Lowering carbon footprint: coke oven gas injection at tuyeres
In November 2019, ROGESA, Dillingen, Germany, awarded Paul Wurth with an order to design and supply coke oven gas injection systems for the company’s blast furnaces No. 4 and No. 5.
With this new technology, coke oven gas becomes a metallurgical process gas that will partially replace metallurgical coke as reducing agent, thus contributing to lowering the carbon intensity in the blast furnace as well as the carbon footprint of the overall ironmaking operations.
In preparation of the project, Paul Wurth accompanied the customer in research work and pilot plant trials. The current order is being executed on a turn-key basis and includes design and engineering for the two coke oven gas injection sub-plants, supply of technological key items like flow control and check valves, supply and erection of vessels, piping and supporting structure, automation of the plants and integration into the existing process technology and plant configuration.
Despite difficult project execution conditions and challenging economic environment, Paul Wurth fulfilled all contract obligations and supported the operator to start commissioning the first section of the new coke oven gas injection plant at Blast Furnace No. 5 by the initially planned date at the beginning of June.
Paul Wurth’s particular responsibility was to have ready injection lines and coke oven gas supply for half the number of all the 32 tuyeres of this furnace. This being fulfilled, Rogesa and Paul Wurth started the application of the new technology for four injection lines.
The operation with coke oven gas followed a jointly developed start-up procedure and was executed by trained personnel of both sides in a safety-focused manner.
The customer will now observe the development of the BF’s ironmaking process parameters and strive for further evolving injection rates.
For Paul Wurth, it is important to underline that the company and its sub-suppliers managed to keep on track within a demanding project schedule; this in a business environment which changed quite unexpected and dramatically with the pandemic, lockdown, economic slowdown and related consequences.
In the frame of Paul Wurth’s strategy to support steel plant operators on their journey to a carbon neutral primary metallurgy, coke oven gas injection at tuyere level is a part of a readily available portfolio of solutions for stepwise CO2 emission reduction.
