Decarbonisation of lime kilns in ironmaking plants through Power to Gas

Bailera, Manuel (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; García-Mariaca, Alexander (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Barón, Cristian (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Resumen: The iron and steel industry is one of the world's major carbon emitters. Various decarbonisation options are currently being explored: Asian producers mainly focus on carbon capture and carbon recycling in blast furnaces, while European producers favour the use of hydrogen in direct reduction processes. While the latter can eliminate CO2 emissions from iron ore reduction, producers still face CO2 emissions in other plant processes. Lime kilns, which are essential to iron production, cannot be fully decarbonized through hydrogen or direct electrification alone, as CO2 is inherently released during the calcination of limestone. Consequently, this paper analyses different decarbonisation pathways for lime kilns in ironmaking plants. These pathways utilize Power to Gas to establish carbon recycling concepts to avoid CO2 emissions. The integration of Power to Gas was modelled and simulated for the following lime kiln technologies: (1) Parallel flow regenerative shaft air-fuel lime kiln with amine scrubbing, (2) Parallel flow regenerative shaft oxy-fuel lime kiln, and (3) Parallel flow regenerative shaft oxy-fuel H2 lime kiln. The Power to Gas technology is powered by solar power. The PV solar field was modelled as being installed on the rooftops of a steelworks located in Austria. The total PV capacity that can currently be installed is 15 MWp. When considering additional roofs that require moderate rehabilitation or cleaning, the total PV capacity increases to 57 MWp. The results show that CO2 emissions can be reduced by 2% to 28% compared to the conventional air-blown lime kiln case. However, CO2 avoidance costs exceed 1,000 & euro;/tCO2, rendering the concept economically unfeasible.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1016/j.rineng.2026.110076

Año: 2026

Publicado en: Results in Engineering 30 (2026), 110076 [15 pp.]
ISSN: 2590-1230

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/AEI/RYC2022-038283-I
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICIU/PID2023-149968OBI00

Tipo y forma: Artículo (Versión definitiva)

Área (Departamento): Área Máquinas y Motores Térmi. (Dpto. Ingeniería Mecánica)