Pressurized Chemical Looping for Direct Reduced Iron Production: Economics of Carbon Neutral Process Configurations

Nicole K. Bond (), Robert T. Symonds and Robin W. Hughes
Additional contact information
Nicole K. Bond: Natural Resources Canada, CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1A 1M1, Canada
Robert T. Symonds: Natural Resources Canada, CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1A 1M1, Canada
Robin W. Hughes: Natural Resources Canada, CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1A 1M1, Canada

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: The replacement of the blast furnace—basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) steelmaking route with the direct reduced iron—electric arc furnace (DRI-EAF) route reduces the direct CO 2 emissions from steelmaking by up to 68%; however, the DRI shaft furnace is one of the largest remaining point source emitters in steelmaking. The capital and operating expenses of two potential nearly carbon-neutral DRI process configurations were investigated as a modification to a standard Midrex DRI facility. First, amine-based post-combustion capture with a 95% capture rate was considered as the benchmark, as it is currently commercially available. A second, novel configuration integrated the Midrex process with pressurized chemical looping—direct reduced iron (PCL-DRI) production. The capital expenditures were 71% and 28% higher than the standard Midrex process for a Midrex + amine capture plant, and a PCL-DRI plant, respectively. There was an incremental variable operating cost of USD 103 and USD 44 per tonne of CO 2 for DRI production using amine capture and PCL-DRI, respectively. The amine capture configuration is most sensitive to the cost of steam generation, while PCL-DRI is more sensitive to the cost of electricity and the makeup oxygen carrier. An iron-based natural ore is recommended for PCL-DRI due to the low cost and availability. Based on the lower costs compared to amine-based post-combustion capture, PCL-DRI is an attractive means of eliminating CO 2 emissions from DRI production.

Keywords: pressurized chemical looping combustion; syngas production; carbon neutral ironmaking; direct reduced iron; CO 2 capture; decarbonization; post-combustion capture; amine absorption; economics; CAPEX; OPEX; MIDREX (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: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/3/545/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/3/545/ (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:17:y:2024:i:3:p:545-:d:1324464

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 ().