[ TECHNOLOGY ]
The DMX™ process and its unique solvent were innovated by IFPEN and will be commercialized by Axens . The unique aspect of this solventbased CO 2 capture technology is that a CO 2
-rich phase of the DMX™ solvent separates from a CO 2
-lean phase prior to regeneration . Only this CO 2
-rich phase needs to be regenerated .
Stripping CO 2 out of solvents in
CO 2 capture processes is highly energy-intensive and is the main operating cost of CO 2 capture for solvent-based CO 2 capture systems . Since only a portion of the DMX™ solvent is required to be regenerated , a reduction in energy consumption is possible when compared to traditional solvents such as diethanolamine ( DEA ) or monoethanolamine ( MEA ).
In the future , CO 2 from the 3D Project will be sequestered in the proposed European Dunkirk-North Sea Cluster CCS scheme . Total is leading the development of the offshore CO 2 storage facility . CO 2 will either be transferred to the offshore storage location by ship as liquid CO 2
, or by pipeline as a compressed or supercritical gas .
Flue gas to fuel jet aircraft
At their Ghent blast furnace , ArcelorMittal will run a demonstration project using the LanzaTech fermentation process . This process utilizes raw flue gases which are rich in CO to produce ethanol in a bioreactor . Ethanol can be used for many chemical and energy applications . For example , it is blended with gasoline at up to 10 % in Europe and up to 15 % in the USA . In China , 85 % ethanol is blended with gasoline in some locations . The project has been referred to as Steelanol and also uses the name Carbalyst ®.
LanzaTech ’ s process was demonstrated at pilot-scale in 2008 using flue gases from the BlueScope Steel mill in Glenbrook , NZ . Since then , LanzaTech has successfully deployed its technology at two 300-tonne per annum demonstration facilities at Baosteel Shanghai and Shougang Steel Caofeidian in China . These LanzaTech fermenters are fed with a range of iron and steelmaking off-gases including BOFG , BFG , and coke oven gas ( COG ).
Alternatively , ethanol can be converted to synthetic aviation fuel ( SAF ) using the ethanol to jet ( ETJ ) process , which is also referred to as Alcohol to Jet or ATJ . LanzaTech ’ s sister company LanazaJet has developed a proprietary ETJ process that maximises the yield of aviation kerosene in the various dehydrogenation and oligomerisation reactions that convert the ethanol to ethylene and then to SAF .
Tata Steel in the UK will also deploy the LanzaTech and LanzaJet processes to capture iron and
Raw flue gases that are rich in CO can be utilized to produce ethanol in a bioreactor . Ethanol can be used for many chemical and energy applications .
steelmaking flue gases from their Port Talbot facility . The project , known as DRAGON , will also use the Hummingbird ® catalyst from Technip Energies ( T . EN ). This is a highly effective catalyst to dehydrate ethanol to ethylene .
The ethylene is then oligomerized to form paraffinic hydrocarbons of between 8 and 16 carbon atoms in length . These are then blended with other aromatics to obtain the required JET specification for aviation fuel . The aromatics are required to achieve the relevant distillation curve and ensure the fuel vaporizes appropriately in the jet engine burner .
Direct and indirect electrification
Electrification is also a viable decarbonisation pathway for iron and steel processing with many deployments being planned . As an example , ArcelorMittal will invest € 67 million in a new electric arc furnace for their Belval site in Luxembourg .
Electric arc furnaces can be powered by renewable electricity from wind , solar and
40 Green Steel World | Issue 10 | February 2024