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Participants: 

• Xabier Basañez (BEC)
• Santiago Oliver (UNESID)
• Carlos Alvarez (SIDEREX)
• Mikel Amundarain (GV)

Steel is essential for a climate-neutral economy. From renewables to electric vehicles, the clean-tech value chains are dependent on steel. The European steel industry can be the EU’s industrial front-runner in deep CO2 emission reduction cuts already in the next few years, with numerous industrial-scale projects ready to be implemented before 2030. However, these clean technologies require significant capital investment for which decisions have to be taken now, and access to abundant, affordable low-carbon energy. Total operational expenditure will also be high. To become viable, low-CO2 steel needs a level-playing field with global competitors and demand-side measures to boost its uptake in the market.

Steel is not only a material which is critical to building the infrastructure of our world but it is also one with leading circularity credentials. Therefore, as meeting the objectives of the 2015 Paris agreement requires a permanent, fundamental shift in the way we consume and produce goods, the drive to decarbonise aligns with the drive to transition to a truly circular economy – one that seeks to eliminate waste through the continual re-use of resources.

Therefore, steel has the credentials to be a material which sits at the heart of a sustainable, circular economy. 

"Steel is the most important material for modern society, indispensable for production of food, drinking water, electricity, housing and infrastructure like railway, bridges, tunnels, airports etc. Steel is also the most recycled material. However, growth in world steel demand can’t be satisfied only by recycling. Virgin iron ore based steel is needed for the foreseeable future. Current production technologies of steel from iron ore relies heavily on fossil energy sources like coal and natural gas, and the steel industry accounts for approximately 7% of global CO₂-emissions.

SSAB initiated together with mining company LKAB and energy company Vattenfall in 2016 the HYBRIT initiative, aiming at developing a fossil free value chain from mine to steel, thus solving the root cause of CO₂-emission. Extensive R&D efforts have been spend and in beginning of 2022 SSAB decided to accelerate and complete the transformation to fossil free steelmaking around 2030, 15 years ahead of the earlier target of 2045."

Ferroalloys such as molybdenum, nickel, niobium and several others play important roles in steels used for renewable energy generation. The expected strong demand for these metals is indicated for various technologies and is put into perspective to supply scenarios by global mining companies. The production of ferroalloys goes along with a carbon footprint. The relevance of that effect within the total context is discussed and perspectives of reducing ferroalloy carbon footprint are demonstrated. A new molybdenum mining project in Greenland will demonstrate the possibilities but also the complexity of such a development.

Oxygen blast furnaces are being researched by steel manufacturers for the purpose of improving productivity and reducing CO₂ emissions. Oxygen blast furnaces are operated by blowing pure oxygen through the tuyeres. Compared to conventional blast furnaces that blow in hot air, the combustion efficiency at the tuyeres is higher, and CO₂ can be reduced. In addition, since pure oxygen is used, nitrogen is not included in the blown gas, so the CO₂ concentration in the flue gas is high, making it easy to separate and recover CO₂.

On the other hand, the amount of gas flowing through the furnace decreases, resulting in a shortage of heat in the shaft of the blast furnace. We have developed a high-temperatur gas generator that preheats blast furnace gas using oxygen combustion technology to compensate for the lack of heat in the shaft.

A substantial amount of the world’s rising energy demand is forecast to still be met by fossil fuels over the next decade. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a key available technology to mitigate emissions from large-scale fossil fuel use. Therefore, developing and commercializing this technology is essential to help reduce the impact on climate change. CCS primarily involves capturing the CO₂ arising from energy-related and industrial sources, treating it to remove impurities, and compressing, transporting and injecting it in a storage site to ensure long-term isolation from the atmosphere. The specific difference in relation to experience with relatively pure CO₂ injection is caused by the impurity of the CCS CO₂ which will be dictated by its source and the capture technology employed.

One of the most important challenges in CCS technology is to provide guidance in material selection and corrosion control for engineers to design and identify operating limits for projects that involve CO₂ transport and injection. In this sense, the international standardization committees are currently deeply working in addressing guidelines to develop new specific corrosion testing for material screening. Stainless steel products as corrosion resistant alloys are considered key materials in this new field of study.

Carbon Capture and Storage CCS is widely accepted as a key element in the strategy for decarbonisation of Industry. Captured CO₂ will be delivered to sequestration sites in different conditions and by different modes of transport. Large scale marine shipping of CO2 would enable transportation of captured CO₂ from remote sites or local hubs to more distant sequestration sites.

Nippon Gases own and operate 75% of the existing global CO₂ marine shipping capacity and undertook the feasibility studies that paved the way for the most developed of the current CCS Shipping projects.

The ships and cargoes of a future CCS shipping industry will be on a far greater scale than the business operated by Nippon Gases. However the fundamental principles and constraints of carbon dioxide operations remain the same, with the need to “scale-up” providing further challenges.

Nippon Gases’ core business is not in the large scale transportation of captured CO₂, rather it is to support customers with expertise and assets that can assist their transition to de-carbonisation.

The talk will outline the basic operational principles of CO₂ shipping and describe the options that are being considered for the future. Some examples of recent and live projects will illustrate the current state of the industry and expectation of developments.

Over the past few years, there has been significant progress in digital scrap yard management systems, thanks to technological advancements like the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud computing. The latest tools and techniques for managing digital scrap yards incorporate RFID tags, drones, and sensors, which monitor the movement and processing of scrap metal. Additionally, AI-powered algorithms are being used to optimize sorting and processing, while cloud-based software solutions manage inventory, track shipments, and automate billing and invoicing processes. These cutting-edge technologies result in improved efficiency, accuracy, and transparency in scrap yard management, ultimately reducing costs and enhancing customer satisfaction. SMS Group is a full-service partner for the metals industry looking to digitize their scrap yard management processes, leveraging their expertise as a leading provider of equipment.

The decarbonization of the steel industry that has begun will inevitably lead to changes in by-products. These can differ significantly from today's materials in some cases, so there are many challenges to serving today's application markets and maintaining the high utilization rate. Furthermore, there are also opportunities to use the new slags in higher-value applications than today.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and is key to fossil fuel refinery processes and to the production of ammonia for the fertiliser industry.

One of the sectors in which hydrogen shows the greatest potential is steel production, which accounts for 7% of all greenhouse gas emissions and therefore has quite a significant impact on the environment.

Green hydrogen to decarbonise steel production through different processes promises to be, in the long term, a financially profitable route according to various studies.

The economy needs to be decarbonized in the year 2050. In order to reach the decarbonization the combination between electrification and green hydrogen will be the solution. Green hydrogen will be used in hard-to-abate sector when the electricity is not possible to be use. Steel industry is maybe the biggest hard-to-abate sector and the green hydrogen use will be mandatory in order to comply with the industry decarbonization

21^st century management goes well beyond the paradigm of strategic planning: as well as planning what we offer today in our portfolios, we must be capable of exploring what we will offer tomorrow and doing so such that our people learn and unlearn to be able to present the best professional version of themselves, all their talent. In 21^st century management, we are committed to ambidextrous companies, to the innovation to which we are invited by sensitivity to risk and to leaderships that express the fact that to lead is to serve and not to serve oneself. 21^st management is humanist management in a context defined by technology.