Environmental Benefit from Blast Furnace Gas Recycling in the Integrated Steelworks

Blast Furnace Gas (BFG) is an important kind of by-products in the integrated steelworks. Its recycling option considerably relates to the environmental performance of the integrated steelworks. In this study, a specific integrated steelworks in China is selected as the research object. The system expansion method and Weidema´s procedure are referenced to resolve the allocation problem. In spite of that, the methodology of life cycle assessment is applied to choose the lowest environmental impact option from the four proposed BFG recycling scenarios. In a life cycle perspective, it is concluded that: (1) Corex ironmaking process is not cleaner than Blast Furnace (BF), (2) Scenario 2 and Scenario 3 has lower environmental impact than others, but which one is cleaner depends on the relationship between the costs for BFG treatment and the profit from selling BFG.