U.S. Steel: Natural gas process will soon replace coke
Nov 04, 2013
Coke will become all but obsolete in most steelmaking in about a decade, say some industry experts.
Technology both gaining ground and still in development will largely remove the need for the coal-based fuel in making high-quality steel, they say.
That is important in the wake of U.S. Steel's decision last week to end steel and iron making in Hamilton because the plant and 828 jobs will now hinge on coke-making, rolling, galvanizing and other finishing operations.
United Steelworkers says roughly 120 jobs are directly linked to coke-making in Hamilton.
A process called direct reduced iron uses natural gas to concentrate iron ore into pellets within a furnace that requires less, or in some cases, no coke, says steel expert Peter Warrian of the University of Toronto.
The
process is less expensive and about 21 million tonnes of steel in the world is made this way now, says Warrian.
Steel companies are
making big investments in developing the technology, he said.
"In the next 10 years, it will replace blast furnaces."
Bruce Steiner, president of the American Coke and Coal Chemicals Institute, says
many integrated steel and iron companies are turning to natural gas over coal because it's both cheaper and more abundant than coal. That trend has especially taken hold in smaller operations overseas, where coal must be shipped in.
Some coal will always be used, but he said there "is a constant economic push to reduce coke in furnaces."
Over the long term, he says, research is developing alternatives to blast furnaces, which are expensive to build.
Most of the coal used to make coke — called metallurgical coal — comes from the central Appalachians in the United States, said Steiner. The low-sulphur, low-ash coal is mined from deep within the ground and transported around the world.
There is decades if not hundreds of years of supply, but its extraction leads to plenty of concerns about environmental damage and worker safety, says Steiner.
"There is a strong push to reduce coal consumption generally, but especially in the power sector."
But for now, coke is still strategically important and coke-making batteries are still "prize assets," said Warrian.
That was echoed by Tom Vert, general manager of primary manufacturing at ArcelorMittal Dofasco. He says that plant is using natural gas instead of coke in a "small percentage" of its blast furnaces.
"Coke-making remains an integral part of our steelmaking process. The quality of the steel we provide to our customers demands that coke be used in the blast furnace process, which produces high purity liquid iron and results in advanced high strength steel for automotive and tin plate for food packaging," he said.
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