Decarbonising Steel: Carbon Capture of Blast Furnace Gas through Chemical Absorption

Decarbonisation of the iron and steel industry is essential in the pathway to net zero carbon emissions and the minimisation of climate change effects. Most of the world's steel is produced via the blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace route, with a majority of the steelmaking emissions coming directly from the blast furnace.
Currently, there is limited knowledge concerning the application of chemical absorption techniques of CO2 removal to blast furnace gas (BFG), with existing research mostly focussed on simulation and modelling studies. Research involving pilot-plant experimental campaigns or larger applications have either used monoethanolamine (MEA) as the traditional baseline solvent or have used commercial propriety solvents with limited information publicly available. Further work is also under investigation for improved performance of these capture plants through structural modifications, the majority of which is also constrained to simulation studies.
The main aims of this project are to:
Investigate CO2 capture from blast furnace gas by chemical absorption at pilot scale
Improve and optimise the performance of the pilot plant based on process modifications
To achieve these above aims, four objectives have been outlined that will be investigated for this project and help to form the major research chapters in the final thesis publication.
1. Assessment of chemical absorbents for CO2 capture from a typical blast furnace gas composition at a pilot scale
This objective will utilise the chemical capture plant at the Translational Energy Research Centre (TERC) in Sheffield to perform a series of experiments using BFG. Different solvents will be tested and compared to MEA as the baseline. Performance metrics include: CO2 recovery/purity, reboiler temperature and duty, solvent flowrate.
2. Investigation of alternative configurations of the TERC capture plant for improved performance through simulation and modelling
To assess different configurations of the existing TERC capture plant, simulation will be undertaken using Aspen Plus. A model of the existing base capture plant will be created and validated using existing data, against which alternative configurations will be assessed. This modelling work will fill a niche area for chemical absorption improvement due to the novelty of working with BFG.
3. Performance evaluation of the structurally modified TERC capture plant with different chemical absorbents in a pilot-plant experimental campaign
Following objective 2, the next thing is to see which structural modifications can be realistically applied to the physical TERC capture plant. This will not be simple and may be restricted due to funding and/or time constraints. However, the plan is to investigate selected modifications in a pilot-plant experimental campaign for improved BFG clean up. Ideally this will also include the use of alternative solvents, depending on the number of modifications made. Practical data will be different to the data obtained from simulation and modelling, so it is important to assess how close the data corroborates and investigate why any major differences occur.
4. Investigation of full-scale chemical absorption for BFG clean-up through a modelling and simulation study based on scale-up from the TERC capture plant
Pilot-scale data is useful to assess the feasibility, practicality and economics of scaling up to full-size systems. This objective will take what has been learned in the previous objectives in order to model a full-size capture plant to deal with BFG. Practically, this work would guide the designs for full-scale up capture plants, as they have to be based on tangible performance data. By combining both simulated and practical work from the TERC capture plant, the full-scale up model should have a good standing as a comprehensive design for a real capture plant.

The proposed Centre will benefit the following groups

1. Students - develop their professional skills, a broad technical and societal knowledge of the sector and a wider appreciation of the role decarbonised fuel systems will play in the UK and internationally. They will develop a strong network of peers who they can draw on in their professional careers. We will continue to offer our training to other Research Council PhD students and cross-fertilise our training with that offered under other CDT programmes, and similar initiatives where that develops mutual benefit. We will further enhance this offering by encouraging industrialists to undertake some of our training as Professional Development ensuring a broadening of the training cohort beyond academe. Students will be very employable due to their knowledge, skills and broad industrial understanding.
2. Industrial partners - Companies identify research priorities that underpin their long-term business goals and can access state of the art facilities within the HEIs involved to support that research. They do not need to pre-define the scope of their work at the outset, so that the Centre can remain responsive to their developing research needs. They may develop new products, services or models and have access to a potential employee cohort, with an advanced skill base. We have already established a track record in our predecessor CDTs, with graduates now acting as research managers and project supervisors within industry
3. Academic partners - accelerating research within the Energy research community in each HEI. We will develop the next generation of researchers and research leaders with a broader perspective than traditional PhD research and create a bedrock of research expertise within each HEI, developing supervisory skills across a broad range of topics and faculties and supporting HEIs' goals of high quality publications leading to research impacts and an informed group of educators within each HEI. .
4. Government and regulators - we will liaise with national and regional regulators and policy makers. We will conduct research directly aligned with the Government's Clean Growth Strategy, Mission Innovation and with the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund's theme Prosper from the Energy Revolution, to help meet emission, energy security and affordability targets and we will seek to inform developing energy policy through new findings and impartial scientific advice. We will help to provide the skills base and future innovators to enable growth in the decarbonised energy sector.
5. Wider society and the publics - developing technologies to reduce carbon emissions and reduce the cost of a transition to a low carbon economy. Need to ascertain the publics' views on the proposed new technologies to ensure we are aligned with their views and that there will be general acceptance of the new technologies. Public engagement will be a two-way conversation where researchers will listen to the views of different publics, acknowledging that there are many publics and not just one uniform group. We will actively engage with public from including schools, our local communities and the 'interested' public, seeking to be honest providers of unbiased technical information in a way that is correct yet accessible.