A low-carbon emission flowsheet for BF-grade iron ore using advanced electric smelting furnace

Abstract

The transition from integrated steelmaking, the blast furnace (BF) – basic oxygen furnace (BOF) flowsheet, to alternative flowsheets with lower greenhouse gas emissions is a growing trend for the decarbonization of the iron and steel industry. One such flowsheet is the direct reduced iron (DRI) - electric arc furnace (EAF) route. However, the DRI-EAF route is inefficient when using lower grade, higher gangue iron ores traditionally processed in the BF, which is the majority of iron ore supply in the world. The ability to effectively process BF-grade iron ore with a low emission flowsheet is critical to the decarbonization of the steel industry globally. This study proposes the use of electric smelting furnace (ESF) to improve the overall process yield and efficiency when using BF-grade iron ore and compares it to the established DRI-EAF process.