Use of renewable and alternative carbon-bearing materials and hydrogen in the Electric Arc Furnace: simulations and pilot trials

The achievement of C-lean and sustainable steelmaking processes is one of the challenges of the European Green Deal to target the climate neutrality by 2050. In this context, electric steelmaking is investigating alternatives to improve the sustainability of its production routes. The use of alternative carbon-bearing materials in electric arc furnaces and the replacement of natural gas with green hydrogen in related burners are two promising solutions. However, investigations are fundamental to assessing the viability of different technological solutions and their possible combination by avoiding unexpected process and product issues. Therefore, next to industrial trials, simulations are important to broaden the investigation, as they enable exploration of process configurations and the use of materials that are also quite far from conventional practices and that cannot be directly investigated through experiments for economic and practical constraints, such as material unavailability and high costs. The contribution focuses on the results of pilot trials and simulations done with an updated flowsheet model of the electric steelmaking route.