| Abstract Scope |
The iron and steelmaking industry contributes around 8% to worldwide CO2 emissions, requiring significant decarbonisation to adhere to a 1.5 ℃ pathway. Blast furnace ironmaking is still dominant in the coming decades; therefore, decarbonisation centring around blast furnace ironmaking is favourable in both practical and economic interests. In this study, to develop and apply novel charging materials of iron ores pre-reduced by hydrogen or H2-enriched gases for blast furnace ironmaking to minimise CO2 emission from steel production, iron pellets and sinters were pre-reduced using H2-bearing reducing gas, and the impacts on reduction degree with variations in temperature, holding time and H2 concentration in reducing gas was investigated. Then softening and melting behaviour of pre-reduced iron ore burden was evaluated to understand the performance of pre-reduced iron ores in the cohesive zone of the blast furnace. |