltd. Announces Innovative Technology to Reduce CO2 Emissions from Blast Furnace Operations Successfully Verified
February 22, 2021 at 05:11 am
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Kobe Steel, Ltd. announced that it has successfully demonstrated the technology that can reduce a significant amount of CO2 emissions from blast furnace operations, combining the technologies of Midrex1) in the engineering business and the blast furnace operation technology in the iron and steel business. This achievement is a result of the integrated efforts of the Kobe Steel Group (also known as the KOBELCO Group) leveraging its diverse businesses. The demonstration test was conducted for a month at a large blast furnace (4,844 m3) of the Kakogawa Works in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, in October 2020. The quantity of CO2 emissions from the blast furnace is determined by the reducing agent rate (RAR) or the quantity of carbon fuel used in blast furnace ironmaking. In the demonstration test, it was verified that RAR could be stably reduced from 518 kg/tHM (ton of hot metal) to 415 kg/tHM by charging a large amount of hot briquetted iron (HBI) produced by the MIDREX Process. The results indicate that this technology can reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 20% compared to a conventional method. In addition, the world's lowest level of coke rate (239 kg/tHM) has been achieved in the demonstration test of this technology. The company sees it as a promising solution that could become readily available in the near future at a lower additional cost compared to other CO2 reduction measures. CO2 reduction cost using this technology is calculated as follows: ((a)-(b)-(c)/The quantity of CO2 reduced (d)) + Equipment cost + Other costs where (a) is (the quantity of HBI charged × HBI unit price), (b) is (the quantity of iron ore reduced × iron ore unit price), and (c) is (the quantity of reductant reduced × reductant unit price). Note: The value of (c) equals (the quantity of coke reduced × coke unit price) + (the quantity of pulverized coal reduced × pulverized coal unit price). The quantity of CO2 reduced (d) equals (the quantity of reductant reduced × CO2 emission factor). Typical raw material unit prices are: HBI > coke > iron ore > pulverized coal. The key technologies utilized for this achievement are: (1) Technologies of Midrex for HBI manufacturing in the engineering business, (2) Blast furnace operation technology in the iron and steel business (e.g. advanced pellet production technology, HBI charging technology for blast furnaces, and blast furnace operation technology utilizing AI). All of these technologies are developed by the KOBELCO Group as generic solution technologies applicable to various blast furnaces.
Kobe Steel, Ltd. specializes in manufacturing and marketing of steel and metallurgical products. The group is also developing production of construction and industrial machines activity. Net sales break down by activity as follows:
- sale of steel and aluminum products (42.3%): special steel wires, stainless tubes, rolled steel products, steel strips, aluminum plates and sheets, aluminum alloy products, building materials, etc.;
- manufacturing of construction machines (17.8%): cranes, hydraulic excavators, mini excavators and wheeled loaders;
- sales of advanced materials (15.6%): copper foil for semiconductors, copper tubes for air conditioners, aluminum extrusions, aluminum alloy products, iron powder, etc.;
- manufacturing of industrial machines (7.8%): compressors, high pressure machines, heat pumps, nuclear plants equipments, etc.;
- engineering services (6.4%);
- electric power production (5.3%);
- sale of welding materials and equipments (3.6%);
- other (1.2%): primarily sale of electronic equipments and real estate development.