Fugitive Emissions of Materials and Energy

The project is performed in a cooperation between Ferrolegerings industriens forskningsforening (which includes for this project ELKEM Silicon Materials, FESIL Metals AS, Eramet Norway, Glencore Manganese, Finnfjord Smelteverk and Wacker Chemicals Holla), NTNU and SINTEF. In addition Norsk Elektro Optikk, MoLab and TÜV Nord have been involved in some of the measurement campaigns performed in the project. The achieved results and competence building in several, for partners, crucial areas would not be possible without this type of large scale interdisciplinary projects. This project encouraged a close cooperation on environmental issues of companies which in general are competing in the market. Environmental issues have achieved an increased attention in recent years, especially work environment, emissions which accelerate climate changes and other pollutions e.g.: PAH in the work environment, fugitive dust emissions inside the buildings and to the exterior environment; energy emissions and recovery of energy are vital for efficient production. The aim of the project was a considerable reduction of emissions of fugitive materials and energy to improve the internal and external environment in the ferro-alloy industry. New techniques and knowledge was efficiently generated through comprehensive cooperation of industries, universities and institutes. The primary objective of the performed project was to develop in-depth competence in the area of "fugitive" emissions of materials (gas, dust/particles etc) to internal and external environment and energy (both low and high temperature). The built-up competence will be applied to reduce emissions: - through direct process improvements based on a fundamental understanding of emission generation mechanisms, - through improvement of equipment for emission reduction and capture with respect to the working environment, - and to better utilize low- and high temperature waste energy in integrated process solutions (district household heating, fish farming, bio-refineries etc) The project required a highly interdisciplinary research team consisting of personnel from industries, institutes and universities to fulfill the project objectives. During the project comprehensive laboratory work was performed to improve the fundamental understanding, these data where in turn utilized for verification of simulation models. Of primary interest was the understanding of the fundamentals of dust formation and fuming from, primarily, Silicon and Manganese tapping and refining. Detailed results on the effect of parameters such as temperature, gas flow and composition, metal exposure area etc on the rate of fuming and the characteristics of fume particles were important outcomes in order to design measures for reducing metal oxidation related fuming. The most crucial R&D task were: - Fugitive Emissions of Materials are generated through the formation of dust from splashing during refining of the metals and oxidation of liquid metals during tapping and pouring. Integration of experiment and modelling of the prevailing phenomena has been performed. Methods for capturing of these emissions were developed through comprehensive CFD-modelling and later on implemented in industries. The modelling of the interior environment, e.g. air flows in the entire building combined with emission / energy / heat sources was combined with meteorological conditions to evaluate release of emissions to the exterior environment. - The emission of energy and energy efficiency was investigated. Energy inventories, exergy analysis and irreversible thermodynamics were integrated to understand the fundamentals of the energy consumption in metallurgical processes and the limit to energy efficiency in metallurgical processes. The design of a pilot plant for experiment on smelting of silicon and manganese was performed to verify energy flows in the system and estimate energy recovery potential. A thermoelectric prototype was designed, constructed and demonstrated for power production from radiant heat during metal casting. - Measurements and Tools is a generic sub-project which generated comprehensive knowledge on new tools for monitoring of emissions. During the course of the project new instruments were taken into use and their applicability with respect to emission monitoring was verified for ferro-alloy industries. Numerous industrial measurement campaigns were performed and heavily integrated with Sub-projects A and B, new models were developed and verified through these campaigns. Within the educational part of the project, 3 PhD-students graduated, 2 Post.Doc's were performed; additionally several master students performed their work in association with the project.

The proposed competence building project is directed towards the Norwegian ferroalloys industry. Active partners in the project are Elkem, Fesil, Finnfjord Smelteverk, Eramet Norway, Rio Doce Manganese Norway (RDMN), SINTEF and NTNU. The primary objective of the proposed project is to develop in-depth competence in the area of fugitive emissions of materials (gas, dust/particles etc) to internal and external environment and energy (both low and high temperature) in the Norwegian ferroalloys industry. The project will educate 3 PhDs and involve 2 Post Docs in addition to SINTEF, NTNU and industry staff. The project is divided into three research and education areas: -Materials emissions and their reduction. -Energy emissions and their reduction. -Measure ments and tools. -Junior programme. With a tradition for close collaboration, the FFF member companies quickly adapt new ideas generated in joint projects and it is hence expected that the collective competence built up in the project will have an immed iate impact on process operation and equipment design. The tangible results of an increased research effort in this area will be measures put in place to reduce emission through e.g.: altered process operations and operational practises, equipment design and process understanding. Equally important is the education of people - to prepare for a generation shift of experienced industrial scientists with environmental focus which will take place in the next 5 years. The proposed R&D programme places the Norw egian metallurgical industry in an even stronger cost-competitive position both in terms of environmental standards (less risk for production stops due to elevated emissions and potential related fees) as well as in terms of reduction of expensive raw mat erials and energy losses.