Lim Yan Chen_S_77_Draft3

 USC1001 - Summary Reader Response Draft 3

Subject: Green Steel


Student Name:  Lim Yan Chen

Student ID: 2201776


The article “How green steel made with electricity could clean up a dirty industry" by Crownhart (2022) showed that fossil fuels are quintessential in the production of steel, to be heated in blast furnaces. This reacts with the impure iron ores, containing iron oxides and other minerals, removing the oxygen and leaving liquid iron. The byproduct of this process is released as carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that is harmful to the environment.

According to Casey (2022), traditional steel-making produces around two tons of carbon dioxide emissions for every ton of steel produced, which is 10% of all carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. As the global steel market is set to expand around 30% by 2050, there is a need for alternative green methods as some of the largest steelmakers have since pledged to reach zero-emissions by the same date. 

In the same article, Boston Metal’s green solution utilises a new process called molten oxide electrolysis (MOE), whereby electricity is run through a cell containing iron oxides and materials, melting it down. The electricity used in the heating process also drives the chemical reactions responsible for removing oxygen from the iron oxides and materials, emitting oxygen gas instead of carbon dioxide.

In my opinion, Boston Steel's "Green Steel" technology will significantly improve the sustainability of the steelmaking industry by reducing carbon dioxide emissions using renewable energy and providing more environmental benefits than its competitors.


The molten oxide electrolysis is able to operate without the use of fossil fuels, an ever-depleting resource. Quoting Casey, "Fossil fuels are essential to today’s steel production. Most steelmaking starts in a blast furnace, where a coal-derived material called coke, which is almost pure carbon, reacts with iron ore, a mixture of iron oxides and other minerals. The reaction pulls out the oxygen, leaving behind liquid iron. The carbon and oxygen are then released together as carbon dioxide."(Casey, 2022, para .7) In steelmaking, fossil fuels are used to heat up and react with the iron oxide, removing the oxygen from the liquid iron. However the byproduct of the process is carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps the Sun's heat energy (Fecht 2021), attributing to global warming. This is not the case with the "Green Steel'' solution, using electricity to drive the chemical reactions, removing oxygen from iron oxides. The byproduct of this process is oxygen gas, which is non-hazardous to the environment, hence making it an environmentally sustainable method of steel production.


Even as other companies have created new processes to produce steel without the use of fossil fuels, Boston Steel's "Green Steel" solution is able to surpass its competitors in terms of sustainability.  An example of this is SuSteel's hydrogen plasma smelting reduction technology, which uses electricity to disassemble hydrogen gas as it passes through a hollow graphite electrode into a conical reactor.

According to Peplow (2021), the process creates a plasma stream of extremely hot hydrogen atoms, ions and molecules at temperatures surpassing 20,000 °C. The plasma then melts and reduces finely ground iron ore to form a pool of liquid iron. The process of pelletisation is not required and forming crude steel is possible without the use of electric arc furnaces as the graphite electrode is able to add carbon during the melting process, allowing its product to proceed to secondary steel refining.

In the same article, most hydrogen-based methods are constrained as the process requires hematite to be fed as magnetite is less porous and has a slower reduction rate inside the shaft furnace. Peplow also states that despite the latest improvements to the efficiency of electrolyzers, scientists contend that it is more economical to not use hydrogen and instead use Boston Steel's molten oxide electrolysis to reduce the iron oxides. The only challenge faced by molten oxide electrolysis is the reaction releasing a large amount of oxygen that reduces the conductivity of the melt. Since then, Boston Steel have made improvements by tailoring the mixture of metal oxides to ensure that the melting temperature is reasonable, very stable and the liquid metal is less viscous to allow oxygen to escape from the mixture. Thus, Boston Steel's "Green Steel" is more sustainable and beneficial to the environment than its competitors.


There have been arguments pertaining to whether Boston Steel's molten oxide electrolysis is truly environmentally sustainable. According to Gordon (2023), electrolysis technology used requires "must-run" electricity, a constant flow of electricity to operate and produce steel, resulting in fluctuating power prices. The electricity used would still require fossil fuels as renewable electricity makes up a small fraction of all electricity produced, an example of this can be found in an article from Energy.gov, where renewable electricity makes up only 20% of all electricity produced in the USA. But according to Dan (2023), the percentage of renewable energy generated in the USA is projected to increase by 2% from 2023 and 2024. At the rate renewable energy generation is increasing, operating "Green Steel" steel-making facilities operating solely on sustainable energy sources will be a reality in the coming years.


To conclude, Boston Steel's "Green Steel" is a sustainable process that is capable of producing steel without having much adverse effect on the environment. With a process capable of producing steel without reliance on fossil fuels and having more benefits compared to its competitors, Boston Steel's solution should be implemented to other companies to improve sustainability and lower the carbon emissions from the steel-making industry.


References:

Crownhart, C. (2022, June 28). How green steel made with electricity could clean up a dirty industry. MIT Technology Review. From https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/06/28/1055027/green-steel-electricity-boston-metal/ 

Renewable energy. Energy.gov. (n.d.). From https://www.energy.gov/eere/renewable-energy#:~:text=Renewable%20energy%20generates%20about%2020,that%20percentage%20continues%20to%20grow.

25, S. F. |F., Fecht, S., Joe, Keller, J. L., H., D., Climie, I., Levenson, B. P., Hidden, N., Mackenzie, D., Weller, Dennis, Edeen, E., Ddp, Adams, P., Vance, J., Bian, Q., James, Scroggins, L. J., Madden, K., … Shiff, A. (2021, March 17). How exactly does carbon dioxide cause global warming? State of the Planet. From https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/02/25/carbon-dioxide-cause-global-warming/ 

Gearino, D. (2023, January 19). Renewables projected to soon be one-fourth of US electricity generation. really soon. Inside Climate News. From https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19012023/inside-clean-energy-us-renewables-generation/#:~:text=From%202023%20to%202024%2C%20renewables,be%20unchanged%20at%2019%20percent.

Gordon, O. (2023, January 20). The four-horse race to decarbonise steel. Energy Monitor. From https://www.energymonitor.ai/sectors/industry/the-four-horse-race-to-decarbonise-steel/

Peplow, M. (2021, June 14). The race for Green Steel | C&EN global enterprise. The Race for Green Steel. From https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/cen-09922-cover

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