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The production of steel and cement is the largest emitter of CO2 among industrial companies around the world, with 15% of the total, and both sectors are racing to meet targets for reducing greenhouse gases. In this vein, Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) starts a pilot project with technology from the Portuguese company UTIS, which will use green hydrogen in the production process of some areas of the plant, located in Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro. This is one of the technological solutions, among several in the world, that are being developed to cut carbon emissions from industrial processes.
The technology from UTIS has already shown results in cement plants, solid waste combustion and biomass, but this is the first time it will be used by a steel mill, said Felipe Spiri, the chief executive of CSN Inova Open and co-founder of CSN Inova, the company’s arm that invests in innovation and technology projects.
CSN’s management team ordered to lower the use of fossil fuels (petroleum coke and metallurgical coal) and natural gas, Mr. Spiri said. This is both to comply with environmental standards and achieve cost savings. Coke and coal are imported and traded in dollars.
According to the executive, who majored in economics at Unicamp, has a master’s degree from Insper, and has worked in several departments within CSN, the project with UTIS has great potential to help CSN, as well as other steel companies, to meet decarbonization goals using less of fossil fuels. He said that the company has acquired and deployed, since 2020, UTIS technology in cement production.
The use began in the integrated plant of Arcos, Minas Gerais, where it obtained a reduction of 12 kilograms of CO2 per tonne of cement produced. The process is coupled, in four containers, to one of the two kilns in Arcos, generating gains, besides the reduced use of coke, in the productivity of the clinker kiln and power consumption. CSN Cimentos is expected to also take the technology to the plant acquired in Paraíba, and in the future to others.
This week, technicians from UTIS are in Volta Redonda to define where to start using the technology. This stage will last three months, Mr. Spiri said, because all the production flows will be mapped to test the technical and economic viability of UC3 (Ultimate Cell Continuous Combustion). The targets are the blast furnace (which uses coal and coke), steelmaking gases and natural gas, sintering (which agglomerates fine ore) and the hot-rolling mill.
The electric furnace of the long steel mill, for example, is a potential production area to receive UC3 technology initially. It is smaller than the large-flat steel mill.
The goal is to start the injection of green hydrogen in a controlled manner in the second half of the year, in one or more defined areas. The system, in containers – where the electrolysis process occurs, which generates hydrogen –, according to CSN, is easy to install, using renewable power and water, including from the sewage system. The size of the equipment, which will be imported from Europe, will also be defined.
The systems, Mr. Spiri said, have a price range that goes from €100,000 to €1 million. It depends on the capacity of green hydrogen to be generated and injected. According to him, CSN obtained financing from Finep (federal agency that supports innovation in industries) for the cement plant project. But it could not repeat it for the steel project. In all, including other efforts, R$45 million were financed.
According to Mr. Spiri, CSN works to reach in 2030 the CO2 reduction target that the rest of the sector has set for 2050. A bold goal for the eight-year timeframe.
UTIS was founded in 2018 as a joint venture between Ultimate Cell and the Secil group (cement). At the end of 2021, the Semapa group joined the company. UC3 targets energy efficiency and continuous combustion processes in industries.
Source: Valor International