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ORGANIZER;CN='8th ECIC & 9th ICSTI 2022':MAILTO:info@ecic-icsti.com
LOCATION:Room „Borgward“
SUMMARY:The implications of regional transformation towards hydrogen-based steel: A case study from western Germany 
DESCRIPTION:Hydrogen-based direct reduction is a promising route to decarbonize the production process of primary steel. Nonetheless, as its value chain is significantly different than the conventional technology (i.e. blast furnace), the transformation of steel industry towards hydrogen will be associated with crucial changes. Hence, this study presents a case study from Western Germany via quantifying the changes in the regional material and energy flows in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The quantitative analysis firstly presents a detailed material and energy flow model that depicts the existing supply chain of the regional industry and intersectoral relations. Thereafter, the derived process model of the hydrogen-based steel is integrated into the initial models in order to track the changes associated with the regional roadmaps for reaching zero-carbon steel.

The analyses show that these structural changes will require more than 47 TWh renewable electricity per year. As this figure represents approximately one tenth of the current German power production, there are doubts that the renewable resources can satisfy this significant demand, especially if the sectors are taken into account. Therefore, more resilient strategies are needed in order to make sure that decarbonization plans can be achieved even with lower volumes of renewable electricity. For example, deploying natural gas as a reductant along with other technologies such as carbon capture and storage can significantly decrease the demand for electricity. Moreover, as hydrogen and natural gas use the same facilities, such approach can also help in upscaling the required infrastructure in the future. 

Keywords: primary steel; direct reduction; green hydrogen; energy and material flow model; process model; renewable electricity; natural gas

CLASS:PUBLIC
DTSTART:20220830T153500
DTEND:20220830T160000
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