INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH, VOL.

21, 1187—1201 (1997)

IRON AND STEEL MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIES IN INDIA:

ESTIMATION OF CO EMISSION
2
ANJANA DAS AND TARA CHANDRA KANDPAL*
Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi—11016, India

SUMMARY
Iron and steel manufacturing is heavily energy intensive and polluting. CO emissions per tonne of liquid steel have been
2
estimated for six steel manufacturing technologies which are commercially available in India. ( 1997 by John Wiley
& Sons, Ltd.
Int. J. Energy Res., 21, 1187—1201 (1997)
No. of Figures: 8 No. of Tables: 8 No. of References: 22
KEY WORDS iron and steel manufacturing; CO emissions; specific energy consumption
2

1. INTRODUCTION
Steel is a vital input for economic development. Consumption of steel in India has been growing almost at the
same rate as the GDP during the period 1980—1992. However, notwithstanding the above growth rate, the
present per capita steel consumption in the country is merely 26 kg as against a value of 61·6 kg per capita in
China and the world average of 136·4 kg (SAIL, 1994). Therefore, for a considerable period of time
a gradually increasing demand for steel in the country is expected. Since India has large reserves of good
quality iron ore and relatively cheap labour, it is expected that the domestic steel industry will grow to keep
pace with the demand. Under the present government policy of liberalization, the export possibilities may
further boost the growth of the domestic industry. The size of the market including export has been worked
out as 44—51 million tonnes (mt) for the year 2006/2007 (Sengupta, 1994). This is as against the existing
domestic production capacity of around 22 mt (SAIL, 1994) which implies an additional capacity require-
ment of 22—29 mt by 2006/2007.
Being energy intensive, the iron and steel manufacturing process contributes significantly to the total CO2
emissions in the atmosphere. In this paper an attempt has been made to estimate CO2 emissions per tonne of
steel for several steel manufacturing technologies that are commercially available in the country. Since the
steps involved are the same after production of liquid steel for all technologies under consideration, CO2
emissions have been estimated for one tonne of liquid steel (tls) produced. The technologies considered are
(i) blast furnace—basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF); (ii) scrap—electric arc furnace (Scrap-EAF); (iii) direct
reduction (coal)—electric arc furnace (DR (Coal)-EAF); (iv) direct reduction (natural gas)—electric arc
furnace (DR (Natural gas)-EAF); (v) COREX—basic oxygen furnace (COREX-BOF); and (vi) mini blast
furnace—basic oxygen furnace (MBF-BOF).

* Correspondence to: T. C. Kandpal, Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi
—110016, India.

CCC 0363—907X/97/121187—15$17.50 Received 29 March 1996

( 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted 29 May 1996
1188 A. DAS AND T. C. KANDPAL

There are seven integrated steel plants (ISPs) based on BF-BOF technology with a total installed capacity
of 14·98 mt operating in India (SAIL, 1994). Apart from that, the country has a steel manufacturing capacity
of 7·31 mt based on Scrap-EAF or DR(Coal/Natural gas)-EAF technology (Das et al., 1994). Sponge iron
production capacity in India is 1·78 mt, of which 0·8 mt is based on gas and the rest on coal. A 1·25 mt
capacity plant based on COREX-BOF technology is under implementation (Sengupta, 1995). Several plants
based on MBF-BOF technology have already been installed (Lakshmanan et al., 1994).
While a brief description on the six steel manufacturing technologies used in India is given in the following
section along with the energy consumption pattern and gross/net specific energy consumption,† the
methodology used for estimating CO2 emissions is presented in Section 3, followed by the results. Basic data
for the analysis are obtained mainly from SAIL (Steel Authority of India Ltd.) Statistics (SAIL, 1994) and
studies carried out by Sengupta (1990, 1995).

2. STEEL MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIES

Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon which is obtained by reducing iron ore (containing oxides of iron, silicon,
alumina, etc.). Depending upon whether the carbon content is lower or higher than 2%, iron is classified as
steel or cast iron. Steel containing materials such as chromium, nickel, tungsten, molybdenum, cobalt,
vanadium or titanium is called alloy steel to distinguish it from the carbon/mild steel, which has no such
alloying materials. Three steps are involved in steel making: (i) reduction of iron ore; (ii) raw steel making; and
(iii) casting and rolling of the steel. It may be noted that while several technologies are available for the
transformation of iron ore into steel, the production process of finished products in casting and rolling mills
is, however, the same for all technologies.

2.1 Blast furnace—basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF)

This technology is preferred for large scale production of iron and steel. Several steps are involved under this
technology (Figure 1). In the sintering process, the fine iron ore particles (0—10 mm) are agglomerated into
a porous mass called sinter. Iron ore consumption per tonne of sinter varies in the range 0·69—0·96 tonne in
existing Indian steel plants based on this technology. Other materials required for sinter making are
limestone, dolomite, etc. The coke, which serves as fuel and reducing agent in the blast furnace, is produced
by heating coking coal in the absence of air to remove volatile matter and moisture. 1·45—1·60 tonnes of
coking coal is consumed to produce one tonne of coke. Sinter along with lump iron ore (of size 10—50 mm) is
reduced into molten iron (usually called hot metal) in the blast furnace with the help of coke as reducing
agent and other fluxing materials such as limestone, dolomite, etc. The consumption of iron ore lump, sinter
and coke is in the respective ranges of 0·43—1·52 t, 0·54—1·06 t and 0·64—1·02 t per tonne of hot metal. Hot
metal is then converted into steel in the basic oxygen furnace (BOF). A certain amount of steel scrap is also
used in the BOF. The amount of hot metal and scrap used in the BOF varies, respectively, in the range
0·64—1·03 t and 0·13—0·53 t per tonne of steel. The steel, which comes out in liquid form (called liquid steel), is
then used in casting and rolling mills to manufacture finished products.
The energy forms used in this process are coking coal, boiler coal, electricity and also a small amount of
petroleum products. On an average, coking coal has a share of 76%, followed by boiler coal 13%, electricity
8% and petroleum products 3% in total energy consumption (SAIL, 1991). Specific energy consumption per

† The amount of energy input provided from outside to the steel plant per tonne of steel is defined as the gross specific energy
consumption. In some of the steel manufacturing processes, energy related by-products such as coke oven gas, crude tar, etc. are
produced. These are mostly consumed within the plant and surplus, if any, is sold in the form of thermal energy or electricity produced in
a captive power plant. The net specific energy consumption per tonne of steel is the difference between the gross specific energy
consumption and the energy equivalent of the surplus by-products.

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 INDIAN IRON/STEEL CO EMISSIONS
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Figure 1. Blast furnace — basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF)

tonne of steel largely depends upon the quality of coking coal. In India, the appropriate quality of coking coal
is not available. The ash content in Indian coking coal supplied to steel plants is as high as 18—20% (SAIL,
1991) as against 8—10% in imported coking coal from Australia. This leads to a higher coke rate (coke
consumption per tonne of hot metal in the blast furnace) of 663—887 kg in existing ISPs as against 400 kg in
Japan (SAIL, 1991). Recently, a number of steel plants have been using imported coking coal in the coal
blend in different proportions. In fact, a recently installed integrated steel plant at Visakhapatnam has been
designed to use 100% imported coking coal and the present coke rate of the plant is 580 kg. In other plants,
various grades of indigenous coking coal, graded according to its caking property—prime, medium,
blendable and imported coking coal (prime grade)—are blended together before being charged into the coke

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1190 A. DAS AND T. C. KANDPAL

Table 1. Production rates and gross calorific values (GCVs) of different

by-product

Gas Production rate GCV (kcal m~3)

CO gas 275—321 m3 t~1 of dry coal charged 3968—4381

BF gas 1561 m3 t~1 of hot metal 749—891
LD gas 50 m3 t~1 of steel produced 2000

Sources: GOI (1989); SAIL (1994).

Table 2. Actual (1991/992) and targeted (2004/2005) coke rate, specific power and energy consump-
tion for ISPs under SAIL

Specific power Specific energy

Coke rate (kg thm~1) consumption (kW h tcs~1) consumption (gcal tcs~1)

Steel plant 1991/1992 2004/2005 1991/1992 2004/2005 1991/1992 2004/2005

Bhilai 685 540 455 397 8·5 6·5

Durgapur 800 600 477 430 10·6 8·0
Rourkela 708 585 755 589 10·0 7·8
Bokaro 662 565 601 494 8·8 7·5
IISCO 880 545 595 499 14·5 7·8

Source: SAIL (1992).

ovens. A large volume of by-product gases—coke oven gas (CO gas), blast furnace gas (BF gas) and LD gas
are produced during the process of coke making in coke ovens, iron making in blast furnaces and steel
making in LD-converters. The production rates and gross calorific values of these gases are shown in Table 1.
These gases are mainly used as fuel for generating steam and power. The specific energy consumption per
tonne of crude steel in Indian steel plants is in the range 8—12 gigacalories (gcal) (Bhaktabatsalam and
Choudhoury, 1995) as against 5 gcal in Japan (SAIL, 1991).
Indian integrated steel plants using BF-BOF technology have adopted a number of energy conservation
measures such as pulverized briquette coal charging (PBCC) in coke ovens, coal dust injection (CDI) and
a bell-less-top charging system in blast furnaces, etc. The coke rate in kilogrammes per tonne of hot metal
(kg thm~1), power consumption in kilowatt-hours per tonne of crude steel (kW h/tcs~1) and specific energy
consumption in gigacalories per tonne of crude steel (gcal tcs~1) as targeted by the integrated steel plants
operating under the Steel Authority of India Ltd. (the largest public sector undertaking in India involved in
steel-making) are presented in Table 2.

2.2 Scrap-electric arc furnace (Scrap-EAF)

In this process, a cold charge of steel scrap is melted and refined in an electric arc furnace (Figure 2). Nearly
1·1 t of scrap is needed to produce 1 t of steel. In India, the melting capacity of arc furnaces ranges from 5 to
40 t, 35% having 10/12 t capacity followed by 28% 4/5 t having capacity (NPC, 1992). Smaller size furnaces
are less energy efficient. While the electricity consumption per tonne of steel in a furnace of size 5 t is
880 kW h, it is in the range 450—500 kW h for a furnace of size 25 t (NPC, 1992).
Electricity consumption per tonne of crude steel in the Scrap-EAF technology in India varies from 600 to
900 kW h as against 325 to 375 kW h in Japan (NPC, 1992). Other than electricity, a small quantity of
petroleum products (6—16 kgs t~1 of steel) is consumed in the process (DSIR, 1989). Recently, a certain

Int. J. Energy Res., 21, 1187—1201 (1997) ( 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
 INDIAN IRON/STEEL CO EMISSIONS
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Figure 2. Scrap — electric arc furnace (Scrap-EAF)

amount of sponge iron or direct reduced iron (DRI) along with scrap has been used in the electric arc furnace,
which is discussed in the following section.

2.3 Direct reduction (coal)—electric arc furnace (DR(coal)-EAF)

The BF-BOF process of steel manufacturing has certain limitations, due primarily to the unavailability of
suitable coking coal in India and the difficulty in scaling down plant sizes (requiring large investment). The
Scrap-EAF technology on the other hand requires scrap which has several import related implications (such
as problems on foreign exchange availability and also a large quantity of imported scrap may affect its price
on the international market). An alternative process technology has been developed in the last two decades
based on the melting of sponge iron or hot briquetted iron (HBI). Sponge iron is produced by the direct
reduction (DR) of iron ore and pellets by the use of reductants like natural gas or non-coking coal. In this
process, non-coking coal is used as reductant (Figure 3). The average consumption of iron ore (lump) is 1·6 t
per tonne of sponge iron. Sponge iron along with scrap is charged into an electric arc furnace (EAF) to
transform it into steel. In the DR-EAF plant, the share of scrap in the material is relatively higher than in the
BF-BOF route because of limited metallization of ore (to the extent of 90—92%). The energy consumption of
a coal based sponge iron plant is shown in Table 3.

2.4 DR (Natural gas)-EAF

This process is similar to DR (coal)-EAF, excepting that natural gas is used as reductant for making sponge
iron (Figure 4). Along with lump iron ore, pellets are also used in the gas based DR plant; 0·4 t of iron
ore (lump) and 1·1 t of pellets are used for producing each tonne of sponge iron. A natural gas based sponge
iron plant consumes 300 m3 of natural gas and 150 kW h of electricity to produce each tonne of sponge iron
(IIM, 1988).

2.5 COREX-basic oxygen furnace (COREX-BOF)

This technology (Figure 5) envisages the reduction of iron ore in a reduction shaft furnace fitted vertically
above a melter gasifier. The directly reduced iron flows from the shaft furnace into the melter gasifier which in

( 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Energy Res., 21, 1187—1201 (1997)
1192 A. DAS AND T. C. KANDPAL

Figure 3. Direct Reduction (Coal)-EAF (DR(Coal)-EAF)

Table 3. Fuel consumption per tonne of sponge iron using coal

as reductant

Fuel consumption per tonne

Fuel Units of sponge iron

Coal (grade B) tonne 1·23

Power kW h 110·0
LDO litre 9·0
HSD litre 3·5

Source: IIM (1988).

turn gives liquid iron as the product. The melter gasifier may be used to gasify non-coking coal, which is used
as a reductant gas in the melter as well as in the shaft reduction furnace. The surplus gas of the melter-gasifier
after meeting the requirement of the reduction furnace is to be used for captive power generation and other
fuel purposes. In this process, the main source of fuel is non-coking coal with a share of 77% in total net
specific energy consumption. Apart from coal, a certain amount of petroleum products (furnace oil, high
speed diesel oil, etc.) and coke breeze (coke of size 0—25 mm) is consumed in the process. As stated earlier,
a large volume of gas, namely COREX gas, is produced at a rate of 1800 nm3 per tonne of hot metal with an
average calorific value of 1900 kcal nm~3 (ERU, 1992). This gas is used as fuel, and also for reduction and
power generation. Surplus gas can either be sold or used to generate power (which can also be sold).
A sizeable cost economy will result by full utilization of COREX gas. Average net specific energy consump-
tion in this process is nearly 9·86 gcal per tonne of hot metal (ERU, 1992).

Int. J. Energy Res., 21, 1187—1201 (1997) ( 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
 INDIAN IRON/STEEL CO EMISSIONS
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Figure 4. Direct Reduction (Natural gas)-EAF (DR(Natural gas)-EAF)

2.6 Mini blast furnace—basic oxygen furnace (MBF)-BOF

This process of manufacturing steel is similar to the BF-BOF route (Figure 6). The large size blast furnaces
(the largest size being 5400 m3 in Japan) have long gestation periods and need a stringent and consistent
quality of raw materials, a high level of mechanization, and the most modern instrumentation and control
systems. Further, because of a heavy investment requirement, BF-BOF technology suits only rare investors.
In view of this, the use of a mini blast furnace with a wide range of available sizes (from 150 to 500 m3) has
received for serious consideration in India. Moreover, MBF-BOF is a comparatively inexpensive route of
producing steel as compared to the EAF route and, more importantly, it is independent of scrap and power.
Raw iron produced in the mini blast furnace can be used in the basic oxygen furnace for steel making.
The energy consumption pattern in this technology is the same as that for the conventional BF-BOF route.
However, owing to the relatively smaller size of the blast furnace, sometimes a coke oven is not part of the
plant and the coke is purchased from the domestic/international market.

3. ESTIMATION OF CO2 EMISSIONS

Since the steps involved are the same after the production of liquid steel, for comparison the calculations of
CO2 emissions have been limited to the liquid steel production stage only. CO2 emissions have been
calculated from direct as well as indirect fuel combustion for liquid steel manufacturing. Indirect fuel
combustion includes coal burnt for generating electricity (purchased from the utility). Also, fuels consumed to
manufacture HBI, which used as an input in Scrap-EAF technology, are accounted for. The methodology
and assumptions used for the estimation of CO2 emissions from each of the six steel manufacturing
technologies in India are described in the following steps.

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Figure 5. COREX — basic oxygen furnace (COREX-BOF)

Step (i). Identify the different fuels (excluding by-products to avoid double counting) consumed in the
process. The energy content of HBI used as an input in Scrap-EAF technology is also considered.
Step (ii). For each process, estimate the amount of different fuels consumed per tonne of liquid steel
produced. The electricity input required in the process can either be purchased from utility or
generated in a captive power plant. Thus, the respective fractions contributed by the two modes
are also determined. In the present work, the relevant estimates have been taken from the available
literature (Sengupta, 1990; Khan et al., 1995) and given in Table 4, which also presents the gross
and net specific energy consumption per tonne of liquid steel. It should be noted that the energy
input of steel scrap has not been accounted for in Scrap-EAF technology, thus explaining the

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Figure 6. Mini blast furnace — basic oxygen furnace (MBF-BOF)

lowest energy intensity of this route. However, it includes the energy that goes into the process in
the form of purchased HBI. The COREX-BOF process works out to be the most energy intensive
followed by the DR(coal)-EAF process. The technology-wise composition of the gross specific
energy consumption by fuel-type has been depicted in Figure 7. The quality variation of coal is
also taken into account. The composition of coking coal blend charged into the coke oven is given
in Table 5. Non-coking coal with a gross calorific value (GCV) of 5176 kcal kg~1 has been
assumed for reduction in DR(coal)-EAF and COREX technology (Sengupta, 1995). Further, it has
been assumed that boiler coal with a GCV of 4000 kcal kg~1 is used for steam and power
generation. It may also be noted that the energy input for steel production includes the coal
consumed for captive power generation.

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Table 4. Energy consumption norms per tonne of liquid steel in different steel manufacturing technologies

Units BF-BOF DR(Coal)-EAF DR(Natural gas)-EAF Scrap-EAF COREX MBF-BOF

Coking coal t 1·03 — — — — —

A. DAS AND T. C. KANDPAL

Non-coking coal
(reductant) t — 0·96 — — 1·4 —
Boiler coal t 0·1 0·57 — — — 0·10
Coke & Coke fines t — 0·04 0·04 0·04 0·53 0·71
Natural gas nm3 — — 453 — — —
HBI t — — — 0·31 — —
Petroleum products t 0·01 0·04 0·04 0·05 0·05 0·03
Electricity (purchased) kWh 243 203 636 721 317·0
Gross specific energy
consumption gcal tls~1 7·74 8·11 4·77 2·23 11·46 5·51
Credit to the surplus
by-products gcal tls~1 0·92 — — — 0·07 —
Net specific energy
consumption gcal tls~1 6·82 8·11 4·77 2·23 11·39 5·51

Sources: GOI (1990); ERU (1992); Khan et al. (1996).

( 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Figure 7. Fuel mix of gross specific energy consumption for different steel manufacturing technologies

Table 5. Share of different coal types in the coal blend and their carbon content

Share (%) in the blend Carbon content (fraction)

Prime coking coal 25·0 0·55

Medium coking coal 45·0 0·57
Blendable coal 10·0 0·56
Imported coking coal 20·0 0·64

Source: Sengupta (1990).

Step (iii). With known (or estimated†) carbon concentration of each fuel (except electricity) and the
assumption of complete combustion (i.e. 12 units of carbon result in 44 units of CO2 on
combustion) the total CO2 emission for each fuel can be estimated. Carbon contents in different
varieties of coal blended and charged into the coke oven are also given in Table 5. The average
carbon content in petroleum products has been taken as 85% (CSIR, 1992). The GCV and carbon
content of coke used in MBF-BOF and COREX technology has been assumed to be 7000 kcal
and 0·75 kg, respectively, per kilogramme of coke (SAIL, 1994). The carbon content of natural gas
has been taken as 0·5 kg nm~3. As regards the estimation of CO2 emissions per unit of electricity
consumed, it is assumed that the external electricity purchased from utilities is produced in coal
fired thermal power plants. It is also assumed that these thermal power plants use (F grade) boiler
coal with a GCV of 4000 kcal kg~1 and have an overall conversion efficiency of 35%. To estimate
the carbon emitted per tonne of HBI produced, the natural gas and electricity consumptions are
assumed to be 300 m3 and 150 kW h, respectively, per tonne of HBI.

† The following formula for estimating the carbon concentration (C) in kilogrammes of non-coking coal from its GCV (kg kcal~1) is used
(Ahuja, 1989):
C"(0·000104]GCV)#0·017

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1198 A. DAS AND T. C. KANDPAL

Table 6. Composition of different by-product gases

Percentage share in volume

CO gas BF gas LD gas COREX gas

CO 3·1 15·4 11·8 4·0

2
O 0·8 0·2 0·4 —
2
CO 8·2 25·0 69·3 70·0
H 58·2 4·5 — 25·0
2
N 3·7 54·9 18·5 —
2
CH 23·6 — — —
4
Higher hydrocarbon 2·4 — — —
Others — — — 1·0

Sources: Personal communication with SAIL; IIM (1988).

Step (iv). As indicated earlier, some surplus by-products are used elsewhere (not in the steel manufacturing
process). In the present work, the corresponding amount of CO2 is netted out from the total CO2
emissions. The composition of by-product gases, as assumed to calculate the emissions, are given
in Table 6.
Step (v). The carbon intensity of each fuel/by-product has been calculated in terms of tonnes of carbon per
gigacalorie (tC gcal~1).

The total amount of CO emissions (C ) per tonne of liquid steel produced by the specific tth technology
2 t
can be expressed as

C D
all fuels & HBI all surplus by-prods
Ct" + SFC ]CC ! + SBP ]CC ]44/12
i,t i j,t j
i j
where SFC is the consumption of the ith fuel consumed per unit of liquid steel; CC is the carbon content per
i i
unit of the ith fuel (for electricity purchased from utilities and HBI, CC is the carbon emitted from coal/fuel
i
that is burnt to produce unit electricity/HBI; and SBP is the jth surplus energy by-product per unit of liquid
j
steel produced. Steps for the estimation of CO emissions from steel manufacturing technologies have been
2
illustrated in Figure 8.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Carbon emissions from different fuels/by-products as known or estimated have been presented in Table 7,
along with their carbon intensity. This table shows that, amongst fuel inputs, the boiler coal with the highest
carbon intensity is the most carbon intensive and that natural gas emits the least amount of carbon, having
a carbon intensity of 0·06 t per gcal. Technology-wise net CO emissions per tonne of liquid steel as estimated
2
are presented in Table 8, along with the net specific energy consumption.
Table 8 shows that CO emission per tonne of liquid steel varies from 1·18 to 3·32 t for different
2
manufacturing technologies. As expected, CO emissions are lowest for Scrap-EAF technology with the
2
lowest specific energy consumption. Emissions per tonne not only depend upon the specific energy consump-
tion but also the fuel mix used in a technology. Use of a more carbon intensive fuel in the production process
leads to higher emissions. For example, the CO emission per tonne of DR (Natural gas)-EAF technology is
2
higher by only 33% than the same for Scrap-EAF technology, although the specific energy consumption of
the former is more than double that of the latter. This is because 82% (Figure 7) of the specific energy
consumed in the DR (Natural gas)-EAF technology is supplied by the less carbon intensive fuel, namely

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Figure 8. Estimation of CO emission from steel manufacturing technologies
2
Int. J. Energy Res., 21, 1187—1201 (1997)
1200 A. DAS AND T. C. KANDPAL

Table 7. Carbon emissions and intensity of various fuels/by-products used/generated

in the steel manufacturing processes

Carbon emissions Carbon intensity

Fuel/by-product Units (tonnes per unit) (tC gcal~1)

Coking coal (blend) tonne 0·58 0·084

Non-coking coal
(reductant) tonne 0·56 0·105
Boiler coal tonne 0·43 0·108
Coke tonne 0·75 0·107
Petroleum products tonne 0·85 0·085
Natural gas 1000 nm3 0·5 0·06
CO gas 1000 nm3 0·19 0·045
BF gas 1000 nm3 0·22 0·263
LD gas 1000 nm3 0·43 0·215
COREX gas 1000 nm3 0·40 0·21
Electricity 1000 kW h 0·27 0·31
HBI tonne 0·19 NA

NA—‘not applicable’.

Table 8. Net specific energy consumption and CO emissions per tonne of

2
liquid steel for different steel manufacturing technologies

Net specific energy

Technology consumption (gcal tls~1) CO emission (t tls~1)
2
BF-BOF 6·82 2·12
DR-EAF (Coal) 8·11 3·31
DR-EAF (Natural gas) 4·77 1·57
Scrap-EAF 2·23 1·18
COREX-BOF 11·39 3·32
MBF-BOF 5·51 2·34

natural gas with a carbon intensity 50% that of coal (Table 7). In Scrap-EAF technology, 68% (Figure 7) of
the specific energy consumption is met by the less carbon intensive fuel. For a similar reason, the CO
2
emission per tonne of liquid steel produced in the DR (coal)-EAF route is nearly equal to that produced in
the COREX-BOF route, in spite of the fact that the specific energy consumption of the former is about 71%
of that of the latter. The choice of technology for a product like steel, which is cost and material intensive,
depends upon several factors such as cost of production, raw material availability, and location. Therefore,
technologies such as Scrap-EAF and DR (Natural gas), which are less carbon emitting, may not be preferable
owing to scrap/natural gas shortages, higher cost of production, etc.
It should be mentioned here that, since energy consumption is sensitive to the quality of energy inputs,
raw materials, etc., CO emissions will be affected by changes in assumptions related to these factors.
2
For example, an increase in the share of imported coal in the coal blend charged in the coke oven
might improve the quality of coke, and this in turn will reduce the coke rate in the blast-furnace. This
will result in a reduction in CO emissions per tonne of liquid steel produced through the BF-BOF route.
2
Further work needs to be done on how variations in the size and quality of inputs, etc., impact on CO
2
emission.

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( 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Energy Res., 21, 1187—1201 (1997)