Current projects
Lowest possible coke consumption in the blast furnace
(JK 21064)
Coke is a necessary ingredient in steel production, being required for the reducing of iron oxide to iron. In Sweden’s three blast furnaces, 1,257 ktonnes of coke are used each year which leads to considerable carbon dioxide emissions. The project’s goal is to cut the use of coke in blast furnaces by an amount equivalent to 340 GWh/year. This shall take place through part of the coke being replaced by pulverised coal or alternative injection agents at the same time as the amount of coal that is lost as dust with the blast furnace gases is reduced.
The project lies within technical area 21.
Energy-saving refining of hot metal
(JK 21065)
The development of new products and niche targeting on high-strength products has entailed increasingly stringent requirements for desulphurisation treatment and higher demands on the raw materials themselves. This, in its turn, leads to significant losses of iron at the desulphurisation stage and considerable limitations on the quantity of scrap that can be used in the LD converter. This project aims at enhancing the efficient utilisation of materials in the refining of hot metal (pig iron) through reducing the material losses at the desulphurisation stage and replacing limestone in the converter with recycled slag from the ladle. In addition, the intention is to increase the utilisation of the energy-rich gas that is formed in the LD converter through raising the speed of the slag formation process. The ambition is to save 315 GWh/per year.
The project lies within technical area 21.
Control and monitoring of slag formation in electric arc furnace
(JK 23028)
Slags have several important tasks in the electric arc furnace. Despite this, knowledge about how slag formation is affected by the quality of raw materials and other inputs is relatively limited. Within the steel industry’s energy research programme a project is under way that aims to improve the efficiency in the utilisation of raw materials and energy in the electric arc furnace. This shall take place through development of models for fault detection in the scrap raw material analysis, improved slag foaming and better control of the slag formation process in general. All in all, this may lead to an annual energy saving of 39 GWh.
The project lies within technical area 23.
Development of continuous casting ingot mould with cooling-optimised characteristics for casting of crack-susceptible steel
(JK 24050)
Surface defects that arise in continuous casting nowadays account for material losses that, including energy consumption on grinding, correspond to about 60 GWh/year. In the project an attempt is made to reduce these losses by half through developing a technique for adjusting the cooling speed on casting so that different steels are cooled at different speeds. The purpose is to enable adjustment of the solidification process so that even crack-susceptible steel that requires slow cooling can undergo continuous casting successfully. This leads, moreover, to reduced material loss and enables more steel types to be continuously cast - instead of as ingots – with consequent major energy savings.
The project lies within technical area 24.
More energy-efficient operating strategy for rolling of advanced steel profiles
(JK 32074)
Various steel grades of different dimensions are hot rolled at the production sites for long steel products such as rods/bars and wire. Using current working methods, this means that the reheating furnace’s temperature must be raised and lowered and the complicated logistics mean that the material must sometimes be reheated or discarded owing to it having cooled too much between heating and rolling. Furthermore, the advanced rolling with several sequential grooves and passes mean that the wear and tear from rolling at certain points is considerable, entailing costly operating stoppages for roll replacement. Within this project, methods are sought to reduce energy consumption in the heating and rolling of long products through improving the heating process and optimising the calibration of grooves and pass-schedules. This project has the potential of reducing energy consumption by 56 GWh/year.
The project lies within technical area 32.
Energy-saving through faster reheating and annealing
(JK 43027)
There exists great potential for advances in energy efficiency in the steel industry’s reheating and annealing furnaces. By changing to modern burners that use oxy-gas instead of air, productivity can be enhanced at the same time as emissions of nitrogen oxides are cut. However, in order for these techniques to be implemented on a wide scale it is essential to map out the effects of a more rapid reheating/annealing process and a change in furnace atmosphere on the material’s quality. Such a survey is being carried out within the project. The hope is that the new combustion technology will be able to save 75 GWh per year.
The project lies within technical area 43.
Furnace control and overall process analysis
(JK 51054)
In the process of heating and processing, the steel is heated in accordance with certain determined heating curves in order to obtain the desired material properties. A precondition for this however is the availability of effective control systems and heating models that correspond properly with actual conditions. In this project, work is being carried out to improve existing control systems and develop new ones with the object of avoiding unnecessarily high temperatures and unnecessarily long heating times. At the same time, the possibility is being studied of detecting, at an early stage, process deviations that may lead to deterioration in product quality. An annual energy saving of 100 GWh/year can be achieved through implementation of these new systems.
The project lies within technical area 51.
Reduced use of fossil energy in the steel industry through high-temperature gasification
(JK 51053)
Fossil fuels such as oils and LPG are used for heating of materials in the steel industry’s processing stages. The use of these forms of energy leads to considerable carbon dioxide emissions and dependence on imports. The project’s goal, in the longer term, is to lessen the use of fossil fuels by 200 GWh per year. This shall take place by means of a new technique for producing eco-friendly industrial gas from biomass and waste.
Project lies within technical area 51.
Synthesis, follow-up and administration of Jernkontoret’s Energy programme
The administration of the eight research projects within the Energy Research Programme is embedded in its own project with Jernkontoret performing this task. The work comprehends the preparation of a synthesis report that shall draw conclusions from the programme as a whole and identify future research requirements, knowledge surveys in respect of energy-related steel research as well as follow-up and preparation for implementation of the project results.
