- Project receives funding under govt’s GI project
- Steel major transitioning to new stage in tech demonstration
Japan Metal Daily: The technological development of a new type of electric melting furnace that produces hot metal from direct reduced iron (DRI), a raw material for steelmaking, is about to enter a new stage. As part of a national project aimed at decarbonising the steelmaking process, Nippon Steel, which is responsible for the implementation, will embark on a melting demonstration test using an existing small electric furnace from this fiscal year.
Based on the results of laboratory-scale research over the past two years, Nippon Steel is also promoting the construction of mathematical models with high prediction accuracy. It will be possible to efficiently identify issues for actual production and reduce development costs.
Smelter technology
The development facility is a type of large electric furnace, also known as a “smelter” or “submerged arc furnace (SAF)”. This is one of the themes for decarbonisation technology development using the government’s Green Innovation (GI) Fund, and Nippon Steel has been taking the lead in promoting the initiative since FY2024.
Electric melting furnaces are already used commercially in ferro alloy manufacturing, but there are no practical applications in the world for steel metal making. The main development theme of this GI is to explore equipment specifications when enlarged to be suitable for steel mills, and to establish operating technologies such as quality control of hot metal and slag.
In this demonstration test, the original plan will be partially reviewed and the existing test electric furnace installed in FY24 at the Nippon Steel-Hasaki R&D Center (Kamisu City, Ibaraki Prefecture) will be used. DRI dissolution experiments will be repeatedly conducted over three years until FY28 to identify issues for practical application after FY30.
Mathematical model
The original plan was to remodel a medium-sized furnace equivalent to one-fifth of the actual reactor and conduct a melting test. However, laboratory-scale studies over the past two years have shown that the behaviour of raw materials such as DRI and coal in the furnace is more complex than expected. Nippon Steel will change to a small reactor equivalent to 1/65 of the actual reactor to increase the number of tests and thoroughly work to elucidate the phenomena in the reactor.
At the same time, the company will also build a sophisticated mathematical model that utilises the test results at the demonstration reactor. The verification results at the test reactor will be analysed using simulation technology, and the operation technology will be established based on the data obtained.
By reviewing the plan, such as reducing the size of the furnace, the project cost was also reduced. Initially, it was planned to be up to JPY 23 billion (nearly $145 million), but it is expected to be almost half, about JPY 12.3 billion.
This article is published as part of an article sharing agreement between Japan Metal Daily and BigMint
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