Upgrading biocarbon for sustainable metallurgical industries

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 biobased materials for fossil reductants and materials (packing coke and coal tar pitch) in their processes. The Norwegian Process Industry Roadmap - Combining growth and zero emissions by 2050, Industrimeldingen and Process21 lay the foundation for an accelerated utilization of Norwegian biomass resources that would reduce the CO2 footprint of the metallurgical industry. The roadmap 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 adapted and tuned to remove economic constraints, secure its sustainability, satisfy reductants and materials (RM) 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 adapting and tuning the biobased reductants and materials (BRM) value chain to produce suitable and affordable BRM in a sustainable manner from a diversified biomass feedstock base. Producing RM, from renewable biomass resources, will have a twofold effect: (1) reduce CO2 emissions by substituting for fossil RM and (2) increase biomass resource utilisation by creating higher value materials and/or energy products. Due to biomass resource limitations and costs, a broadening of the resource base beyond stemwood to include also various woody residues and non-woody biomass is very interesting for producing BRM. Then upgrading becomes important. The overall objective of this project is sustainable biocarbon value chains for the metallurgical industries.

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 biobased materials for fossil reductants and materials (packing coke and coal tar pitch) in their processes. The Norwegian Process Industry Roadmap - Combining growth and zero emissions by 2050, Industrimeldingen and Process21 lay the foundation for an accelerated utilization of Norwegian biomass resources that would reduce the CO2 footprint of the metallurgical industry. The roadmap 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 adapted and tuned to remove economic constraints, secure its sustainability, satisfy reductants and materials (RM) 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 adapting and tuning the biobased reductants and materials (BRM) value chain to produce suitable and affordable BRM in a sustainable manner from a diversified biomass feedstock base. Producing RM, from renewable biomass resources, will have a twofold effect: (1) reduce CO2 emissions by substituting for fossil RM and (2) increase biomass resource utilisation by creating higher value materials and/or energy products. Due to biomass resource limitations and costs, a broadening of the resource base beyond stemwood to include also various woody residues and non-woody biomass is very interesting for producing BRM. Then upgrading becomes important. The overall objective of this project is sustainable biocarbon value chains for the metallurgical industries.