Biocarbon Materials in Metallurgical Processes—Investigation of Critical Properties

The silicon, ferroalloy, and aluminum industries havemostly been dependent on fossil carbons for their respective process. However, efforts to reduce their fossil CO₂ emissions, the switch to biocarbon has already begun and targets of 25–40% biocarbon by 2030 have been set by various producers in Norway. To achieve this transformation a better understanding of the effects of physical properties of the carbon on the process must be obtained so that the transformation can occur with minimal process interruptions. For the silicon, ferrosilicon, and ferromanganese industries the effects of biocarbon reductants are the primary interest whereas for the aluminum industry, use of biocarbon to replace packing coke used in anode baking is desired. In this work, an overview over relevant carbon properties and methods to characterize these are presented together with an evaluation of how these properties may affect the different processes when introducing biocarbon.