Design of Clean Steel Production with Hydrogen: Impact of Electricity System Composition

Alla Toktarova, Lisa Göransson and Filip Johnsson
Additional contact information
Alla Toktarova: Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
Lisa Göransson: Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
Filip Johnsson: Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-21

Abstract: In Europe, electrification is considered a key option to obtain a cleaner production of steel at the same time as the electricity system production portfolio is expected to consist of an increasing share of varying renewable electricity (VRE) generation, mainly in the form of solar PV and wind power. We investigate cost-efficient designs of hydrogen-based steelmaking in electricity systems dominated by VRE. We develop and apply a linear cost-minimization model with an hourly time resolution, which determines cost-optimal operation and sizing of the units in hydrogen-based steelmaking including an electrolyser, direct reduction shaft, electric arc furnace, as well as storage for hydrogen and hot-briquetted iron pellets. We show that the electricity price following steelmaking leads to savings in running costs but to increased capital cost due to investments in the overcapacity of steel production units and storage units for hydrogen and hot-briquetted iron pellets. For two VRE-dominated regions, we show that the electricity price following steel production reduces the total steel production cost by 23% and 17%, respectively, as compared to continuous steel production at a constant level. We also show that the cost-optimal design of the steelmaking process is dependent upon the electricity system mix.

Keywords: decarbonization; electrification of industry; steel industry; modelling and optimization; renewable energy sources (RESs); hydrogen storage (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 (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/24/8349/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/24/8349/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:24:p:8349-:d:700113

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().