Bioreducer use in Finnish blast furnace ironmaking – Analysis of CO2 emission reduction potential and mitigation cost

Bioreducer use in the blast furnace could be one of the measures to decrease the fossil CO2 emissions of steelmaking. This paper presents an environmental and economic evaluation of three bioreducers; charcoal, torrefied wood and wood-based synthetic natural gas (Bio-SNG), produced from logging residues, small-diameter wood and stumps. Additionally, the CO2 emission reduction potential of these bioreducers is calculated, using Ruukki, a Finnish steel producer as a reference. Finally, we present the CO2 mitigation cost for each bioreducer.