Carbon carrier modeled for CO2 emission assessment in steel industry

Detailed carbon identification of steel industry is fundamental for CO2 management and future sustainable production. Herein, Carbon carrier characterized by carbon tracing and assignment is established to identify carbon flow in complexed energy-mass net of steel manufacturing. For traditional iron & steel process, the emission intensity is -2.33 t CO2/t steel if steel is the only product. While considering other by-products and their carbon assignment, the emission intensity would be decreased to -1.11 t CO2/t steel, with the rest assigned to Linz-Donawitz Gas -0.30 t CO2/t steel, Blast Furnace Gas -0.84 t CO2/t steel, and Coke Oven Gas -0.08 t CO2/t steel. Comprehensive utilization of energy and mass is helpful to reduce CO2 intensity of each product. Waste heat recovery and equipment efficiency improvement of the traditional process can reduce -16 % and -15 % CO2, respectively. Steel-making by Electric Arc Furnace achieves 90 % CO2 cut-down. With application of Carbon carrier, industry carbon management can be conducted to accelerate future decarbonization.