Techno-economic evaluation of probable hydrogen production technologies for iron ore reduction

Abstract

The annual global production of crude steel is expected to reach 2.4 billion tons by 2040, with 73% of the process employing the blast furnace and basic oxygen converter route which emits large amounts of CO2. A potential solution is to use H2 as a reducing agent. A systematic literature review conducted identified H2 production technologies including, Alkaline electrolysis (AE), proton exchange membrane (PEM), solid oxide (SOE), anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyses, thermolysis, photolysis, bio photolysis, photo fermentation, dark fermentation, pyrolysis, gasification, combustion, liquefication, steam methane reforming (SMR), partial oxidation (PO), auto thermal reforming (ATR), and ammonia reforming (AR). NASA's technology readiness level (TRL) scale ranking revealed SMR, AE, and PEM processes were the most mature, with TRLs of 8-9 (SMR) and 6-7 (AE and PEM). Schematic diagrams were developed using Aspen Plus®V10 software for plant output of 20 kgH2/hr. An economic analysis showed that PEM offered the lowest levelized cost of H2 (LCOH) at $1.88/kg compared to AE at $4.53/kg and SMR at $2.81/kg. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis showed that; PEM responds well to variations in material feed, operating temperature, and pressure. AE exhibited better stability across temperature changes. PEM proved the most promising due to less design complexity and the lowest LCOH.