Towards carbon-neutral steelmaking through hydrogen-reduction and application of clean steels
CLEAN2STEEL
Project information
Project duration
-
Funded by
Multiple sources (Spearhead projects of centres for multidisciplinary research)
Project coordinator
University of Oulu
Contact information
Project description
Global climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions is one of the biggest challenges in contemporary society. To tackle these challenges, the Process Metallurgy Research Unit is developing new concepts to reduce emissions of the steel production (which is responsible for 7% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions) as well as new material solutions to reduce emissions during steel usage in the Kvantum project “Towards carbon-neutral steelmaking through hydrogen-reduction and application of clean steels (Clean2Steel)”. The primary aim of this project is to study different concepts to replace fossil-based carbon with hydrogen as a reducing agent in ironmaking which has the largest cause of GHG emissions in steel production. The secondary aim is to enable high steel cleanliness to produce advanced high-strength steels which can be used to design lightweight structures and thereby decrease the fuel consumption and lifecycle CO2 emissions. The project will provide fundamental and applied knowledge on hydrogen reduction and advance high strength production and thereby contribute to the reduction of CO2 emission from steel industry and transportation.
The postdoctoral research will concentrate on characterization and behaviour of non-metallic inclusions during primary and secondary steelmaking. The characterisation of the proper-ties of non-metallic inclusions as function of their size and composition is important for ultra clean steel production. Furthermore, development of novel in situ analysing and monitoring methods to characterise process status for producing clean steel with controlled low levels of inclusions and impurities is under review.
The PhD research will concentrate on hydrogen reduction of iron ore pellets and iron ore concentrates. The effect of replacement of CO by H2 as reducing agent will be studied. Furthermore, experimental data will be used to develop single iron ore pellet reduction model to estimate reaction barriers and mechanisms in hydrogen containing atmosphere.
The Process Metallurgy Research Unit is experienced in understanding reactions, reaction kinetics, thermodynamics and mass and heat transfer phenomena in high-temperature processes. The research work is focused on four areas: (1) reduction metallurgy, (2) refining metallurgy, (3) utilisation of waste materials (dusts, sludges and slags) produced in the metallurgical industry and (4) development of new measuring methods for high-temperature processes. The research is largely technology-oriented with emphasis on fundamental research in the area of the materials characterisation.