Abstract
Iron and steel making is one of the most intense energy consuming in the industrial sectors. The intensive utilization of fossil carbon in the ironmaking blast furnace (BF) is related directly to CO2 emission and global warming. Lowering the energy consumption and CO2 emission from BF comes on the top priorities from both economic and environmental aspects. The BF has undergone tremendous modifications and development to increase production and improve the overall efficiency. Both technological development and scientific research drive one another to reach optimum operation conditions, which are very close to the ideal conditions; however, further development is still required to meet the stringent environmental regulations. The present article provides a comprehensive review of recent research and development which were carried out in modern blast furnace to increase the productivity meanwhile reduce the energy consumption and CO2 emission to meet the demand of steel market and the environmental protection. The recent technological and metallurgical improvements in the BF are intensively discussed including: (i) modifications of BF design, top charging and measuring system, (ii) upgrading of conventional top charging burden and alternative agglomerates, (iii) developing of tuyeres injection system and injected materials, and (iv) potentials of waste heat recovery and usage. These topics are reviewed and discussed in some details to elucidate the potential of recent progress in BF technology in saving the energy consumption and lowering CO2 emission. In this paper, the major research and development which have been carried out in ironmaking BF technology are reviewed with an overview of the future prospects.
Highlights
The steel industry is considered as a pillar of the economy in many of advance and development countries
The reduction of specific energy consumption and CO2 emission are coming on the top priorities of iron and steelmaking due to the dynamic growth of energy prices as well as the commitment of governments to decrease CO2 emissions according to Paris agreement which entered into force on 4 November 2016 [5, 6]
The present article has thoroughly discussed the recent modifications and developments which were recently conducted in the blast furnace (BF) technology to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emission and can be summarized in the following points: (1) The top charging system was developed in large modern BF to assure a proper distribution of feeding materials and gas streaming inside the furnace
Summary
The steel industry is considered as a pillar of the economy in many of advance and development countries. As the metallic iron content in pre-reduced nuggets increases, the coke consumption and CO2 emission from BFs decrease Both cold bonded briquettes and self-reduced pellets have the potential to enhance the recycling rate, and it can efficiently participate in charging of pre-treated biomass to the BF. The PC injection rate, blast condition (temperature, pressure, moisture, and oxygen content), coal properties (carbon content, ash content, VM content, particle size), lance construction and properties of top charged coke are important factors affecting the combustion efficiency of coal in the raceway. Recent studies indicated that the rate of NG injection into the BF could be increased significantly by injecting part of the NG in the shaft of the furnace This will reduce the endothermic effect of NG injection on the RAFT and the total oxygen consumption would be slightly lower compared with the tuyere-only injection [96]. Heat and mass balance models were used to identify the carbon consumption at different hot and cold TGR as given in Fig. 11 [102]
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