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The steel industry is a major CO2 emitter accounting for more than 7% of 🌍 emissions

—About 67% of the global steel is produced via the Blast Furnace-Basic Oxygen Furnace (BF-BOF) production route, where coal is used to heat the furnace and as carbon-rich reductant to convert iron ore into metallic iron.

When carbon is combined with oxygen, carbon dioxide is released as a by-product, which is why CO2 emissions are an intrinsic part of conventional steelmaking.

RecHycle investigates the use of (green) hydrogen and recycled metallurgical gases to replace the use of coke and pulverised coal in the blast furnace.

When hydrogen reacts with iron ore, only water vapour is formed as a by-product.

Topics of Investigation:

  • Operation of blast furnace on hydrogen/circular gas mixture
  • Full process design and optimisation
  • Risks of hydrogen on material embrittlement
  • Ceramic feed-inlet within the furnaces
  • Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)