Steel – a sustainable material and the most recycled material in the world. This alloy is constantly being further developed to meet the ever-increasing demands. Moreover, this material can still be sustainably returned to the value-added cycle. However, due to its gigantic annual demand, the iron and steel industry is responsible for around seven to nine percent of man-made CO2 emissions worldwide. In order to achieve the goals of the “European Green Deal” and to make Europe climate-neutral by 2050, a technological change must therefore take place quickly.
Dipl.-Ing. Daniel Ernst supports this ambitious project. As part of his dissertation at the Chair of Ferrous Metallurgy at the University of Leoben, he is researching how climate-neutral steel production can be implemented in Austria. The idea is to replace the blast furnace as a reduction unit in the future, which is mainly responsible for CO2 emissions in steel production.
In the latest comMULity video, Daniel shows in his laboratory how steel is produced from iron ore with the help of hydrogen plasma and, as a by-product, water steam instead of CO2. With their research, scientists like Daniel are creating good prospects for the environment and society!
Original post: Es war einmal der Hochofenprozess: Wie die Stahlproduktion klimaneutral werden kann (unileoben.ac.at)
