A paper will be presented in the 4th Energy and Materials Efficiency, which runs in parallel with the Brazilian Metals Association (ABM) seminar, the ABM Week, in Sao Paulo, on June 7, 2022, explaining how the concept of the Tecnored technology could be applied in conventional blast furnaces, with a sharp reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
According to an abstract of the paper, the self-reducing briquettes could replace coke, sinter and pellets in blast furnaces, with higher energy efficiency, high carbon credits and lower operational expenses.
Briquettes are the key to the process, a mixture of iron ore and carbon fines, that can come from a diversity of sources, from low-cost thermal coals to biocarbon from all biomass residues sources such as garbage, sewage sludge and wastes from forestry and agribusiness.
As the carbon units are inside the briquettes, the reaction results faster than the conventional process, with savings of energy.
A technology development program will be undertaken by a group of Brazilian steel and mining Companies, in cooperation with a research group from the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC Rio).