Kobe Steel Ltd declared that it has successfully demonstrated the technology that has the potential to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from blast furnace (BF). At the same time use of expensive coke was reduced to the world’s lowest level by KOBELCO’s BF operation technologies. This is achieved due to the combined efforts of the Kobe Steel Group, also known as the Kobelco Group, leveraging its diverse businesses.
The company had utilised the technologies of MIDREX for HBI manufacturing in the business engineering space coupled with the blast furnace operations technology in the iron and steel business to achieve a reduction of 20 percent emissions of CO2 gas from BF.
The demonstration test was conducted in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan in October 2020 and it continued for over a month at the Kakogawa Works in a large blast furnace having a capacity of 4,844 m3. The quantity of CO2 emissions from the blast furnace is determined by the reducing agent rate (RAR) or the quantity of carbon fuel used in blast furnace ironmaking. In the demonstration test, it was verified that RAR could be stably reduced from 518 kg per tonne of hot metal to 415 kg per tonne of hot metal by charging a large amount of hot briquetted iron (HBI) produced by the MIDREX Process. Application of this technology can result in the reduction of CO2 emissions by approximately 20% when compared to the conventional process.
CO2 reduction is calculated as follows:
{(A – B –C) / D} + Equipment cost + other costs
A – Quantity of HBI charged x unit price
B – Quantity of iron ore reduced x unit price
C – (Quantity of coke reduced x unit price) – (Quantity of PCI x unit price)
D – Quantity of reductant reduced x CO2 emission factor
At the same time, the world’s lowest level of coke rate of 239 kg per tonne hot metal has been achieved in the demonstration test of this technology. Kobelco sees it as a promising solution that could potentially become readily available in the near future at a lower additional cost when compared to other CO2 reduction measures.
The success of this technology on an actual blast furnace will enable the company to provide lower CO2 steel products to customers.
The mission of Kobelco is to create a green society by developing and establishing technologies that can potentially reduce carbon dioxide emission at the lowest possible cost so as to adhere to the Japanese government’s target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Additionally, its mission is to provide a new option that could become readily available for a wide range of applications as a promising addition to other advanced technologies being developed by steelmakers around the world.
