AISTech 2019 — Proceedings of the Iron & Steel Technology Conference

6–9 May 2019, Pittsburgh, Pa., USA

DOI 10.1000.377.041

Potential Use of Agricultural Waste as Injecting Material in the Blast Furnace

Alex Campos1, Paulo Santos Assis2

1
M.Sc Eng. REDEMAT-UFOP
20 Tiradentes Square, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 35400-000
Phone: +55 (31) 986448777
Email: alexcampos88@yahoo.com.br
2
Dr-Ing. M.Sc. Eng. REDEMAT-UFOP
20 Tiradentes Square, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 35400-000
Phone: +55 (31) 996131979
Email: assis.ufop@gmail.com

Keywords: Biomass, Iron making, Biofuels, Steelmaking, Clean processes, Greenhouse Gas

INTRODUCTION
The agricultural activity is, undoubtedly, one of the most important activities in the world. Its production is directly linked to
the economy of a country, and can supply several markets in the world, as well as generate food for millions of people. In the
world, billions of tons of diverse agricultural products are produced, with characteristics of each locality that supply the
domestic and foreign markets, representing a third of the world economy. Table 1 shows data from the Food and Agricultural
Organization of the United Nations (FAO) where the amount of waste generated by agricultural activity is possible to be
seen.

Table1. Global Biomass Production in 2017 (FAO, 2018).

Raw Material Production Waste Production
(million t) (million t)
Sugar Cane 1760,7 742,1
Soybeans 341,5 96,9
Corn 1093,2 1378,1
Coffee 9,2 11,9
Rice 740,9 518,6

One point that is little discussed is the large amount of waste that the agricultural activity generates. Likewise, there are
billions of waste that most of the times do not have an adequate destination and end up becoming environmental liabilities for
the farmers. Some producers use this waste to feed animals, to burn in thermoelectric and, consequently, electric power
generation, among others. However, due to the large volume of production, the quantity of these materials is not consumed
entirely, being stored and generating cost for the producers.
According to the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), some crops have a high residual factor. Corn,
for example, has a residual factor of 58%, that means, for each ton of grain produced, 1.4 tons of waste (cob and straw) are
generated. Besides corn, another plantation that calls attention is sugarcane, which has a residual factor of 52% (straw and
bagasse). Each crop has a different residual factor, in other words, each crop produces a different amount of waste that can be
used for other applications or simply stocked until they have a suitable and feasible destination.

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On the other hand, steel mills are known for their strong consumption of coal, which is a fossil fuel from a non-renewable
source. In some countries, such as Brazil, there aren´t any coal reserves of desired quality for the production of iron and steel.
In addition, this consumption of coal is largely responsible for CO2 emissions from steel mills.
According to Wang et al. (2015), iron and steel production accounts for 4-7% of all CO2 emissions on the planet. These
emissions are directly linked to the burning of fossil fuels. For Orth (2007), the largest CO2 emitter in the steel mills is,
beyond question, the blast furnace, responsible for 70% of the emissions in the steel production. Considering that 72% of all
steel produced in the world is from BOF, the amount of greenhouse gases generated is enormous. As can be seen in Figure 1,
the amount of CO2 generated in the production of 1 ton of steel is 2227 kg, considering coal as the energy based.

Figure 1. CO2 emissions in conventional steelmaking (ORTH, 2007).

The introduction of the concept of sustainable energy points to the increasing use of clean and renewable sources of energy,
such as biomass, wind and solar. Today there is an international consensus to reduce emissions of pollutant gases by reducing
fossil fuels. The steel industry, therefore, needs to redouble its efforts to adjust its operational processes to compromise with
the protocols and conferences from recent years. The combination of more efficient energy technologies, just as the use of
biomass, energy cogeneration, material life cycle optimization and, in some cases, carbon sequestration, could result in
significant reductions in energy consumption and in the amount of carbon dioxide emissions. It should be noted that the
implementation of most of this potential may expect a higher cost, as this scenario is still being developed worldwide and still
requires research and investment (Assis, 2014).
Numerous works have been developed over the last years using biomass as materials to be injected in blast furnaces. In
general, the results are favorable, having as main challenge the availability, logistics and prejudice of the use of biomass.
Thus, this work brings some analysis of the use of three agribusiness waste. One of them is the bagasse of sugar cane, which
Brazil is the largest producer. Another is the corn that has the largest production in the United States of America. Finally, the
Moringa oleifera, which is produced on a larger scale in India. A small technical, economic and environmental assessment of
the use of the waste from these farms as pulverized materials injected into the blast furnace will be presented.

DISCUSSION
The great opportunity to use Agriculture waste in the blast furnace can be by the tuyers, through the injection of pulverized
materials. In this technique, it is possible to fit the quantity injected according to the biomass availability for this purpose. To
be injected, the biomass must present some characteristics such as: low ash content, high carbon content, adequated grain size
and good calorific value. Some biomasses have favorable conditions for injection, but treatments such as torrefaction and
carbonization can be performed previously in order to improve the properties of this material (Suopajärvi et al., 2013). The
torrefaction is a treatment where the agriculture waste is heating around 200o C without oxygen. With this, the moisture and
the volatiles will be removed and, consequently, the fixed carbon will be improved.
A very interesting test to evaluate the injection conditions of these materials is the physical simulation of injection of
pulverized materials. Many tests have been done at the Federal University of Ouro Preto in the laboratory of simulation of
pulverized materials injection, where it is possible to simulate the conditions of the combustion zone in the blast furnace.
Figure 2 is demonstrating the equipment of Federal University of Ouro Preto.

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 Figure 2 Simulator of pulverized materials in blast furnace and ORSAT for gas analyze.
From here, it will be shown the technical, economic and environmental possibilities of using agriculture waste from the sugar
cane, moringa oleifera and corn cultivation.

Sugarcane
Brazil is the largest producer of sugarcane in the world. In 2018, the production was around 700 million tons. A large part of
this production is for the alcohol industry where to produce 1 ton of alcohol is generated almost 400 kg of sugarcane bagasse.
It means that in a year around 280 million tons of this material in Brazil are produced.
Due to the great potential of using this material as a fuel to be injected in the blast furnace, some test was made in Federal
University of Ouro Preto in order to evaluate the properties of the sugarcane bagasse. Figure 3 shows some results obtained
in the simulation material injection.

Figure 3 Combustion rate of different mixture from sugarcane bagasse and coal (Assis, 2014)
It is observed that the combustion rate decreases and reaches a minimum, which corresponds to 100% of bagasse in the
blend, when there are two fuels mixed. This decrease in combustion rate can be justified by a low calorific value of the
bagasse. However, no significant variation on the combustion rate is noted up to 25% of sugar cane bagasse blend.
As the injection rate increases, there is a decreased rate of combustion. This effect can be associated to the high volatile
content of the material. This explains why there is a set rate of injection, from which the combustion rate of the alternative
fuel is reduced to a greater extent. But at the same time, it demonstrates the possible technical advantage of the use of coal
mixed with sugarcane bagasse for injection into the blast furnaces

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Moringa Oleifera
Moringa oleifera is a versatile tree, which adapts well to soils with low humidity and hot climate, with numerous uses in the
pharmaceutical area, cosmetics, food and others. Its oil has great potential for not only the production of cosmetics and
medicines, but also for the production of biodiesel. When extracting the oil, some waste is generated, like the seed husk and
the waste after the mechanical pressing or solvent extraction of the peeled seeds. This waste have great potential to generate
energy for processes such as the injection of pulverized materials in blast furnaces. It is possible to see in the figure 4 that the
great producer is Asia, with highlights for India that was responsible for 80% of the exportation of Moringa in 2015.

Figure 4 Participation of continents and countries in Moringa market(Prundergraund, 2015).

Analyses of the combustion rate of the Moringa Husk was performed in Federal University of Ouro Preto, showing the
behavior of this material in the combustion zone of the blast furnace. The figure 5 shows some results simulating the three
diferent injection rate.

Figure 5 Combustion rate of moringa seed husk, coal and mixtures in different injection rates (Campos, 2018)
One important fact is the large amount of volatile material in the husk. It represents the double of carbon amount. Materials
with high volatile content present greater combustibility. This type of material is desired for high injection rates, since the
short residence time of this material in the blast furnace combustion zone. However, a high content of volatiles increases the
volume of gases generated, expanding the instability of the charge and coke degradation. Another problem is that this large
amount of gases increases the pressure in the region of the tuyers. In addition, high volatile content means a higher content of
hydrogen in its composition, which contributes to the reduction of iron ore. The presence of larger amounts of hydrogen may
be beneficial to the process, since it can act as a heat generator. Hydrogen reduces iron ore in a less endothermic way, which
means, it requires less energy for the reduction reaction occur. With this, it is possible to operate the blast furnace with a

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lower flame temperature than when using materials with lower hydrogen contents. On the other hand, hydrogen causes a
premature degradation of the coke in the blast furnace, damaging the permeability through the formation of fines inside the
reactor.
Another important fact is the content of ash and sulfur. The amount of ash must be less than 10% for not increasing the
amount of slag, and the consequent loss of productivity. Sulfur contributes in the same way, and also contributes to the
change of the slag basicity. In addition, high sulfur contents require greater expense with subsequent desulphurization
processes, since sulfur is extremely detrimental to the mechanical properties of the steel.

Corn
Corn is a grain produced in almost all the countries in the world. It is the base for uncountable types of food, not only for
human life, but for feeding animals too. The corn production moves the economic market in different countries, generating a
huge quantity of jobs and a lot of business negotiations.
In 2017, according to FAO, 1,09 billion tons of corn were produced, and the great producer was United States, with 370
million tons. United States was followed by China, Russia and Brazil, but the Corn Belt call attention for the higher produce.
Thinking about that, the Corn Belt in the USA produces around 500 million tons of waste from the corn plantation, and this
quantity of waste may not have a useful utilization. In other words, the Corn Belt has a great potential to supply blast
furnaces in the country.
It is true that the use of waste from corn cultivation brings some cost for steel mills, but it can bring gain too. First, the cost is
associated with the pretreatment and logistics. To be used as an injected material, it is necessary to grind, sieving and dry this
material. Torrefaction can be done to increase the properties of the material. If figure 6 is considered, the Corn Belt is not far
from the rust belt where some of the American blast furnaces are. It means that the distance may not be the problem. Second,
the change between coal and corn waste can decrease the emissions of CO2, if the capture in the photosynthesis is to be
considered. At last, but not at least, the replacement of coal for biomass can generate carbon credit. In the other words, it can
help to preserve the planet and save money.

Figure 6 Proximity from Corn Belt and Rust Belt

Certainly, all of these things are not the main part. The properties and the behavior of these materials in the blast furnace have
to be considered for beginning to evaluate the economic and environmental aspects. As it can be seen in table 2, the cob and
the straw, both waste from corn processing, have some properties that can be interesting for the blast furnace uses.

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 Table 2. Waste from Corn Processing Properties (RAMOS e PAULA, 2011).
Waste from Corn Processing
Properties
Cob Straw Stem and Leaf

% Carbon 45,5 44,8 45,6

%Hydrogen 6,7 6,8 6,5

%Sulfur 0,3 0,1 0,3

%Oxygen 47 47,9 46,5

%Ash 1,16 1,58 3,43

%Volatiles 81,31 81,68 78,30

%Fixed Carbon 18,32 17,05 20,47

High Calorific Value

4615,26 4443,38 4462,54
(cal/g)

First of all, the low ash content has to be considered, as it is important due to the lower residence time of the material in the
combustion zone when it is injected. Second, the high volatiles amount may be wanted when high injection rate is being
practiced. Last, the sulfur content is much lower than the coal, which is important for the next step in the steelmaking
process.

Economic and Environmental Aspects

For some countries like Brazil, the availability of coal is limited. It means that the costs of this fuel represent 40% of the
value of steel. The price of metallurgical coal for Brazilian steel mills is around US $ 250 per ton. Considering a blast furnace
producing 8000 tons of hot metal and injecting 180kg per ton of hot metal, the cost of coal in the injection would be 360,000
dollars per day, which is equivalent to about 132 million per year.
Suopajärvi (2017) cites the cost of some biomass around 120 dollars per ton, as logistical and pre-treatment. Considering the
replacement of 80kg of coal injected by these biomasses, the annual cost with injection material would be approximately 101
million dollars. In this case, the annual savings on injection material would be 20%, or $ 30 million, if a replacement rate of 1
is considered for these biomasses. If we consider that a theoretical replacement rate for the mixture containing 40% biomass
is 0.68, the biomass cost can’t be higher than 65 dollars per ton for this economy to be valid.
Since all CO2 released in the biomass burns is consumed during the growth of crops by photosynthesis process, and that a
company that produces 10 thousand tons of hot metal a day injects 150 kg of coal per ton of hot metal, it can be said that, at
the end of the day, 4400 tons of CO2 are emitted in the process of pulverized materials injection. If 40% of this coal is
replaced by biomass, the daily CO2 emission would be 1320 tons. This result represents a 30% decreasing in CO2 emissions
in the blast furnace injection process.

CONCLUSION
First, it can be concluded that when replacing coal by biomass, there is a positive effect in the CO2 emissions balance, and
there is a potential for saving money with this substitution. Second, the presented biomasses have some different properties
from coal, as lower carbon content, ash content, sulfur content and calorific value, but they have higher volatiles, hydrogen
and oxygen content than this fossil fuel. At last, all countries can explore their waste in order to use it in the steelmaking
process for saving money and the planet. However, in order to be economically feasible, the location and space available for
the production of biomasses for this use must be analyzed, so as the cost of logistics and pre-treatment.

404 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge CAPES, REDEMAT, Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP) and all those who contributed for
this research.

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