Hydrogen-based Production of Direct Reduced Iron

从天然的氧化矿物中生产铁是一种成熟的工业工艺。在目前的炼铁技术下，二氧化碳的排放几乎完全是由于在发电和化学还原过程中使用煤、焦炭或天然气等含碳材料造成的。作为最大的工业二氧化碳排放源之一，钢铁工业的二氧化碳排放量约占全球工业二氧化碳排放量的30%。钢铁行业需要从环境和经济两方面应对减少碳足迹的压力。以使钢铁工业脱碳为最终目标，目前的提案探讨了在炼铁过程中从碳过渡到氢作为绿色还原剂的问题。该研究的预期结果将为减轻钢铁工业对环境的影响提供一条途径，这是实现2016年《巴黎协定》设定的到2050年二氧化碳排放量比2005年减少80%的目标的关键一步。目前，用氢代替碳作为还原剂被认为是实现碳中性提铁工艺的中长期解决方案。本工作的第一个目标是了解化学还原反应的机理和氢过程的效率。第二个目标是了解竖炉中氧化铁球团的还原和膨胀行为，以获得关于氢基还原过程中球团行为的详细工艺知识。

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.