Integration of Renewable Hydrogen Production in Steelworks Off-Gases for the Synthesis of Methanol and Methane

The steel industry is among the highest carbon-emitting industrial sectors. Since the steel production process is already exhaustively optimized, alternative routes are sought in order to increase carbon efficiency and reduce these emissions. During steel production, three main carbon-containing off-gases are generated: blast furnace gas, coke oven gas and basic oxygen furnace gas. In the present work, the addition of renewable hydrogen by electrolysis to those steelworks off-gases is studied for the production of methane and methanol. Different case scenarios are investigated using AspenPlus^TM flowsheet simulations, which differ on the end-product, the feedstock flowrates and on the production of power. Each case study is evaluated in terms of hydrogen and electrolysis requirements, carbon conversion, hydrogen consumption, and product yields. The findings of this study showed that the electrolysis requirements surpass the energy content of the steelwork’s feedstock. However, for the methanol synthesis cases, substantial improvements can be achieved if recycling a significant amount of the residual hydrogen. View Full-Text

Keywords: blast furnace gas; coke oven gas; basic oxygen furnace gas; methanation; methanol synthesis; aspen plus; gas cleaning; hydrogen; steelworks sustainability

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Bampaou, M.; Panopoulos, K.; Seferlis, P.; Voutetakis, S.; Matino, I.; Petrucciani, A.; Zaccara, A.; Colla, V.; Dettori, S.; Annunziata Branca, T.; Iannino, V. Integration of Renewable Hydrogen Production in Steelworks Off-Gases for the Synthesis of Methanol and Methane. Energies 2021, 14, 2904. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14102904

AMA Style

Bampaou M, Panopoulos K, Seferlis P, Voutetakis S, Matino I, Petrucciani A, Zaccara A, Colla V, Dettori S, Annunziata Branca T, Iannino V. Integration of Renewable Hydrogen Production in Steelworks Off-Gases for the Synthesis of Methanol and Methane. Energies. 2021; 14(10):2904. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14102904

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bampaou, Michael, Kyriakos Panopoulos, Panos Seferlis, Spyridon Voutetakis, Ismael Matino, Alice Petrucciani, Antonella Zaccara, Valentina Colla, Stefano Dettori, Teresa Annunziata Branca, and Vincenzo Iannino. 2021. "Integration of Renewable Hydrogen Production in Steelworks Off-Gases for the Synthesis of Methanol and Methane" Energies 14, no. 10: 2904. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14102904

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Integration of Renewable Hydrogen Production in Steelworks Off-Gases for the Synthesis of Methanol and Methane

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