On-site hydrogen production for iron making

Project description

Canada produces 13 million tonnes of steel annually, emitting 16 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and generating 3 million tonnes of slag as a by-product. The hot slag, ranging from 1450°C to 1650°C could be an ideal heat source for decarbonizing natural gas to produce hydrogen by pyrolysis. The hydrogen could provide 20-30% of the total reductant for the steel making process, thereby substantially reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

The scientific and engineering activities of the current project are to:

1. assess the hydrogen production potential of the Canadian steel industry in more detail
2. perform research, design, and modeling studies to assess the required equipment

Figure 1: Predicted hydrogen volume fraction in a proposed slag - natural gas reactor

Text version

The predicted hydrogen volume fraction in a proposed reactor, where natural gas is converted to hydrogen gas and solid carbon by pyrolysis using the energy from the high-temperature slag. This result shows that the proposed reactor is capable of effecting the conversion, as the hydrogen volume fraction is very high.

Contact CanmetENERGY in Ottawa