Quantification of energy and environmental impacts in uncommon electric steelmaking scenarios to improve process sustainability

Ismael Matino, Valentina Colla and Stefano Baragiola

Applied Energy, 2017, vol. 207, issue C, 543-552

Abstract: The electric steel production is in line with the circular economy concept due to the reuse of scrap. However, being energy intensive industries with a significant environmental impact, electric steelworks can increase their competitiveness and environmental sustainability through an adequate management of resource and energy. The paper presents a work related to the quantification of electric energy consumption and environmental impact of unconventional electric steelmaking scenarios while simultaneously monitoring the steel composition. The exploitation of an ad-hoc developed Decision Support Tool highlights that scrap quality strongly affects the monitored energy and environmental parameters (quantified in terms of Key Performance Indicators and aggregated in a Global Index). Moreover, the developed simulations pointed out that the removal of Fe-alloy addition during EAF tapping allows reducing slag and improving the yield by preserving also the steel quality while slightly increasing the electric energy consumption: in countries where the price and the emissions related to the production of electricity are low, this can be a good compromise to improve the environmental sustainability of the sector. The study shows that also limited modifications of the well-known electric steelmaking process could help to increase the sustainability of this energy intensive industrial production route.

Keywords: Electric steelworks sustainability; Process modelling; Electric energy efficiency; Environmental impact; KPI; Decision Support Tool (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.06.088

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