Prospects of cogeneration for the iron and steel industry in Malaysia

Malaysia is at the forefront of developing countries nurturing industrialization with the promise of increased income per capita and reduced poverty. The drive to industrialization was coupled with a surge in energy demands that amounted to almost 40% of total energy use. As the country is soon becoming a net importer of fossil fuels, there is a serious interest to promote energy efficiency, particularly in the industrial sector. Cogeneration cannot only save large amounts of primary energy resources but also is deemed as a powerful carbon abating technology. The potential of adopting cogeneration in the iron and steel industry in Malaysia is explored in this paper. The makeup of the iron and steel industry in Malaysia is featured and several cogeneration conversion technologies are summarized. Inspection of a typical electric arc furnace (EAF) plant load, used for steelmaking in Malaysia, have affirmed the prospective vantage of introducing cogeneration in the iron and steel industry to improve its energy consumption profile.