Electrified Carbon Cycling for Neutralizing the Steelmaking Industry
ABSTRACT The conventional steelmaking process emits 1.8 tons of CO2 to produce 1 ton of crude steel, making the steel industry the world's largest emitting manufacturing sector. Here, we propose and demonstrate a renewable route based on electrified carbon cycling, which significantly reduces C...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2025-07-01
|
| Series: | Carbon Energy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/cey2.712 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | ABSTRACT The conventional steelmaking process emits 1.8 tons of CO2 to produce 1 ton of crude steel, making the steel industry the world's largest emitting manufacturing sector. Here, we propose and demonstrate a renewable route based on electrified carbon cycling, which significantly reduces CO2 emission by 83%. The critical step of the route involves electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2RR) to produce CO‐rich syngas, which reduces iron ore into metallic iron (FexOy‐to‐Fe), effectively closing the carbon cycling. A technoeconomic analysis (TEA) reveals that the energy efficiency of this novel process is dependent on the operating parameters of CO2RR, with optimal efficiency occurring at the current density range of 150‐200 mA cm−2. As a proof‐of‐concept study, sulfur vacancy (VS)‐engineered Ag3CuS2 was developed as a high‐performance CO2RR electrocatalyst. This catalyst yields a CO‐rich syngas at a high Faradaic efficiency (FE) close to 100% at a cell voltage of 2.5 V. The CO2RR‐produced syngas effectively reduced iron oxide into metallic iron. The implementation of electrified carbon cycling significantly increases the utilization of electricity in steel production, reaching 88.7%. This research describes a sustainable way to reshape the ironmaking process and ultimately neutralize the steel industry. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2637-9368 |