Jiu-ju Cai

Change in Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions From Energy Use in China's Iron and Steel Industry

As the largest energy consuming manufacturing sector and one of the most important sources of carbon dioxide (COz) emissions, the China s iron and steel industry has paid attention to the study of changing trend and influencing factors of CO2 emissions from energy use. The logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) technique is used to decompose total change in CO2 emissions into four factors: emission factor effect, energy structure effect, energy consumption effect, and steel production effect. The results show that the steel production effect is the major factor which is responsible for the rise in CO2 emissions; whereas the energy consumption effect contributes most to the reduction in CO2 emissions. And the emission factor effect makes a weak negative contribution to the increase of CO2 emissions. To find out the detailed relationship between change in energy consumption or steel production and change in CO2 emissions, the correlation equations are also proposed.

Shift From Coke to Coal Using Direct Reduction Method and Challenges

Ironmaking involves the separation of iron ores. It not only represents the first step in steelmaking but also is the most capital-intensive and energy-intensive process in the production of steel. The main route for producing iron for steelmaking is to use the blast furnace, which uses metallurgical coke as the reductant. Concerns over the limited resources, the high cost of coking coals, and the environmental impacts of coking and sinter plants have driven steelmakers to develop alternative ironmaking processes that can use non-coking coals to reduce iron ores directly. Since the efficiency and productivity of modern large capacity blast furnaces will be difficult to surpass, blast furnaces will continue to retain their predominant position as the foremost ironmaking process for some time to come. The alternative ironmaking processes are therefore expected to play an increasingly significant role in the iron and steel industry, especially in meeting the needs of small-sized local and regional markets. It is likely that the importance of direct reduced iron (DRI) and hot metal as sources of virgin iron will continue to increase, especially in the developing countries where steelmaking is, and will be, primarily based on electric arc furnace (EAF) minimills. Consequently, the challenges that are faced by the new technology have to be embraced.

Decomposition analysis of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in the iron and steel industry in China

This work aims to identify the main factors influencing the energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the iron and steel industry in China during the period of 1995–2007. The logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) technique was applied with period-wise analysis and time-series analysis. Changes in energyrelated CO2 emissions were decomposed into four factors: emission factor effect, energy structure effect, energy consumption effect, and the steel production effect. The results show that steel production is the major factor responsible for the rise in CO2 emissions during the sampling period; on the other hand the energy consumption is the largest contributor to the decrease in CO2 emissions. To a lesser extent, the emission factor and energy structure effects have both negative and positive contributions to CO2 emissions, respectively. Policy implications are provided regarding the reduction of CO2 emissions from the iron and steel industry in China, such as controlling the overgrowth of steel production, improving energy-saving technologies, and introducing low-carbon energy sources into the iron and steel industry.

Calculating Method for Influence of Material Flow on Energy Consumption in Steel Manufacturing Process

From the viewpoint of systems energy conservation, the influences of material flow on its energy consumption in a steel manufacturing process is an important subject. The quantitative analysis of the relationship between material flow and the energy intensity is useful to save energy in steel industry. Based on the concept of standard material flow diagram, all possible situations of ferric material flow in steel manufacturing process are analyzed. The expressions of the influence of material flow deviated from standard material flow diagram on energy consumption are put forward.

Multi-Period Optimal Distribution Model of Energy Medium and Its Application

A mathematical model of optimal energy medium distribution in steelmaking process is formulated. In this model, three kinds of important energy mediums including byproduct gases, steam and electricity are considered, and the objective function accounts for both the change of generation and consumption of the byproduct gases and the demand of low (or middle) pressure steam and electricity for each period to maximize the benefit of products cost and minimize the consumption of energy. The results indicate that the optimal distribution scheme of byproduct gases, middle pressure steam, low pressure steam and electricity is achieved and case study shows that 6% of operation cost is reduced by using the proposed model comparing with the previous model.

Specific Energy Consumption Analysis Model and Its Application in Typical Steel Manufacturing Process

Theoretical minimum and actual specific energy consumptions (SEC) of typical manufacturing process (SMP) were studied. Firstly, a process division of a typical SMP in question was conducted with the theory of SEC analysis. Secondly, an exergy analysis model of a subsystem consisting of several parallel processes and a SEC analysis model of SMP were developed. And finally, based on the analysis models, the SEC of SMP was analyzed by means of the statistical significance. The results show that the SEC of typical SMP comprises the theoretical minimum SEC and the additional SEC derived from the irreversibility; and the SMP has a theoretical minimum SEC of 6.74 GJ/t and an additional SEC of 19.32 GJ/t, which account for 25.88% and 74.12% of the actual SEC, respectively.

Numerical Simulation of Combustion Characteristics in High Temperature Air Combustion Furnace

The influences of air preheating temperature, oxygen concentration, and fuel inlet temperature on flame properties, and NOx formation and emission in the furnace were studied with numerical simulation. The turbulence behavior was modeled using the standard k-ε model with wall function, and radiation was handled using discrete ordinate radiation model. The PDF (probability density function)/mixture fraction combustion model was used to simulate the propane combustion. Additionally, computations of NOx formation rates and NOx concentration were carried out using a post-processor on the basis of previously calculated velocities, turbulence, temperature, and chemical composition fields. The results showed that high temperature air combustion (HiTAC) is spread over a much larger volume than traditional combustion, flame volume increases with a reduction of oxygen concentration, and this trend is clearer if oxygen concentration in the preheated air is below 10%. The temperature profile becomes more uniform when oxygen concentration in preheated air decreases, especially at low oxygen levels. Increase in fuel inlet temperature lessens the mixing of the fuel and air in primary combustion zone, creates more uniform distribution of reactants inside the flame, decreases the maximum temperature in furnace, and reduces NOx emission greatly.

Plant-Wide Supply-Demand Forecast and Optimization of Byproduct Gas System in Steel Plant

Considerable energy is consumed during steel manufacturing process. Byproduct gas emerges as secondary energy in the process; however, it is also an atmospheric pollution source if it is released into the air. Therefore, the optimal utilization of byproduct gas not only saves energy but also protects environment. To solve this issue, a forecast model of gas supply, gas demand and surplus gas in a steel plant was proposed. With the progress of energy conservation, the amount of surplus gas was very large. In a steel plant, the surplus gas was usually sent to boilers to generate steam. However, each boiler had an individual efficiency. So the optimization of the utilization of surplus gas in boilers was a key topic. A dynamic programming method was used to develop an optimal utilization strategy for surplus gas. Finally, a case study providing a sound confirmation was given.

Affecting Factors and Improving Measures for Converter Gas Recovery

To change the undesirable present situation of recovering and using converter gas in steel plants in China, the basic approaches to improving the converter gas recovery rate were analyzed theoretically along with the change curves of the converter gas component content, based on the converter gas recovery system of Baosteel No. 2 steelmaking plant. The effects of converter device, raw material, air imbibed quantity, recovery restricted condition, and intensity of oxygen blowing on the converter gas recovery rate were studied. Among these, the effects of the air imbibed quantity, recovery restricted condition, and intensity of oxygen blowing are remarkable. Comprehensive measures were put forward for improving the converter gas recovery from the point of devices, etc., and good results were achieved.

Optimization and Scheduling of Byproduct Gas System in Steel Plant

A mathematical model was proposed to optimize byproduct gas system and reduce the total cost. The scope and boundaries of the system were also discussed at the same time. Boilers and gasholders were buffer users to solve the fluctuation of byproduct gases. The priority of gasholders should be ranked the last. The allocation of surplus gases among gasholders and boilers was also discussed to make full use of gases and realize zero emission targets. Case study shows that the proposed model made good use of byproduct gases and at least 7.8% operation cost was reduced, compared with real data in iron and steel industry.