Electric Smelting Furnace Technology And Implementation Readiness

Abstract

The Iron & Steelmaking industry is dealing with a challenging transition from carbon intensive blast furnace production to new process routes with substantially lower emissions. It is critical to the long-term success of the industry that investments are made carefully without risking production or quality. This paper describes a low-risk transition road map to commercial green iron and steel production, via electric smelting furnace (ESF) process routes. ESF technology provides significant yield and product quality benefits compared to EAF steelmaking, resulting in improved operating cost and project value. While ESF equipment is proven from decades of ferrous and non-ferrous commercial installations, the scale and other requirements for the iron and steelmaking will require careful mitigation of risks. Topics include operating cost comparisons, history and technology readiness of the equipment and process, and considerations for project implementation and ramp-up to help ensure these projects are successful.