Uncovering Fundamental Mechanisms to Enable Sustainable Steel Manufacturing
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: WMG
Abstract
Steel is a backbone material in modern society. Global steel demand is continuously growing and is forecast to double by 2050. Strict environmental regulations, new energy sources, government support for manufacturing, and restructuring of the steel industry in the UK and worldwide are creating the opportunity to revolutionise the industry to produce low carbon, high value added steels. This creates an urgent need for a strong UK research base in process metallurgy that will help transform the UK steel industry into more sustainable operations. This Fellowship aligns well with this urgent need for UK steel industry.
Under this EPSRC Manufacturing Fellowship, I will bring best practice in industry to academia. I will establish an internationally recognised multi-disciplinary research team, which will build the research (theoretical, experimental and modelling) capability and create the fundamental knowledge needed to realise transformative changes on extraction, refining and casting of steels, and address the future global mega trends in energy, CO2 regulation and oversupply. A key area of focus will be low carbon, low energy and flexible ironmaking process including HIsarna technology.
HIsarna process is a promising breakthrough technology, as an alternative to conventional blast furnace (BF) ironmaking, created under the ULCOS (Ultra-Low CO2 Steelmaking) project (www.ulcos.org). The concept of the HIsarna technology has been successfully validated by four operational campaigns from 2011 to 2014 on the pilot plant with the capacity of 60 kt per year of hot metal constructed at Tata Steel. The confirmed advantages include: very high energy efficiency; flexibility in feed materials (directly using thermal coal, fine iron ore, waste oxides) without coking and ore agglomeration; 20% or above primary energy and CO2 saving; possibly up to 80% CO2 emission reduction with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) of the top gas; and flexible operations. Significantly higher CO2 emission reduction by HIsarna (without CCS), 35% or above compared to current BF ironmaking, can be achieved by further combining simultaneous scrap melting, biomass injection (partially replacing coal) and hydrocarbon injection in the process.
However, a significant challenging road lies ahead for the HIsarna technology. One of the critical aspects for its up-scaling is that several critical scientific mechanisms have not been discovered due to its innovative nature, but will be uncovered in this Fellowship. These include (1) quantification of the dynamic interfacial phenomena in the reacting slag-metal droplet system due to the element (O, S etc) mass transfer at the slag-metal droplet interface and their important role on the fast reduction of FeO in slag, and (2) reaction mechanisms and rates between hydrocarbons and slag, metal and gases. Under this Fellowship I will also build the modelling capability (CFD model and dynamic process model) for development and optimisation of complex manufacturing processes.
The research capability and the critical knowledge created under this Fellowship will be applied to study more fuel-efficient and economical BF ironmaking by shale gas injection, direct reduced iron production by shale gas, phosphorus refining in basic oxygen steelmaking, high residual obsolete scrap recycling, and interfacial phenomena in the casting mould. Furthermore, a capability on extractive metallurgy will help the UK to develop processes for recovering critical materials from wastes and extracting Mg and Ti, and will also be useful to other areas such as gasification and geology where molten oxide phases are encountered.
This Fellowship will be held at Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), University of Warwick, in collaboration with Tata Steel, the main steel producer in the UK. It will help unlock the potential of the UK steel industry to be more innovative, productive and competitive, whilst using fewer resources and reducing environmental impact.
Under this EPSRC Manufacturing Fellowship, I will bring best practice in industry to academia. I will establish an internationally recognised multi-disciplinary research team, which will build the research (theoretical, experimental and modelling) capability and create the fundamental knowledge needed to realise transformative changes on extraction, refining and casting of steels, and address the future global mega trends in energy, CO2 regulation and oversupply. A key area of focus will be low carbon, low energy and flexible ironmaking process including HIsarna technology.
HIsarna process is a promising breakthrough technology, as an alternative to conventional blast furnace (BF) ironmaking, created under the ULCOS (Ultra-Low CO2 Steelmaking) project (www.ulcos.org). The concept of the HIsarna technology has been successfully validated by four operational campaigns from 2011 to 2014 on the pilot plant with the capacity of 60 kt per year of hot metal constructed at Tata Steel. The confirmed advantages include: very high energy efficiency; flexibility in feed materials (directly using thermal coal, fine iron ore, waste oxides) without coking and ore agglomeration; 20% or above primary energy and CO2 saving; possibly up to 80% CO2 emission reduction with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) of the top gas; and flexible operations. Significantly higher CO2 emission reduction by HIsarna (without CCS), 35% or above compared to current BF ironmaking, can be achieved by further combining simultaneous scrap melting, biomass injection (partially replacing coal) and hydrocarbon injection in the process.
However, a significant challenging road lies ahead for the HIsarna technology. One of the critical aspects for its up-scaling is that several critical scientific mechanisms have not been discovered due to its innovative nature, but will be uncovered in this Fellowship. These include (1) quantification of the dynamic interfacial phenomena in the reacting slag-metal droplet system due to the element (O, S etc) mass transfer at the slag-metal droplet interface and their important role on the fast reduction of FeO in slag, and (2) reaction mechanisms and rates between hydrocarbons and slag, metal and gases. Under this Fellowship I will also build the modelling capability (CFD model and dynamic process model) for development and optimisation of complex manufacturing processes.
The research capability and the critical knowledge created under this Fellowship will be applied to study more fuel-efficient and economical BF ironmaking by shale gas injection, direct reduced iron production by shale gas, phosphorus refining in basic oxygen steelmaking, high residual obsolete scrap recycling, and interfacial phenomena in the casting mould. Furthermore, a capability on extractive metallurgy will help the UK to develop processes for recovering critical materials from wastes and extracting Mg and Ti, and will also be useful to other areas such as gasification and geology where molten oxide phases are encountered.
This Fellowship will be held at Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), University of Warwick, in collaboration with Tata Steel, the main steel producer in the UK. It will help unlock the potential of the UK steel industry to be more innovative, productive and competitive, whilst using fewer resources and reducing environmental impact.
Planned Impact
1. UK and world steel industry
The aim of my Fellowship is to establish an internationally recognised research team, which will build the research capability and create the fundamental knowledge needed to realise transformative changes on extraction, refining and casting of steels and address the future global mega trends in energy, CO2 regulation and oversupply. A key area of focus is the low carbon HIsarna technology. The chief beneficiaries are the steelmakers in the UK and world. The scientific and technological infrastructure established will enable an accelerated response to the key manufacturing challenges in steel production.
With the threat of increasing raw material and energy prices, the decreasing access to prime ore and coke coal, and the strict target of emission reduction from the EU, it is essential that the steel production in the UK becomes a low carbon, low energy, flexible process focusing on the creation of advanced products in the most cost-efficient way. My Fellowship will enable the UK steel industry to be in the leading position to exploit the game changing HIsarna technology. This can help transform the UK and world steel industry - more innovative, productive and competitive whilst using fewer resources and reducing environmental impact.
2. Suppliers
My Fellowship will have a major impact on upstream raw materials supply chain, cement industry (being an important user of slag by-products), waste processing industry, metal processing industry and engineering industry. Unlike blast furnace ironmaking process, HIsarna technology can flexibly work with a wide variety of raw materials from conventional hematite to titano-magnetite, scrap, waste oxides, thermal coal, shale gas and biomass. The equipment builders and process control system designers will benefit from the construction of the up-scaling plant. The energy sector will benefit from the fundamental understanding of coal gasification.
3. Customers
My Fellowship will provide new knowledge and technologies that can help revolutionise the UK steel industry with substantially reducing CO2 emissions in steel production. This will encourage the customers (e.g. automotive industry) in favour of using steel over other materials with higher carbon footprint.
4. Education and training
The thematic area "Developing manufacturing Leaders" under the EPSRC Manufacturing the Future challenge states that "identifying, nurturing and supporting appropriate individuals at different career stages is vital for the future health of the UK innovation system." My Fellowship will provide a unique platform for myself to become an internationally-recognised leader in the research field of sustainable steel manufacturing. This will also provide great opportunities to develop potential future scientific/engineering leaders in manufacturing by directly engaging with young post-doc researchers and PhD students. This research programme will attract young people to pursue the courses and careers in manufacturing.
5. Society and environment
The success of my Fellowship will help to ensure that the UK steel industry is in a leading position to realise transformative changes on extraction, refining and casting of steels including exploiting the promising HIsarna technology. This will mean that the most sought-after new steels can be produced via a low carbon, low energy, flexible process, which will create new jobs and aid the growth of the UK and global economy. This breakthrough technology will also be used for processing wastes (BOF sludge, mill scales) which has obvious environmental and health benefits. This research will help change the public perception of steel manufacturing from a "smoke-stack" and "sunset" industry, to one that works at the forefront of science and technology, where radical improvement can be achieved in its impact on society. All this information will be given to the media to increase the public awareness of this research programme.
The aim of my Fellowship is to establish an internationally recognised research team, which will build the research capability and create the fundamental knowledge needed to realise transformative changes on extraction, refining and casting of steels and address the future global mega trends in energy, CO2 regulation and oversupply. A key area of focus is the low carbon HIsarna technology. The chief beneficiaries are the steelmakers in the UK and world. The scientific and technological infrastructure established will enable an accelerated response to the key manufacturing challenges in steel production.
With the threat of increasing raw material and energy prices, the decreasing access to prime ore and coke coal, and the strict target of emission reduction from the EU, it is essential that the steel production in the UK becomes a low carbon, low energy, flexible process focusing on the creation of advanced products in the most cost-efficient way. My Fellowship will enable the UK steel industry to be in the leading position to exploit the game changing HIsarna technology. This can help transform the UK and world steel industry - more innovative, productive and competitive whilst using fewer resources and reducing environmental impact.
2. Suppliers
My Fellowship will have a major impact on upstream raw materials supply chain, cement industry (being an important user of slag by-products), waste processing industry, metal processing industry and engineering industry. Unlike blast furnace ironmaking process, HIsarna technology can flexibly work with a wide variety of raw materials from conventional hematite to titano-magnetite, scrap, waste oxides, thermal coal, shale gas and biomass. The equipment builders and process control system designers will benefit from the construction of the up-scaling plant. The energy sector will benefit from the fundamental understanding of coal gasification.
3. Customers
My Fellowship will provide new knowledge and technologies that can help revolutionise the UK steel industry with substantially reducing CO2 emissions in steel production. This will encourage the customers (e.g. automotive industry) in favour of using steel over other materials with higher carbon footprint.
4. Education and training
The thematic area "Developing manufacturing Leaders" under the EPSRC Manufacturing the Future challenge states that "identifying, nurturing and supporting appropriate individuals at different career stages is vital for the future health of the UK innovation system." My Fellowship will provide a unique platform for myself to become an internationally-recognised leader in the research field of sustainable steel manufacturing. This will also provide great opportunities to develop potential future scientific/engineering leaders in manufacturing by directly engaging with young post-doc researchers and PhD students. This research programme will attract young people to pursue the courses and careers in manufacturing.
5. Society and environment
The success of my Fellowship will help to ensure that the UK steel industry is in a leading position to realise transformative changes on extraction, refining and casting of steels including exploiting the promising HIsarna technology. This will mean that the most sought-after new steels can be produced via a low carbon, low energy, flexible process, which will create new jobs and aid the growth of the UK and global economy. This breakthrough technology will also be used for processing wastes (BOF sludge, mill scales) which has obvious environmental and health benefits. This research will help change the public perception of steel manufacturing from a "smoke-stack" and "sunset" industry, to one that works at the forefront of science and technology, where radical improvement can be achieved in its impact on society. All this information will be given to the media to increase the public awareness of this research programme.
Organisations
- University of Warwick (Fellow, Lead Research Organisation)
- Northeastern University (China) (Collaboration)
- Recycling Lives Ltd (Collaboration)
- Swinburne University of Technology (Collaboration)
- University of Science and Technology Beijing (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE (Collaboration)
- IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON (Collaboration)
- Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) (Collaboration)
- University of Science and Technology of China USTC (Collaboration)
- Aluminium Federation Ltd (Collaboration)
- Tata Steel Europe (Collaboration)
- MATERIALS PROCESSING INSTITUTE (Collaboration)
- BRUNEL UNIVERSITY LONDON (Collaboration)
- Colorado School of Mines (Collaboration)
- SWANSEA UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- Cytec Industries (Collaboration)
- Tata Group UK (Project Partner)
People |
ORCID iD |
Zushu Li (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Rout B
(2016)
Modeling of Droplet Generation in a Top Blowing Steelmaking Process
in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B
Sridhar S
(2016)
Can there be a sunrise in steel town?
in Ironmaking & Steelmaking
Brooks G.
(2017)
Splash generation in oxygen steelmaking: What is known?
Spooner S
(2017)
Quantifying the Pathway and Predicting Spontaneous Emulsification during Material Exchange in a Two Phase Liquid System.
in Scientific reports
Spooner S
(2017)
Spontaneous Emulsification as a Function of Material Exchange
in Scientific Reports
Rout B
(2018)
Dynamic Model of Basic Oxygen Steelmaking Process Based on Multizone Reaction Kinetics: Modeling of Manganese Removal
in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B
Rout B
(2018)
Dynamic Model of Basic Oxygen Steelmaking Process Based on Multizone Reaction Kinetics: Modeling of Decarburization
in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B
Rout B
(2018)
Dynamic Model of Basic Oxygen Steelmaking Process Based on Multi-zone Reaction Kinetics: Model Derivation and Validation
in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B
Kapoor I
(2018)
Quasi in-situ analysis of geometrically necessary dislocation density in a-fibre and ?-fibre during static recrystallization in cold-rolled low-carbon Ti-V bearing microalloyed steel
in Materials Characterization
Taylor S
(2019)
Direct Observation via In Situ Heated Stage EBSD Analysis of Recrystallization of Phosphorous Deoxidised Copper in Unstrained and Strained Conditions
in Metals and Materials International
Li J
(2019)
Crystallization Behavior of Liquid CaO-SiO2-FeO-MnO Slag in Relation to Its Reaction with Moisture
in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B
Taylor S
(2019)
Influence of Elevated Temperatures on Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of C106 Copper Investigated by In Situ Heated Stage EBSD Analysis
in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A
Li J
(2019)
Effects of Slag Composition on H2 Generation and Magnetic Precipitation from Molten Steelmaking Slag-Steam Reaction
in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B
Rahnama A
(2020)
Machine Learning-Based Prediction of a BOS Reactor Performance from Operating Parameters
in Processes
Spooner S
(2020)
Hidden Phenomena During Transient Reaction Trajectories in Liquid Metals Processing
in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B
Kapoor I
(2020)
Correlative analysis of interaction between recrystallization and precipitation during sub-critical annealing of cold-rolled low-carbon V and Ti-V bearing microalloyed steels
in Materials Science and Engineering: A
Duan J
(2021)
Effect of impurities on the microstructure and mechanical properties of a low carbon steel
in Ironmaking & Steelmaking
Description | This is an EPSRC Manufacturing Fellowship Award, entitled "Uncovering fundamental mechanisms to enable sustainable steel manufacturing", completed in March 2022. The major finings are summarised briefly as blow: 1) Significant new knowledge has been generated over the six years, including reaction mechanisms of a novel low carbon low energy alternative ironmaking technology, application of green fuels such as hydrogen and biomass in steel manufacturing, steel scrap utilisation and steel circularity. This is evidenced by a large number of papers (>50) published by international peer-reviewed journals and by a large number of international invited talks. 2) Established and sustained a steel process metallurgy group at WMG of the University of Warwick (from raw materials thourgh ironmaking to steelmaking/casting) which is well needed by the UK steel industry and associated sectors. The new research capability (method, equipment, skill) developed has the feature of in-situ observation (high temperature confocal laser scanning microscope), inline measurement (mass spectrometer), high temperature (up to 1700 degree C), controlled atmosphere (flammable gas, inert gas, oxdising gas), and multi-phase (gas-slag-steel-refractory). 3) Another important skills/method development is dynamic modelling (thermodynamic, kinetic and phase-field modelling) of the multi-phase reactions in metallurgical processes. 4) From the whole steel value change, systematically investigagted the ways to incrase the scrap utilisation in the UK steel indsutry in the aspects of steel scrap supply chain, technology development and policy intervention. 5) Open up new/important research questions on how to decarbonise the steel industry, in particular the UK steel industry. 6) As one of the key objectives of the EPSRC Manufacturing Fellowship, the fellowship holder has successfully transitioned from an industrial technical leader to an academic leader (full professor). |
Exploitation Route | We concluded a clear vision for UK/global steel industry. Our findings will be taken forward by the personnel related steel industry: policy makers, industry, academics, professional bodies, and students. The findings from this award such as the reaction mechanisms for a novel low carbon low energy alternative ironmaking, the application of biomass and hydrogen has been trialled at pilot scale; our finidngs on scrap utilisation has been widely recognised by the community and significant movement has been seen since our research. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Energy Environment Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/people/profile/?wmgid=1286 |
Description | Findings from this programme have been used primarily in industries. For example, the findings on the effeiciency of biomass compared with thermal coals have been used to guide pilot plant trials achieving CO2 emissions; the flux VIU models have been commissioned in industries (steelmakers and lime producers); the findings from scrap research have supported governemntal policy changing. |
First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Energy,Environment,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Government, Democracy and Justice,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
Impact Types | Societal Economic Policy & public services |
Description | A white paper on UK scrap steel recycling (Domestic Scrap Steel Recycling - Economic, Environmental and Social Opportunities (EV0490)) |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
Impact | The report set up the direction of UK scrap steel recycling in terms of technology development, economic, enviromental and social impacts. |
URL | https://sciencesearch.defra.gov.uk/ProjectDetails?ProjectId=20521 |
Description | Contribution to HM Government "Unlocking Resource Efficiency - Phase 1 Steel Report" (DESNZ Research Paper Series Number 2023/039) |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
Description | Cambridge Electric Cement: Zero-emissions cement from old concrete paste replacing flux in electric-arc furnaces |
Amount | £1,487,338 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/W026104/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2022 |
End | 09/2025 |
Description | Computer vision-based aluminium scrap classification by grades for upcycling |
Amount | £60,072 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ICP334 |
Organisation | Henry Royce Institute |
Department | Henry Royce Institute – University of Manchester Facilities |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2023 |
End | 03/2024 |
Description | Critical Technological Assessment of the Viability of Future UK Steel Production |
Amount | £408,703 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/S013318/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2019 |
End | 12/2020 |
Description | Effect of residual elements from scraps on steel processing and service properties of typical steel grades |
Amount | £50,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 2267821 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 09/2023 |
Description | Enhancing UK-based steel supply chains (MSc project supervised by Prof Janet Godsell) |
Amount | £0 (GBP) |
Organisation | Liberty Steel |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 09/2020 |
Description | Identifying the opportunities to improve the planning capability of the Stockbridge Test House (MSc project supervised by Dr Wanrong Zhang) |
Amount | £0 (GBP) |
Organisation | Liberty Steel |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 09/2020 |
Description | Improving stock efficiency through inventory control (MSc project supervised by Dr Zakiah Suhaimi) |
Amount | £0 (GBP) |
Organisation | Liberty Steel |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 09/2020 |
Description | Industry sponsored project |
Amount | £140,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Tata Steel Europe |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2017 |
End | 10/2021 |
Description | Investigating the interaction of gas-slag-metal systems with different carbonaceous materials to understand the slag foaming behaviour in net-zero EAF steelmaking |
Amount | £140,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/Z530918/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2024 |
End | 09/2029 |
Description | Reduction of FeO by carbon and gas in a novel low carbon low energy alternative ironmaking process |
Amount | £63,300 (GBP) |
Organisation | Tata Steel Europe |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 09/2023 |
Description | Research into the Economic, Environmental and Social Opportunities around Options with Scrap Metal, Particularly Steel |
Amount | £40,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2020 |
End | 03/2021 |
Description | SUSTAIN Manufacturing Hub |
Amount | £10,852,989 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/S018107/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2019 |
End | 03/2026 |
Description | The impact of digitisation on procurement and its role within the area of supply chain management (MSc project supervised by Dr Wanrong Zhang) |
Amount | £0 (GBP) |
Organisation | Liberty Steel |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 09/2020 |
Description | UKRI Interdisciplinary Centre for CircularMetal |
Amount | £4,437,440 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/V011804/1 |
Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2021 |
End | 12/2024 |
Title | A high temperature CLSM based sessile drop method established |
Description | This new method combines the high temperature CLSM (confocal laser scanning microscope) and sessile drop method to study interface reactions between two materials (normally one liquid and one solid) at high temperatures (up to 1600 degree C). |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | This method was developed to study the reactions between fluxing materials and iron ores. The outcome was reported in TMS2019 (San Antonio, Texas, USA), and it was well received. |
Title | A mini-electric arc furnace for alloy melting and casting (2020) |
Description | A mini-electric arc furnace for alloy melting and casting has been purchased from other sources for the execution of this project and other projects relevant to scrap utilisation. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | This unique tool is being used to melt/cast steel scraps for the scrap utilisation. |
Title | High temperature System under Flammable Gas |
Description | A specifically designed high temperature furnace operating under flammable gases with online detection of gas composition. It is used for studying the reactions in the slag-metal-slag systems under high temperatures and flammable gases. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | The system is under construction. It will be commissioned in March 2017. The results will come out in coming years. |
Title | High temperature furnaces |
Description | Further two high temperature furnaces (up to 1600 degree C) were purchased for the slag-metal-gas multiphase experiments from other financial sources. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | Both furnace was delivered in early 2018 and will be commissioned in first quarter of 2018. It will substantially increase the high temperature research capability in WMG and the UK. |
Title | New hydrogen DRI furnace |
Description | A new furnace to study the reduction of iron ore by hydrogen is purchased for steel industry decarbonisation research, operating temeprature at 600 to 1200 degree C. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Enabling the research tool for the decarbonisation research |
Title | Upgrade high temperature confocal laser scanning microscopy (HT-CLSM) with powder addition functionality |
Description | Add extra functionality of adding powders during experiment on HTCLSM |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Enable to add ingredients during experiment which is significant to study the dissolution of one phase into another, reaction, new alloy design etc. |
Title | A value in use model for lime in BOF steelmaking |
Description | A Value-in-Use model describing the lime usage is steel manufacturing, impact and benefits |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | This model can advise the lime use to optimise the lime use in steel manufacturing in terms of productivity, product quality, economic benefit and environmental impact. |
Title | Flux value in use (VIU) model for BOF steelamking |
Description | A lime VIU model based on mass and heat balance model has been created to optimise the flux utilisation and minimise the CO2 emissions, energy consumption and costs. |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | The model has been further developed into map by the industry funder and widely used in industry practice. |
Title | Flux value in use (VIU) model for EAF steelamking |
Description | A flux VIU model has been developed for EAF steelmaking, based on mass and heat balance, to optimise the flux utilisation and minimise the CO2 emissions/energy consumption/costs. |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2024 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | The model has been developed and has been comissioning in industry. |
Title | Reaction kinetic model for alternative ironmaking reactor |
Description | FactSage based reaction kinetic model for alternative ironmaking reactor, using effective reaction zone concept |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | This model can dynamically simulate the reactions happening in the alternative ironmaking reactor, operating parameters and production KPIs (productivity, hot metal quality). |
Title | Reaction kinetic model for alternative ironmaking reactor |
Description | The model is developed to dynamically model the reactions in a multi-phase (gas-slag-steel-refractory) system at high temperature for metallurgical applications |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | accepted by industry collaborator |
Description | BOF modelling |
Organisation | Swinburne University of Technology |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Co-supervising a PhD student working on BOF modelling |
Collaborator Contribution | Leading the BOF modelling (primary supervisor and PhD student based in Swinburne) |
Impact | Substantially advanced understanding of BOF modelling |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Collaboration with ALFED |
Organisation | Aluminium Federation Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Sharing knowledge and expertise with ALFED and its member companies |
Collaborator Contribution | Knowledge sharing with the research team |
Impact | established knowledge sharing partnership |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Collaboration with British Steel |
Organisation | Cytec Industries |
Department | R&D |
Country | United States |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Analyse the current scrap supply, the current and future steel need, and the steel manufacturing processes at British Steel (Scunthorpe), and provide a technological road map for British Steel to produce high quality steel by maximizing the use of scrap. |
Collaborator Contribution | Share production information; provide in-kind financial support; provide necessary technical support |
Impact | The project just started in January 2019 |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Collaboration with Brunel University London |
Organisation | Brunel University London |
Department | Brunel Centre for Advanced Solidification Technology (BCAST) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Contribution to steel circularity - steel scrap sorting, reuse, remanufacturing |
Collaborator Contribution | Contribution to aluminium circularity |
Impact | Multi-disciplinary collaboration leading to the UKRI Interdisciplinary Centre for Circular Metals |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Collaboration with Cambridge University |
Organisation | University of Cambridge |
Department | Department of Engineering |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | EAF steelmaking slag expertise - experimental and modelling |
Collaborator Contribution | Utilising the EAF steelmaking slag for cement (Cmabridge electric cement) |
Impact | This collaboration leads to the EPSRC grant "Cambridge Electric Cement (EP/W026104/1)" Led by Prof Julian Allwood at the University of Cambridge (https://gow.epsrc.ukri.org/NGBOViewPerson.aspx?PersonId=55324) |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Collaboration with Colorado School of Mines |
Organisation | Colorado School of Mines |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) Staff training; 3) Access to Data; 4) access to equipment |
Collaborator Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) staff training; 3) intellectual input; 4) access to data |
Impact | A joint publication has been submitted to a top journal (under review). |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with Delft University (the Netherlands) |
Organisation | Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) |
Department | Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) access to equipment; 3) staff training |
Collaborator Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) staff training; 3) access to equipment |
Impact | First joint workshop was held June 2019. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with MPI (Materials Processing Institute, UK) |
Organisation | Materials Processing Institute |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | 1) sharing research ideas; 2) providing research facilities; 3) joint proposal for funding |
Collaborator Contribution | 1) sharing research ideas; 2) providing research facilities, especially pilot-scale (above lab scale) facilities; 3) joint proposal for funding; 4) technical advices |
Impact | N/A |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Collaboration with Materials Processing Institute (MPI) |
Organisation | Materials Processing Institute |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) staff training; 3) access to facilities |
Collaborator Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) staff training; 3) access to data; 4) access to facilities; 5) intellectual input |
Impact | N/A |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with Northeastern University (China) |
Organisation | Northeastern University (China) |
Country | China |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) staff training; 3) equipment |
Collaborator Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) access to data; 3) access to equipment / facilities |
Impact | academic visiting; joint application of UK-China call (Newton Funding) |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with Recycling lives |
Organisation | Recycling Lives Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Provide expertise and research facilities to examine the waste from scrap sorting for better use; host visitors from the company twice for technical information exchange |
Collaborator Contribution | 1) provide information on steel recycling; 2) host visitors from the research team (five people); 3) provide waste samples |
Impact | The partner further supported another grant application (established long-term collaboration). |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with Swansea University |
Organisation | Swansea University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) staff training; 3) access to data; 4) equipment access; 5) intellectual input |
Collaborator Contribution | 1) Expertise; 2) staff training; 3) access to data; 4) equipment access; 5) intellectual input |
Impact | N/A |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with USTB (University of Science and Technology Beijing) |
Organisation | University of Science and Technology Beijing |
Country | China |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | exchange of academic staff; exchange of research students; visiting professorship |
Collaborator Contribution | exchange of academic staff; exchange of research students; visiting professorship |
Impact | completed a UK-China jointly funded project (A UK-China partnership for energy and materials recovery in steelmaking), funded by Innovate UK/EPSRC and MOST China. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Collaboration wtih Imperial College London |
Organisation | Imperial College London |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The collaboration is established through the EPSRC grant EP/W026104/1 (Cambridge electric cement: Zero emissions cement from old concrete paste replacing flux in electric arc furnace). University of Cambridge, Imperial College London and University of Warwick are the academic partners in the project. We contribute the knowledge of electric arc furance (EAF) steelmaking and its slag to the team. |
Collaborator Contribution | Imperial college London contributes knowledge of cement chemistry modelling and LCA to teh team. |
Impact | Not yet |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | Energy and Materials Recovery from steelmaking slags |
Organisation | University of Science and Technology of China USTC |
Country | China |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | My team is working USTB in the following areas: (1) energy and materials recovery from steelmaking slags; (2) clean steel technology; and (3) low carbon steel manufacturing. |
Collaborator Contribution | (1) to provide unique experimental facilities such as high pressure DTG; (2) provide expertise in clean steel technology |
Impact | A project titled "A UK-China Partnership for Energy and Materials Recovery in Steelmaking" has been completed in November 2017. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Tata Steel |
Organisation | Tata Steel Europe |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | My team (myself, postdoc research fellows and PhD students) is working with Tata Steel in the following areas: (1) to uncover the critical scientific mechanisms underlying the low carbon HIsarna process; (2) recycling of scarp; and (3) steel cleanness / steel quality. |
Collaborator Contribution | (1) to provide in house expertise to advise and assist in the research of the fellowship; (2) to support at its costs three PhD studentships withing the term of the fellowship, including necessary experimental costs; (3) to sample in HIsarna trials, necessary raw materials, and characterisation and analysis of samples. The agreement between Tata Steel and University of Warwick related to the fellowship is in the stage of signature (21 February 2017) |
Impact | It is in the initial stage of this collaboration. The project titles for PhD students and post-doc research fellows have been decided, and the results will come out in coming years. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | A conference presentation on hot shortness - December 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A presentation entitled "Effect of residual element Cu on hot shortness behaviour of free cutting steels" was given by one fo the group members in the international conference - Oxi 2022 (European Oxide Scale Conference 2022) 5-6 December 2022, London UK |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | A conference presentation on residual element - September 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A presentation entitled "Understanding the role of residual element Cu on hot shortness behaviour of the free cutting steels" was given by one of the group memebers in TMP 2022 - 6th International Conference on ThermoMechanical Processing. 6-8 September 2022, Shenyang, China |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | A presentation on steel oxidation - December 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A presentation entitled "Oxidation behaviour and oxide/metal interface characteristics in a low-carbon steel containing impurities" was given by one fo the group members in the internaional conference - European Oxide Scale Conference 2022 conference, London, UK. 5-6 December 2022. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | A talk given at Royce and LightForm in Manchester University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | An invited lecture entitled "Uncovering fundamental mechanisms to enable sustainable steel manufacturing & critical technology assessment of the viability of future UK steel production" at University of Manchester on 23 June 2022 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | A talk given in Northeastern University, China |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | An invited talk titled "Overcoming scientific challenges to sustainable steel manufacturing" was delivered to around 30 postgraduates and academic supervisors at Northeastern University, China, which sparked questions and discussion afterward, and attracted interest in collaboration. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | A talk in BEIS Scrap Working Group |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A talk on "Domestic steel scrap recycling - current state of play" is invited to give at teh BEIS Scrap Working Group on 26 July 2022. The working group is formed from BEIS, DEFRA, UK Steel, BMRA, steelmakers and scrap recyclers, RTOs. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | A talk in an online webinar - September 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | An invited talk on "Fundamental research for decarbonising the steel industry" in the "Sustainable steel strategies summit" (online) organised by Steel Times International on 20-21 September 2022 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Academic-Industry Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | An Academic-Industry workshop for HIsarna Technology was held in Tata Steel IJmuiden on 17&18 June 2019. Attendees came from WMG (Academic leader, postdoc and PhD students, five in total), Delft University (Academic Leader, postdoc and PhD students, six in total), and Tata Steel IJmuiden (Technical leader, plant manager, R&D researcher, and operators, seven in total). The research capability from two universities and industrial requirement have been discussed, and future research in alternative ironmaking and waste utilisation has been discussed. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | An academic-industry workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | 10 people (PhD students, postdoc research fellows, academics and industry scientists) held a workshop on the process modelling of HIsarna process, identifying further research direction and collaboration. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | An invited talk in USTB China |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | In June 2017 an invited presentation titled "Overcoming scientific challenges to sustainable steel manufacturing" was delivered in Metallurgy Innovation Symposium 2017 in USTB, Beijing to around 200 hundreds audiences including academics, postgraduates, industry, policymakers. This sparks questions and discussion afterwards, and also attracted collaboration interest. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Conference keynotes Birmingham |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A keynotes titled "Research on Sustainable steel manufacturing in WMG, the University of Warwick" in the 5th UK-China Steel Research Forum, University of Birmingham, 45/07/2018 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | DK gave a presentation to industry team (February 2022) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | 35 people attended the talk and interesting discussions have been held, the research has been well received by the attendees (feedback from the organiser). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Distinguished Seminar in Chongqing University 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited to give a distinguished seminar on recent Breakthrough in Engineering Fields at Chongqing University, China. Title - BOF steelmaking - advanced understanding and modelling. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Green Steel: The Role of Scrap Webinar (24.09.2021) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | 90 people from industry, academia, policymaking, funder etc attended this webinar. Four presentation are given by the research team: ZL - UK steel scrap supply and utilisation; ZL - Technologies for increased scrap utilisation; WZ - Circular supply chain design; RH - opportunities and challenges. Well received by the audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | International conference (MacMaster, canada) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | I was invited to give a keynote on the fundamental research related to my fellowship and beyond for the sustainable steel manufacturing. The audiences are the academics and post-graduates from a number of Canadian Universities (McMaster, Toronto, etc) and professionals from steel industry. It attracted great interest from the audiences in Canada. It also formed informal collaboration with the academics in Canada in related areas. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | JW gave presentation to Industry team (December 2021) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | 30 people from industry, university and RTO attended the talk given by JW, which sparked questions and discussions afterwards, The talk was well received by the industry. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | News release (Tata Steel) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | There was a press release on my Fellowship in Tata Steel R&D in 2016. This extended to a wide range of Tata Steel employees from R&D to business. It gave Tata Steel encouragement on government support to Steel Industry. It attracts collaboration interest between industry and university of warwick. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Presentation given at internaional conference MS&T22 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | around 40 audiences attended my talk "Research and development for decarbonisation of the UK steel industry" at MS&T22, October 9-12, 2022 in Pittsburgh USA. Disemination, networking and exchange of the decarbonisation reserch, establishment of new collaboration |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Reserach team visit to Tata Steel Europe for a week |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Part of my research team (4 memebers) visited the industry sponsor Tata Steel Netherlands for a week in December 2022 - observing pilot plant trials, disseminating research outcomes, and discussing future collaboration activities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Residual in Steel talk 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | An invited talk on "Mechanism of removal residual elements" in one-day seminar "Residuals in Steel" organized by IOM3 at Warwick University Conference Centre on 22/11/2018. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | UKRI and Newton Fund activity in WUhan |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | UKRI and NEWTON FUDN organized an event in Wuhan China titled "Hydrogen, Steel and a Low Carbon Future" on 15th March 2018. 50 to 100 audiences from Newton Fellows in CHina, media, postgraduates, university academic staff, British Embassy officers, China local government officers. Three speakers including myself gave talks. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |