The Brazilian arm of ArcelorMittal has plans to reduce the consumption of coke by the blast furnaces of its slab producer, Pecem, located in the northeastern state of Ceará.
According to the local press, the CEO of the plant, Erick Torres, mentioned in a first stage the coke would be partially replaced by natural gas under the company’s strategy to reduce to zero its emissions of gases related to the greenhouse effect until 2050.
In addition to the technical adaptations needed for such substitution, the price of the gas would be a major challenge for the project as today, the local cost of the gas is up to three times higher than alternative nearby sources.
Availability of gas would be another challenge as the theoretical consumption of gas to replace coke by the blast furnace of Pecem would require 0.5 million cubic meters per day, although the total substitution is not feasible in technical terms.
According to Torres, the project for the utilization of gas is already being developed with the implementation depending on the supply of gas at competitive price.
In a second stage, the consumption of green hydrogen could be considered, but according to Torres this would require improvements in the industrial processes of the steel industry.
In the short term, Torres believes that the best approach to net zero carbon emissions is the improvement of processes based on energy efficiency.