Abstract
The environmental evaluation of the sorption-enhanced water–gas shift (SEWGS) process to be used for the decarbonization of an integrated steel mill through life cycle assessment (LCA) is the subject of the present paper. This work is carried out within the STEPWISE H2020 project (grant agreement No. 640769). LCA calculations were based on material and energy balances derived from experimental activities, modeling activities, and literature data. Wide system boundaries containing various upstream and downstream processes as well as the main integrated steel mill are drawn for the system under study. The environmental indicators of the SEWGS process are compared to another carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology applied to the iron and steel industry (e.g., gas–liquid absorption using MEA). The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions for SEWGS technology is about 40%. For the other impact indicators, there is an increase in the SEWGS technology (in the range of 7.23% to 72.77%), which is mainly due to the sorbent production and transportation processes. Nevertheless, when compared with the post-combustion capture technology, based on gas–liquid absorption, from an environmental point of view, SEWGS performs significantly better, having impact factor values closer to the no-capture integrated steel mill.
Highlights
The iron and steel industry has an essential role in the infrastructural and overall economic development of a country
These cases serve as a basis for comparison of the integrated steel mill coupled with sorption-enhanced water–gas shift (SEWGS) carbon capture technology for which two configurations were investigated: SEGWS EXP, in which the CO2 stream coming from the SEWGS unit is expanded before being cooled and sent to the CO2 compression section, providing additional power to the overall power plant; and SEWGS SAT, in which steam for the WGS unit is partly provided by an upstream saturator recovering low-grade heat by maximizing the steam content of the steel mill off-gases
The highest GWP corresponds to Base Case 1, which represents the conventional steel plant with a high-efficiency steam turbine power plant followed by Base Case 2, which represents the conventional steel plant with the state-of-the-art gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) power plant
Summary
The iron and steel industry has an essential role in the infrastructural and overall economic development of a country. The Reference Case is represented by the integrated steel mill with the GTCC power plant (as in Base Case 2) coupled with carbon capture using MEA gas–liquid absorption. These cases serve as a basis for comparison of the integrated steel mill coupled with SEWGS carbon capture technology for which two configurations were investigated: SEGWS EXP, in which the CO2 stream coming from the SEWGS unit is expanded before being cooled and sent to the CO2 compression section, providing additional power to the overall power plant; and SEWGS SAT, in which steam for the WGS unit is partly provided by an upstream saturator recovering low-grade heat by maximizing the steam content of the steel mill off-gases.
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