Miscanthus to Biocarbon for Canadian Iron and Steel Industries: An Innovative Approach

Trishan Deb Abhi, Omid Norouzi, Kevin Macdermid-Watts, Mohammad Heidari, Syeda Tasnim and Animesh Dutta
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Trishan Deb Abhi: School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Omid Norouzi: School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Kevin Macdermid-Watts: School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Mohammad Heidari: School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Syeda Tasnim: School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Animesh Dutta: School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 15, 1-18

Abstract: Iron-based industries are one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Partial substitution of fossil carbon with renewable biocarbon (biomass) into the blast furnace (BF) process can be a sustainable approach to mitigating GHG emissions from the ironmaking process. However, the main barriers of using biomass for this purpose are the inherent high alkaline and phosphorous contents in ash, resulting in fouling, slagging, and scaling on the BF surface. Furthermore, the carbon content of the biomass is considerably lower than coal. To address these barriers, this research proposed an innovative approach of combining two thermochemical conversion methods, namely hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and slow pyrolysis, for converting biomass into suitable biocarbon for the ironmaking process. Miscanthus, which is one of the most abundant herbaceous biomass sources, was first treated by HTC to obtain the lowest possible ash content mainly due to reduction in alkali matter and phosphorous contents, and then subjected to slow pyrolysis to increase the carbon content. Design expert 11 was used to plan the number of the required experiments and to find the optimal condition for HTC and pyrolysis steps. It was found that the biocarbon obtained from HTC at 199 °C for 28 min and consecutively pyrolyzed at 400 °C for 30 min showed similar properties to pulverized coal injection (PCI) which is currently used in BFs due to its low ash content (0.19%) and high carbon content (79.67%).

Keywords: biocarbon; hydrothermal carbonization (HTC); slow pyrolysis; pulverized coal injection (PCI); blast furnace (BF); CO 2 emission mitigation; miscanthus (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: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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