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Mathematical Optimization Modeling for Scenario Analysis of Integrated Steelworks Transitioning Towards Hydrogen-based Reduction

Abstract

To reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the steel industry, efforts are made to introduce a steelmaking route based on hydrogen reduction of iron ore instead of the commonly used cokebased reduction in a blast furnace. Changing fundamental pieces of steelworks affects the functions of most every system unit involved, and thus warrants the question of how such a transition could optimally take place over time, and no rigorous attempts have until now been made to tackle this problem mathematically. This article presents a steel plant optimization model, written as a mixed-integer non-linear programming problem, where aging blast furnaces and basic oxygen furnaces could potentially be replaced with shaft furnaces and electric arc furnaces, minimizing costs or emissions over a long-term time horizon to identify possible transition pathways. Example cases show how various parameters affect optimal investment pathways, stressing the necessity of appropriate planning tools for analyzing diverse cases.

Funding source: This research was funded by Business Finland and companies in the project Towards Fossil-free Steel (FFS) as well as by the Maximise H2 Enrichment in Direct Reduction Shaft Furnaces (MAXH2DR) project funded by Horizon Europe (Grant agreement 101058429).
Related subjects: Applications & Pathways
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/content/journal6025
2024-07-07
2024-11-14
/content/journal6025
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