An inter-disciplinary team from the universities of Leeds and Sheffield has won £1.26 million from the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) to develop approaches that blend technology and policy with the aim of eliminating the steel industry’s dependence on fossil fuels.
Nick Eyre, CREDS director, said: “Decarbonising the UK energy system is a major national challenge for the coming decades, nowhere more so than in major industrial processes.
“I am therefore delighted that colleagues from Leeds and Sheffield are joining CREDS to research steel industry decarbonisation.”
William Gale, from the School of Process and Chemical Engineering at Leeds and the project’s principal investigator, said: “The steel industry in the UK has to decarbonise, but this must be done sensitively; otherwise, there is a risk that the industry will relocate to where the rules on carbon are more lax.
“Our challenge is to bring about real change without eroding the wafer-thin margins on which the industry operates.
“This project will bring together a range of experts, from scientists and engineers involved in researching alternative methods of production to business experts analysing the policy initiatives and incentives needed for this change.”
The chemistry at the heart of the steel production process uses carbon. Coke, which comes from coal, is used as a reducing agent in the blast furnace and carbon dioxide is produced as a waste product.
The liquid hot metal which comes out of the blast furnace is then saturated in carbon and the excess carbon is then removed in a basic oxygen furnace to produce crude steel.
Professor Gale added: “Our research will investigate a range of emerging technologies and solutions.
“We will look at whether there is a way you can integrate a number of different approaches.
“We will delve into the costs and timescales and develop a very detailed and fully costed ‘route map’ of technologies and policies that will enable industry to make this vital transformation without it being saddled with unrealistic costs.”