Low emission technology developments in the iron and steel industry

Abstract

The iron and steel industry is one of the biggest global emitters of carbon dioxide. There are a number of recent developments that are aiming to reduce the environmental footprint of the steel industry. An overview of some of the recent innovations will be provided including: (i) reduction in blast furnace production and the trend toward electric arc furnace steelmaking with scrap or direct reduced iron, (ii) hydrogen based steelmaking projects with hydrogen created via green electricity, (iii) electrolysis of iron ore to directly create steel via green electricity, (iv) European developments under the ULCOS program (Blast furnace top gas recycling, HISarna), and (v) carbon capture storage and utilization (CCS&U) technologies including ethanol production from waste carbon monoxide gases.