Decarbonization and Increased Productivity in the Reheating Furnace Using Hydrogen Fuel

In the last decade, decarbonization of the steel industry has motivated comprehensive investigation on the use of hydrogen fuel in steelmaking. However, the increased heat output of hydrogen-fueled burners also creates opportunities for furnace throughput improvements. The primary factors that affect steel quality and productivity are the uniform distribution of heat, followed by slab residence time in the reheating furnace. Using computational fluid dynamics to model hydrogen utilization and comparing the results to traditional natural gas combustion, opportunities for increased furnace throughput were found due to the higher relative heat output of hydrogen as a fuel.

Anurag Karambelkar | Purdue University Northwest
 

Chukwunedum Uzor | Purdue University Northwest
 

Nicholas Walla | Purdue University Northwest
 

Armin Silaen | Purdue University Northwest
 

Lawrence Fabina | Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.
 

Kurt Johnson | Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.
 

Chenn Zhou | Purdue University Northwest