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The European Steel sector is committed to investigate solutions for reducing its environmental impact in terms of atmospheric and water emissions, energy consumption and solid waste production. To this aim, the project entitled "Environmental Impact Evaluation and Effective Management of Resources in the EAF Steelmaking" (EIRES), that is funded by the Research Fund for Coal and Steel, aims at providing electric steelworks with a tool for a systematic evaluation and investigation of solutions improving the process sustainability. As complex process modifications, before being practically implemented and tested on the field, need a thorough evaluation, a simulation model of the whole electric steelmaking route was developed as a part of EIRES tool. The paper presents such simulation model, which has been developed through Aspen Plus® V 8.6 in order to assess the impact of each operation unit, including both production processes and fumes and wastewater treatment plants. A case study is presented, which compares the environmental and energy impact related to the production of some of the most commonly produced steel grades. Correlations between the steel grade and the consumed electric energy or the slag amount and composition were highlighted, that can be a useful starting point for further assessment of potential margins of improvement of electric steelwork sustainability. |
