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Carbon Management Technology Conference,
7-9 February 2012,
Orlando, Florida, USA
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Abstract
In the changing global market scenario for raw materials for the steel
industry, a number of novel iron- and steelmaking process technologies are
being developed to provide the steel companies with economically-sustainable
alternatives for ironand steel-making. In addition, the steel industry is also
focusing on reduction of energy consumption as well as green-house gas (GHG)
emissions to address the crucial subject of climate change. In this context, it
is important to assess these critical issues for the alternate iron- and
steelmaking technologies that have been developed. This paper presents a
comparative evaluation of energy-efficiency and GHG emissions for some selected
iron- and steelmaking technologies that are being considered for
implementation. In this work, Hatch’s G-CAP™ and En-MAP™ tools that were
developed with the main objective of quantifying and qualifying the potential
energy savings and CO2 abatement within the iron and steel industry, were
employed in the evaluation conducted.
Introduction
The iron and steel industry continues to transform itself and evolve in the
ever-changing global market place – the raw material scenario is constantly
changing with respect to quality and quantity (availability), there is stiff
competition in both global and local markets, and there is increasing pressure
to address global climate change issues, especially since the steel industry is
highly energy- and carbon-intensive. There is growing importance of steel
production in developing countries
such as China and India – this means that the steel industry in these countries
will play an important role in defining and shaping the future of the
industry.
Climate change is expected to present new risks to the steel industry with
respect to ensuring a sustainable business.
Legislators are proposing to limit GHG emission by placing an implicit price on
CO2 emission - market-based “cap and trade”, carbon tax etc. In this scenario,
it is important for the steel companies to reduce exposure to climate-related
risks and at the same time, find business opportunities within these risks.
Thus, there is a need to strategically manage the climate change risks; the key
steps to strategically manage climate change risks are presented in Table
1[1].
Some of the steps that are being taken by the steel industry to address climate
change risks are presented as follows:
• Expand usage of current Energy- and CO2-efficient technologies in steel
plants to minimize GHG emissions and energy consumption
• Develop novel iron- and steelmaking technological solutions to significantly
reduce specific energy consumption and specific GHG emission
• Optimize and maximize recycling of steel scrap
• Maximize value of steel industry by-products (wastes); recycling of steel
plant wastes
• Facilitate use of new generation of steels to improve energy efficiency of
steel-using products in partnership with customers.
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