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How to Escape From the Iron Age? (solar.lowtechmagazine.com)

We cannot lower carbon emissions if we keep producing steel with fossil fuels.

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[-] douglasg14b@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's..... Not how new steel production works.

Coal is a significant component in the production of steel to impregnate it with carbon. It's a fundamental part of how a blast furnace operates. The article literally talks about this...

Even the article about doesn't mention an alternative. An arc furnace relies on scrap it cannot make new steel.

Though, I wonder if we can move more towards charcoals, but even then I wonder if that's just much less effective or if it cannot reach the temperatures or concentrations required for industrial processes.

[-] cyd@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

How much of the coal in a blast furnace is actually necessary for the carbon impregnation, as opposed to supplying the heat via combustion? Steel contains only a few percent carbon by weight, so it doesn't seem like much carbon is needed (not to mention that the carbon in steel is essentially sequestered).

[-] lvxferre@mander.xyz 6 points 1 year ago

Charcoal steel is actually better, as charcoal is generally purer, and steel suffers from phosphor and sulphur impurities. The problem is that it's costlier.

I think that it would be viable to at least reduce the carbon used in steel production just to impregnate it, and conduct the bulk of the reduction through another process.

[-] Skua@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

The hybrit process that some Swedish steelmakers (including SSAB - not a typo, it isn't Saab) are using looks promising. They've been testing it with Volvo and are apparently making it part of Volvo's regular process in 2026

[-] cordlesslamp@lemmy.today 2 points 1 year ago

Cool, I learned something new today.

this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2024
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