On transition to hydrogen metallurgy

Abstract

The article shows that climate change is not only warming, but also extraordinary natural phenomena (droughts, floods, storms, tornadoes etc), which lead to significant economic damage. Climate warming is caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere. The main task is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. An analysis has been carried out of international documents such as the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Climate Agreement, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. It is shown that a significant amount of CO2 enters the atmosphere during the production of pig iron and steel, the data on the amount of carbon dioxide emissions from steel smelting in Ukraine and at «Azovsteel» iron and steel works have been provided. The article contains a critical analysis of the existing steel production technology, which is highly efficient but requires significant capital investment, fuel and energy resources, the source of which is the product of heat treatment of hard coal – coke, its carbon in the form of CO2 entering the atmosphere. Numerous proposed methods of steel production without the use of this coke are considered. One of the directions was the production of sponge iron without melting, another direction of coke-free metallurgy was high-temperature processes of obtaining liquid metal, that are carried out in one stage. The theoretically required amount of reducing agent at of iron with carbon monoxide and hydrogen has been determined. Methods of producing renewable gas by conversion of natural gas and gasification of coal are considered. The plans of the Metinvest Group management to develop a long-term technological strategy for metallurgical production taking into account environmental requirements are presented