老司机直播 researchers design new method of recycling steel that could reduce industry's carbon footprint
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PhD candidate Jaesuk Paeng (left) and Professor Gisele Azimi from the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in 老司机直播's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering display an electrochemical cell that's vital to their novel steel-recycling method (photo by Safa Jinje)
Published: July 26, 2024
Researchers at the University of Toronto鈥檚 Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering have designed a novel way to recycle steel that could help decarbonize several manufacturing industries and usher in a circular steel economy.
The new method introduces an innovative oxysulfide electrolyte for electrorefining, an alternative way of removing copper and carbon impurities from molten steel. The process also generates liquid iron and sulfur as by-products.
It鈥檚 outlined in a new paper published in and co-authored by Jaesuk (Jay) Paeng, a PhD candidate in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry, William Judge, a PhD alum from the department of materials science and engineering, and Professor Gisele Azimi from the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry.
鈥淥ur study is the first reported instance of electrochemically removing copper from steel and reducing impurities to below alloy level,鈥 says Azimi, who holds the .
Currently, only 25 per cent of steel produced comes from recycled material. But the global demand for greener steel is projected to grow over the next two decades as governments around the world endeavour to achieve net-zero emission goals.
Steel is created by reacting iron ore with coke 鈥 a prepared form of coal 鈥 as the source of carbon and blowing oxygen through the metal produced. Current processes generate nearly two tonnes of carbon dioxide per tonne of steel produced, making steel production one of the highest contributors to carbon emissions in the manufacturing sector.
Traditional steel recycling methods use an electric arc furnace to melt down scrap metal. Since it is difficult to physically separate copper material from scrap before melting, the element is also present in the recycled steel products.
鈥淭he main problem with secondary steel production is that the scrap being recycled may be contaminated with other elements, including copper,鈥 says Azimi.
鈥淭he concentration of copper adds up as you add more scrap metals to be recycled, and when it goes above 0.1 weight percentage in the final steel product, it will be detrimental to the properties of steel.鈥
Copper cannot be removed from molten steel scrap using the traditional electric arc furnace steelmaking practice, so this limits the secondary steel market to producing lower-quality steel product, such as reinforcing bars used in the construction industry.
鈥淥ur method can expand the secondary steel market into different industries,鈥 says Paeng. 鈥淚t has the potential to be used to create higher-grade products such as galvanized cold rolled coil used in the automotive sector, or steel sheets for deep drawing used in the transport sector.鈥
To remove copper from iron to below 0.1 weight percentage, the team had to first design an electrochemical cell that could withstand temperatures up to 1,600 degrees Celsius.
Inside the cell, electricity flows between the negative electrode (cathode) and positive electrode (anode) through a novel oxysulfide electrolyte designed from slag 鈥 a waste derived from steelmaking that often ends up in cement or landfills.
鈥淲e put our contaminated iron that has the copper impurity as the anode of the electrochemical cell,鈥 says Azimi. 鈥淲e then apply an electromotive force, which is the voltage, with鈥痑 power supply and we force the copper to react with the electrolyte.鈥
鈥淭he electrolyte targets the removal of copper from the iron when we apply electricity to the cell,鈥 adds Paeng. 鈥淲hen we apply electricity on the one side of the cell, we force the copper to react with the electrolyte and come out from iron. At the other end of the cell, we simultaneously produce new iron.鈥
Azimi鈥檚 lab collaborated on the research with Tenova Goodfellow Inc., a global supplier of advanced technologies, products and services for metal and mining industries, where study co-author Judge works as a senior research and development engineer.
Looking forward, the team wants to enable the electro-refining process to remove other contaminants from steel, including tin.
鈥淚ron and steel are the most widely used metals in the industry, and I think the production rate is as high as 1.9 billion tonnes per year,鈥 says Azimi.
鈥淥ur method has great potential to offer the steelmaking industry a practical and easily implementable way to recycle steel to produce more of the demand for high-grade steel globally.鈥濃