A new technology to give an ecological dimension to the steel industry

credit / freepik

The world has already started its energy transition and obviously, manufacturers absolutely must take this turn. Recently, British researchers unveiled a technology with a very ambitious objective: greening the steel industry. Furthermore, beyond the environmental aspect of this project, the savings made could be exceptional.


A very polluting industry

The steel industry has been managing technologies for obtaining cast iron, iron and steel from iron ore since its beginnings. The products resulting from this process are quite varied, the most popular being those used in the construction of buildings and ships, without forgetting the essential cans. However, the steel industry is one of the very polluting industries, representing no less than 9% of global CO2 emissions.


A February 2023 publication in the Journal of Cleaner Production reports on a new production method. Developed by scientists at the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom), it could reduce CO2 emissions from the steel industry by 90%. But how is this possible?


Accelerate the transition and save money

Let us first remember that to produce steel, manufacturers use coke, a type of coal used as fuel for blast furnaces, the latter's mission is to melt an ore. Unsurprisingly, this process generates significant quantities of CO2. The British researchers explain that their technology can convert CO2 into carbon monoxide in order to reuse the latter for the ore reaction.


The researchers point out that the measures to decarbonize the steel industry currently under study are based on a gradual elimination of existing factories and on the installation of electric arc furnaces , powered by an energy source. renewable. However, building this type of oven is very expensive, making change economically impossible in the remaining time with regard to the objectives set within the framework of the Paris agreements in 2015. However, according to them, the scientists' method could make it possible to go a little faster. However, there is real hope since the latter have already filed a patent and are currently working on large-scale development.


Finally, according to a study by the Climate Accountability Institute (PDF in English / 16 pages) published in 2017, 25 multinationals and public companies are responsible for 71% of CO2 emissions in the world since 1988. This shows that first Instead, large companies must show the way to smaller ones in order to succeed in the current energy and ecological transition, regardless of the sector of activity.


 

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