Techno-economic study of an integrated steelworks equipped with oxygen blast furnace and CO₂ capture

A techno-economic comparison of a reference integrated steelworks with a steelworks equipped with Oxygen Blast
Furnace technology and CO₂ capture is presented. Robust process and economic models were developed that could
be customized to suit any integrated steel mill specific to their configuration.
The whole operation of the steel mill including the OBF-system was modeled for a European Atlantic coastal
scenario using a spreadsheet-based model. An amine-type solvent system MDEA/Pz was chosen as solvent to capture
CO₂ from the raw BF topgas. A discounted cash flow through-cost model was used for economic analyses. Results
show that the OBF with CO₂ capture offers a significant potential to reduce the overall CO₂ emissions from an
integrated steel mill achieving 47% CO₂ avoidance at a cost of ~$56/t CO₂ for the given assumptions. The avoidance
cost is particularly sensitive to the cost of energy, capital expenditure and discount rate. Further improvements in
oxygen production, CO₂ capture system, and optimization of power/heat integration between steel mill, CO₂ capture
plant and power generation could lead to lower CO₂ avoidance costs.