Optimising the biocarbon value chain for sustainable metallurgical industry

The ENERGIX program plan clearly states the importance of sustainability and sustainable value chains, including biomass based, contributing to reduced CO2 emissions and a carbon neutral society in 2050. For biomass, there is an expectation of total biomass feedstock utilisation. The metallurgical industry in Norway seeks to substitute large amounts of biocarbon for fossil reductants in their processes. The Norwegian Process Industry Roadmap - Combining growth and zero emissions by 2050, and Industrimeldingen lay the foundation for an accelerated utilization of Norwegian biomass resources that would reduce the CO2 footprint of the metallurgical industry. The former document targets a 43% reduction of CO2 by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. To enable this transformation, the whole biocarbon (BC) value chain for the metallurgical industry must be optimized to remove economic constraints, satisfy reductant quality demands, and develop predictable (amount, quality and price), long-term biomass resource demand. This project responds to the national strategies and the goals of the metallurgical industry by analyzing and optimizing the BC value chain to produce suitable and affordable reductants in a sustainable manner. Producing BC, a renewable material from biomass resources, will have a twofold effect: (1) reduce CO2 emissions by substituting for fossil reductants and (2) increase forest resource utilisation by creating higher value material and/or energy products. Due to the BC quality demanded by the metallurgical processes, woody biomass, especially stem wood, is the most suitable candidate for reductant feedstock. The overall objective of this project is to optimise the biocarbon value chain for the metallurgical industry. In sum, extensive results have been produced in the project, as a contribution to optimisation of the biocarbon value chain for the metallurgical industry. The results are connected to the forest biomass resource base, conversion of these in different pyrolysis processes to produce biocarbon for use in the metallurgical industries, upgrading of biocarbon and pyrolysis oil to satisfy quality demands that the metallurgical processes have to the materials they use, and testing of biocarbon, upgraded biocarbon and upgraded pyrolysis oil with regards to their usability in the metallurgical processes. The results that have been produced in the project have resulted in extensive knowledge generation and many publications at different levels. The results that have been produced have great use value for the research field, knowledge building, industry and the society at large. The results have to a great extent been communicated, continuous to the industrial partners throughout the project duration, and via publishing. Dissemination have been carried out through various channels; meetings, seminars, conferences, scientific journals, the project webpage (https://www.sintef.no/en/projects/2023/biocarbupgrade/), newsletters, blogs, media contributions and a handbook from the project. Some final results will be published in 2024.

Today the amount of fossil reductants used in Norway is about one million tons annually, and substituting these fossil reductants with biocarbon will give a huge improvement on the sustainability of the metallurgical industries using these fossil reductants today. This will also open up a large market for the forest industry. Additionally, biocarbon production, upgrading and logistics at the needed scale represent a significant business. Hence, the outcome of the project aimed at contributing to increased sustainability throughout the biocarbon value chain, which would benefit the society as well as the climate and in the end also economic development. The industry partners and the research partners, together with collaborative partners, aimed at maximum output from the project, which to the largest extent possible would be made public through different publication channels and as well be disseminated to authorities and the general public. In sum, extensive results have been produced in the project, as a contribution to optimisation of the biocarbon value chain for the metallurgical industry. The results are connected to the forest biomass resource base, conversion of these in different pyrolysis processes to produce biocarbon for use in the metallurgical industries, upgrading of biocarbon and pyrolysis oil to satisfy quality demands that the metallurgical processes have to the materials they use, and testing of biocarbon, upgraded biocarbon and upgraded pyrolysis oil with regards to their usability in the metallurgical processes. The results that have been produced in the project have resulted in extensive knowledge generation and many publications at different levels. The results that have been produced have great use value for the research field, knowledge building, industry and the society at large. The results have to a great extent been communicated, continuous to the industrial partners throughout the project duration, and via publishing. Dissemination have been carried out through various channels; meetings, seminars, conferences, scientific journals, the project webpage (https://www.sintef.no/en/projects/2023/biocarbupgrade/), newsletters, blogs, media contributions and a handbook from the project. Some final results will be published in 2024. Hence, the outcome of the project has contributed to increased sustainability throughout the biocarbon value chain, which will benefit the society as well as the climate and in the end also economic development.

The ENERGIX program plan clearly states the importance of sustainability and sustainable value chains, including biomass based, contributing to reduced CO2 emissions and a carbon neutral society in 2050. For biomass, there is an expectation of total biomass feedstock utilisation. The metallurgical industry in Norway seeks to substitute large amounts of biocarbon for fossil reductants in their processes. The Norwegian Process Industry Roadmap - Combining growth and zero emissions by 2050, and Industrimeldingen lay the foundation for an accelerated utilization of Norwegian biomass resources that would reduce the CO2 footprint of the metallurgical industry. The former document targets a 43% reduction of CO2 by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. To enable this transformation, the whole biocarbon (BC) value chain for the metallurgical industry must be optimized to remove economic constraints, satisfy reductant quality demands, and develop predictable (amount, quality and price), long-term biomass resource demand. This project responds to the national strategies and the goals of the metallurgical industry by analyzing and optimizing the BC value chain to produce suitable and affordable reductants in a sustainable manner. Producing BC, a renewable material from biomass resources, will have a twofold effect: (1) reduce CO2 emissions by substituting for fossil reductants and (2) increase forest resource utilisation by creating higher value material and/or energy products. Due to the BC quality demanded by the metallurgical processes, woody biomass, especially stem wood, is the most suitable candidate for reductant feedstock. The overall objective of this project is to optimise the biocarbon value chain for the metallurgical industry.