TY - JOUR
T1 - Simulation-based life cycle assessment of ferrochrome smelting technologies to determine environmental impacts
AU - Hamuyuni, Joseph
AU - Johto, Hannu
AU - Bunjaku, Ali
AU - Vatanen, Saija
AU - Pajula, Tiina
AU - Mäkelä, Pasi
AU - Lindgren, Mari
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was financially supported by the Carbon Handprint Project of Business Finland .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/5/1
Y1 - 2021/5/1
N2 - Decarbonization of metal production is currently a unique challenge for the industry. To gain insights, environmental impacts of ferrochrome smelting technologies were estimated using simulation-based life cycle assessment. Two leading technologies: (1) Steel Belt Sintering-Submerged Electric Arc Furnace (SBS-SAF), and (2) Rotary Kiln-Submerged Electric Arc Furnace (RK-SAF) were investigated. Four environmental impact categories: climate change, acidification, particulate matter, and resource use (minerals and metals), were considered. Results showed that GHG emissions for producing high carbon ferrochrome vary to a greater extent depending on location of processing plant because of differences in electricity emission factors. For example, South African energy grid generates more GHG emission than Finnish energy grid. Furthermore, though prereduction reduced SAF energy consumption, it did not necessarily result in reduced net GHG emissions due to high coal consumption of RK. Acidification and particulate matter were higher when using RK-SAF technology. Ferrochrome production generally had low impact on resource use.
AB - Decarbonization of metal production is currently a unique challenge for the industry. To gain insights, environmental impacts of ferrochrome smelting technologies were estimated using simulation-based life cycle assessment. Two leading technologies: (1) Steel Belt Sintering-Submerged Electric Arc Furnace (SBS-SAF), and (2) Rotary Kiln-Submerged Electric Arc Furnace (RK-SAF) were investigated. Four environmental impact categories: climate change, acidification, particulate matter, and resource use (minerals and metals), were considered. Results showed that GHG emissions for producing high carbon ferrochrome vary to a greater extent depending on location of processing plant because of differences in electricity emission factors. For example, South African energy grid generates more GHG emission than Finnish energy grid. Furthermore, though prereduction reduced SAF energy consumption, it did not necessarily result in reduced net GHG emissions due to high coal consumption of RK. Acidification and particulate matter were higher when using RK-SAF technology. Ferrochrome production generally had low impact on resource use.
KW - Acidification
KW - FeCr smelting Process
KW - Greenhouse gas
KW - HSC Simulation
KW - Particulate matter
KW - Resource use
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85101745730&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126503
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126503
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85101745730
SN - 0959-6526
VL - 295
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
M1 - 126503
ER -
