Integrating a Top-Gas Recycling and CO2 Electrolysis Process for H2-Rich Gas Injection and Reduce CO2 Emissions from an Ironmaking Blast Furnace
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
- Degree of indirect reduction depends on the reducing gas concentration of BF bosh gas, which is estimated by an empirical equation, as shown in Equation (1) [36]:
- For the amine absorption CO2 capture unit: 30% monoethanolamine (MEA) concentration was used for CO2 capture in this study. The capture unit recovered 90% CO2 in BFG, and the CO2 purity was >99%; the general thermal energy requirement for capture was assumed to be around 1000 kWh/tCO2 (3.6 GJ/ tCO2) [37,38,39]. Any additional CO2 captured and not converted was assumed to be released as per current operation or could be sent to CO2 storage routes, shown as CO2 letdown in Figure 1.
- The electrochemical CO2 conversion unit was treated in the model as a simplified input–output model. Assumptions for the material and energy balance in the CO2 conversion unit were based on laboratory demonstration data with additional inputs from literature sources. Briefly, the model was based on multiple two-cell vapour fed electrolyser stacks with the capacity to treat 50 tCO2 per day; further details can be found in our other report [33]. The current density of the electrolyser was altered from 2.68 V at 0 A/m2 to 3.59 V at 1862 A/m2 to produce the H2-rich gas with different H2/CO compositions.
- The electricity consumption for CO2 conversion is proportional to the H2 generation, which can be estimated as in Equation (2) [33]:
- efficiency of the gas heating device was 85%;
- The hot blast stove system uses two stoves on-gas and one stove on-blast, and the efficiency of the hot blast stoves was 75%.
2.1. Thermodynamic Calculations of H2-Rich Gas Injection BF
2.1.1. Raceway
2.1.2. Dripping, Cohesive, and High-Temperature Zones over 1000 °C
2.1.3. Shaft Zone Temperature between 800 and 1000 °C
2.2. Thermal Calculations of H2-Rich Gas Injection BF
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Results of the Thermodynamic Model
3.2. BF Simulation Conditions and Validation
3.3. Effect of H2 Injection on Coke Consumption Rate
3.4. Effect on H2 Utilisation Efficiency
3.5. Effects on CO2 Emissions and Energy Consumption
4. Conclusions
- The desired shaft gas injection temperature should not exceed 1000 °C to suppress the endothermic FeO reduction reaction by H2-rich gas.
- Injecting H2 to BF hearth has a better effect on coke rate reduction than that of injection to the shaft. The lowest H2 consumption to save 1 kg of coke was estimated to be 7.9 m3/tHM.
- H2 utilisation efficiency dropped significantly with increasing H2 content, and the increase in CO utilisation efficiency was limited. Further research should focus on improving H2 utilisation efficiency with a high H2 injection rate.
- Considering H2 utilisation efficiency and the degree of indirect reduction by H2 and CO, the proper H2 injection rate should be from around 50 to 80 m3/tHM.
- Introducing H2-rich gas injection can reduce CO2 emissions of the iron-making process by up to 262 m3/tHM compared with a traditional BF. However, injecting too much H2 would hinder CO2 emission reduction due to its requirement of preheating outside the BF.
- The energy consumption of this proposed process was higher than that of the traditional BF. Although coke consumption was reduced by 43 kg/tHM more than that of the traditional BF, net energy consumption increased with the amount of injected hydrogen due to the high electricity consumption in the CO2 capture and electrolyser. Developing a CO2 conversion unit with higher efficiency but less energy consumption is strongly recommended.
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Nomenclature
Abbreviations | |
BF | Blast furnace |
PCI | Pulverised coal injection |
CCU | CO2 capture and conversion unit |
RAFT | Raceway adiabatic flame temperature |
tHM | Tonne of hot metal |
Roman and Greek symbols | |
Energy, kWh/tHM or kgce/tHM | |
Volume of gas, m3/tHM | |
T | Temperature, °C |
Specific heat capacity, kJ/m3°C | |
Reaction equilibrium constant of reduction stage i; i = I, II, III | |
G | Gibbs free energy, kJ/mol |
Volume fraction of gas component | |
Utilisation efficiency of CO in stage i, i = 1, 2, 3 | |
Utilisation efficiency of H2 in stage i, i = 1, 2, 3 | |
Minimal CO required for iron ores reduction, mol | |
Minimal H2 required for iron ores reduction, mol | |
Volume reaction of CO or H2 in reducing gas entering the BF shaft | |
Overall gas utilisation efficiency for H2-rich reducing gas in the BF | |
Proportion of H2 and CO in the total amount of gas entering the bosh and shaft. | |
Sensible heat of material, kJ/tHM | |
Enthalpy of material, kJ/tHM | |
Degree of direct reduction | |
Degree of indirect reduction | |
Iron content in hot metal | |
Enthalpy of reaction, kJ/tHM | |
Weight fraction of solid material | |
Total H2 injection volume to the BF, m3/tHM |
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Operating Parameters | |
---|---|
PCI rate (kg/tHM) | 137 |
Blast temperature, °C | 1052 |
Humidity of hot blast, g/m3 | 12.93 |
Top gas temperature, °C | 161 |
Hearth injection temperature, °C | 1250 |
Shaft injection temperature, °C | 900 |
Parameter | Prediction | Industrial | Top Gas | Prediction | Industrial |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coke rate, kg/tHM | 386 | 386 | CO, % | 25.1 | 24.9 |
Blast, Nm3/tHM | 1060 | 1089 | CO2, % | 21.1 | 20.0 |
Slag rate, kg/tHM | 364 | 373 | H2, % | 1.2 | 0.8 |
Burden input, kg/tHM | 1676 | 1676 | N2, % | 50.0 | 53 |
RAFT, °C | 2205 | 2195 | Rd | 0.46 | - |
Composition | Tfe | FeO | SiO2 | CaO | MgO | TiO2 | S | Al2O3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sinter 1 | 55.85 | 9.59 | 5.25 | 10.35 | 2.19 | 0.17 | 0.03 | 2.5 |
Sinter 2 | 55.85 | 9.2 | 5.26 | 10.27 | 2.2 | 0.27 | - | 2.5 |
Pellet | 61.92 | 1.46 | 5.31 | 1.45 | - | 1.58 | - | 0.98 |
Ti ore | 40.27 | - | 9.07 | 2.05 | - | 10.78 | - | 1.69 |
Dust | 39.80 | 2.58 | 4.05 | 2.04 | 0.83 | 0 | - | 1.31 |
Composition | Fixed C | H2O | FeO | CaO | SiO2 | Al2O3 | MgO | N | O | H | S |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coke | 86.06 | 4.50 | 1.6 | 0.39 | 4.49 | 3.69 | 0.35 | 0.30 | 0.21 | 0.33 | 1.80 |
PCI | 71.15 | 0 | 0.03 | 1.98 | 8.4 | 7.93 | 0.18 | 0.34 | 3.16 | 2.10 | 0.30 |
Composition | Fe | C | Si | Mn | P | S | Ti |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hot metal | 95.14 | 4.12 | 0.34 | 0.32 | 0.136 | 0.023 | 0.129 |
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Hu, Y.; Qiu, Y.; Chen, J.; Hao, L.; Rufford, T.E.; Rudolph, V.; Wang, G. Integrating a Top-Gas Recycling and CO2 Electrolysis Process for H2-Rich Gas Injection and Reduce CO2 Emissions from an Ironmaking Blast Furnace. Materials 2022, 15, 2008. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15062008
Hu Y, Qiu Y, Chen J, Hao L, Rufford TE, Rudolph V, Wang G. Integrating a Top-Gas Recycling and CO2 Electrolysis Process for H2-Rich Gas Injection and Reduce CO2 Emissions from an Ironmaking Blast Furnace. Materials. 2022; 15(6):2008. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15062008
Chicago/Turabian StyleHu, Yichao, Yinxuan Qiu, Jian Chen, Liangyuan Hao, Thomas Edward Rufford, Victor Rudolph, and Geoff Wang. 2022. "Integrating a Top-Gas Recycling and CO2 Electrolysis Process for H2-Rich Gas Injection and Reduce CO2 Emissions from an Ironmaking Blast Furnace" Materials 15, no. 6: 2008. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15062008
APA StyleHu, Y., Qiu, Y., Chen, J., Hao, L., Rufford, T. E., Rudolph, V., & Wang, G. (2022). Integrating a Top-Gas Recycling and CO2 Electrolysis Process for H2-Rich Gas Injection and Reduce CO2 Emissions from an Ironmaking Blast Furnace. Materials, 15(6), 2008. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15062008