Hydrogen-based Production of Direct Reduced Iron

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Producing iron from its natural oxide minerals is an established industrial process. With the current ironmaking technologies, carbon dioxide emissions almost exclusively result from the use of carbon-bearing material in the form of coal, coke or natural gas for both the energy generation and the chemical reduction. As one of the biggest industrial carbon dioxide emitters, the iron and steel industry is responsible for approximately 30% of industrial carbon dioxide emissions globally. The iron and steel industry needs to respond to the pressure of reducing its carbon footprint from both environmental and economic perspectives. With the ultimate goal of decarbonizing the iron and steel industry, the current proposal examines transitioning from carbon to hydrogen as a green reducing agent in the ironmaking process. The expected outcome of the research will provide a path for mitigating the environmental impacts of iron and steel industry, a critical step towards achieving Canada's goal of 80% carbon dioxide reduction by 2050 compared to 2005 levels, as set by the 2016 Paris Agreement. Replacing carbon with hydrogen as a reducing agent is currently considered the medium to long-term solution to achieving carbon-neutral iron extraction processes. The first goal of this work is to understand the chemical reduction reaction mechanism and the efficiency of the process with hydrogen. The second objective is to understand the reduction and swelling behaviour of the iron oxide pellets in a shaft furnace to gain detailed process knowledge about the behavior of the pellets in hydrogen-based reduction process.