Bioenergy for the Decarbonization of Heavy Industry

Project Description

Canadian heavy industry, particularly steel and cement production, are considering biomass and bioenergy as options to reach their decarbonization goals.

Fuel replacement for cement kilns has been identified as a priority in the recently released roadmap to carbon neutrality for concrete^{Footnote 1}. The production of biocarbon from solid recovered materials to produce a high heating-value solid fuel will enable the cement industry to reduce and ultimately eliminate traditional fossil fuels. Carbon capture by oxyfiring in the cement kiln is part of another project: OxyFired Rotary Kilns.

The steel industry needs carbon to transform iron into steel, which is an alloy of iron and carbon. Biomass can provide that carbon, as well as being a fuel and a reductant. Biomass gasification is being investigated as a replacement for methane reforming to provide the gas to reduce the iron oxides in the Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) to metallic iron. Solid biocarbon, produced by slow pyrolysis, may be able to replace fossil carbon in several of the steel making steps. As well, on-site use of the product gases from slow pyrolysis is being developed, improving the economics of the process. Low- and negative-value feedstocks of sufficient volume and geographic proximity are being used. The solid biocarbon will be evaluated for applications in the steel industry by Metallurgical Fuels Laboratory (MFL). Since biocarbon is a new material, there is an international effort to identify or develop the appropriate standards, giving direction to producers and confidence to users^{Footnote 2}.

Project Activities

• Determine the range of reductant gas composition provided by gasification technologies at the scale needed for DRI and using biomass feedstocks available in amounts and concentrations available.
• Identify the processes and processing conditions necessary to produce biocarbon suitable for electric arc furnace (EAF) slag foaming, replacing coke breeze in induration furnaces, and other parts of the steel making process, or as a high-heat value fuel for cement clinker manufacture.
• Determine the processes and process conditions to upgrade the gaseous by-product of slow pyrolysis to a fuel gas that can be utilized on site, such as in a DRI or the calciner of the cement plant, displacing natural gas.
• Participate in the development of the international standards for pyrogenic biocarbon (ISO TC238).

Figure 1 Slow pyrolysis screw reactor with biocarbon product