Life Cycle Based Climate Emissions of Charcoal Conditioning Routes for the Use in the Ferro-Alloy Production

Gerrit Ralf Surup, Hamideh Kaffash, Yan Ma, Anna Trubetskaya, Johan Berg Pettersen and Merete Tangstad
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Gerrit Ralf Surup: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
Hamideh Kaffash: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
Yan Ma: Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
Anna Trubetskaya: Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Limerick, V94 T9PX Limerick, Ireland
Johan Berg Pettersen: Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
Merete Tangstad: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 11, 1-28

Abstract: Renewable reductants are intended to significantly reduce CO 2 emissions from ferro-alloy production, e.g., by up to 80% in 2050 in Norway. However, charcoals provide inferior properties compared to fossil fuel-based reductants, which can hamper large replacement ratios. Therefore, conditioning routes from coal beneficiation was investigated to improve the inferior properties of charcoal, such as mechanical strength, volatile matter, CO 2 reactivity and mineral matter content. To evaluate the global warming potential of renewable reductants, the CO 2 emissions of upgraded charcoal were estimated by using a simplified life cycle assessment, focusing on the additional emissions by the energy demand, required chemicals and mass loss for each process stage. The combination of ash removal, briquetting and high-temperature treatment can provide a renewable coke with superior properties compared to charcoal, but concomitantly decrease the available biomass potential by up to 40%, increasing the CO 2 -based global warming potential of industrial produced charcoal to ?500 kg CO 2 -eq. t ? 1 FC. Based on our assumptions, CO 2 emissions from fossil fuel-based reductants can be reduced by up to 85%. A key to minimizing energy or material losses is to combine the pyrolysis and post-treatment processes of renewable reductants to upgrade industrial charcoal on-site at the metallurgical plant. Briquetting showed the largest additional global warming potential from the investigated process routes, whereas the high temperature treatment requires a renewable energy source to be sustainable.

Keywords: charcoal; upgrading; renewable reductants; global warming potential; life cycle assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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