This work package explores possible future steel making production processes. Projects consider how to handle lower quality raw material inputs, recycled inputs and bi-products - with a focus on ensuring quality, valuable products - whilst also reducing the number of stages in the overall process.
Projects within WP 3
Impact of low Fe iron on green steelmaking
Today's DRI-EAF green-steel making process is heavily dependent upon iron ore with high Fe content. The global availability of such high-grade ore however is limited and trends show declining grade quality with increased usage of a mine. This workpackage therefore explores alternative avenues for the use of iron ore with low Fe content for sustainable steelmaking.
Steel making process, and the fossil free steel production techniques being developed in Sweden today, are based on a two stage process. The first stage is the direct reduction of iron ore to iron. The second stage is melting of the iron ore together with metal alloys to produce the steel. However, previous work at KTH has demonstrated that it is possible to produce metal/steel directly from oxide mixtures in single process. Importantly, that process requires no melting and no use of fossil fuels. This project therefore explores this one stage process with the aim of creating scientific knowledge of the underlying reaction kinetics of this one stage process.
“Slag” is a term for the byproducts generated during iron or steel manufacturing processes. To minimise waste, and be more circular, Swedish iron and steel makers actively manage their iron/steel manufacturing process in a way that also produces slags that can be upcycled into other valuable end-products. Asphalt is one common example. Shifting to hydrogen based steel production however will lead to a different composition of slag system. This may lead to a very different rheology property (e.g. viscosity), which may affect whether the slag can be upcycled.
