Introduction
The urgent need for reducing CO2 from anthropogenic sources creates the necessity of developing new systems and/or readjusting current ones. Only with breakthrough technologies a success will be achieved.
Current investigations aim on the three pathways Carbon Direct Avoidance (CDA), Process Integration (PI) and Carbon Capture, Storage and Usage (CCU).
The CDA part covers the development of new processes that use renewable electricity and/or hydrogen produced from renewable electricity to massively replace the current fossil fuels (coal and/or natural gas).
Regarding CCU (i.e. CO2 usage and valorisation) all the options for utilising CO and CO2 captured as raw material for production of / integration into valuable products are considered (chemical conversion of CO/CO2).
Objectives & Motivation
- Fully replacement of carbon with hydrogen for iron ore reduction and its CO2 emission
- Evaluation and feasibility of different reforming technologies to use CO2 from energy intensive sectors, such as steel, gas and oil and refractory industry
- Increase of energy efficiency in burners and kilns
- Catalyst development to convert CO in CO2
- Research and development of new process concepts to reduce CO2 and other off gas emissions
- Saving of additives, which must be otherwise separated with high efforts, and direct use of hardly reduceable feed materials
Results and application
New developed processes contain benefits regarding production technologies but also plus points in energy and resource efficiency. The interconnection of different process routes also exhibits energy saving potential and a possibility to develop a hydrogen-based process route to produce steel.
The focal points aim at literature study, lab scale and pilot tests as well as the support of them via simulation and modelling tools. Existing libraries will be expanded and implemented in the industrial processes. Furthermore, existing systems like burners and kilns will be optimised via simulation regarding their energy efficiency.
A reduction of the CO2 emissions from energy intensive sectors like the steel, cement and refractory industry is projected, through the establishment of reforming processes where CO2 containing gases constitute a feedstock for the process itself.
The combination of process-, simulation and academic know how in industrial environment will provide implementable benefit.