Journal of Cleaner Production 425 (2023) 138868

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Comparative life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis of electric

arc furnace steelmaking processes integrated with solar energy system
Lingzhi Yang a, Hang Hu a, *, Mengxian Wang b, **, Feng Chen a, Shuai Wang a, Yufeng Guo a,
Sheng Yang c, Tao Jiang a
a
School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
b
School of Mathematics and Statistics, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
c
School of Energy Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor: Panos Seferlis Electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking process is an environmentally friendly, energy saving, and low-carbon
route to produce steel, but its further development is restricted by extensive electricity consumption in China.
Keywords: In this paper, the EAF steelmaking processes driven by solar energy system (EAF-SES) was developed, which
Life cycle assessment supplies electricity for the whole process, and reduce the dependence on traditional energy sources. Life cycle
Techno-economic analysis
assessment and techno-economic analysis of EAF steelmaking processes integrated with traditional energy sys­
Electric arc furnace steelmaking
tem (EAF-TES) and EAF-SES was conducted according to the data of 1536 heats based on the function unit of
Solar energy
Carbon footprint 1000 kg of molten steel (MS). EAF-SES and EAF-TES were studied and compared from perspectives of life cycle
Production cost carbon footprint (LCCF), production cost (PC), raw materials cost (RMC), solar energy price (SEP), and carbon
tax (CT). The results indicated that EAF-SES enjoyed lower LCCF but higher PC than EAF-TES. The LCCF of EAF-
SES was 220 kg lower than that of EAF-TES. Besides, compared to the PC of 478 $ per ton of MS in EAF-TES, the
PC in EAF-SES increased by 9.13%. While the electricity price was lower than 0.041 $/kWh or CT higher than
217 $/t CO2, respectively, EAF-SES had both significant advantages of economic and environmental benefits.
Vigorously employing clean energy power generation, cutting down hot metal supply, and adopting full scrap
melting mode in EAF steelmaking processes achieve better environmental performance. This research is expected
to supply a technical idea for energy conservation, emission reduction, and cleaner production in future iron and
steel industry.

impossible to be completely replaced by other materials (Kim et al.,

2022). The supply and demand of steel products will still maintain at a
1. Introduction
high level (Sun et al., 2022).
The increasingly serious problems of resource and energy depletion
Steel is an essential base platform material, which is widely used in
and environmental pollution force the transformation of people’s pro­
transportation, aerospace, materials and chemical industry (Fan and
duction and lifestyle to the direction of green, low-carbon, energy saving
Friedmann, 2021; He and Wang, 2017). Human’s daily life is closely
and emission reduction (Hang, 2022; Hasibuan et al., 2022; Khan et al.,
related to steel. There is a large number of products that can be com­
2022). The iron and steel industry (ISI) is regarded as energy-intensive
pounded or converted from steel. In 2021, the total crude steel pro­
field. The energy consumption (EC) of ISI is equivalent to 650 million
duction capacity in world and China reaches 1950.5 and 1032.8 million
tons of standard coal, accounting for 15.1% of the country’s total EC.
tons, respectively. China is responsible for more than 50% of the
Besides, the exploit of energy and resources in ISI lead to the greenhouse
worldwide steel production. From 2010 to 2021, the crude steel pro­
gas (GHG) emissions of almost 2.11 billion tons (18.3% of domestic
duction has generally maintained an upward trend, which is shown in
industrial emissions) (National Bureau of Statistics, 2021; Liu et al.,
Fig. 1 (World Steel Association). Meanwhile, consumption of steel
2022). All these unfavorable situations are contrary to the goal of carbon
exceeded 1834 million tons in 2021. Despite the rapid development of
peak before 2030 and carbon neutralization before 2060 enforced by
material science and technology, the role of steel products is still

* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (H. Hu), [email protected] (M. Wang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.138868
Received 6 June 2023; Received in revised form 26 August 2023; Accepted 13 September 2023
Available online 22 September 2023
0959-6526/© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
L. Yang et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 425 (2023) 138868

Abbreviations HP heat pump

EC energy consumption
EAF Electric arc furnace GHG greenhouse gas
SES solar energy system SPG Solar power generation
TES traditional energy system RMC raw materials cost
CT carbon tax LCCF life cycle carbon footprint
PC production cost CF carbon footprint
SEP solar energy price BOF basic oxygen furnace
BF blast furnace SMU steelmaking unit
STU sintering unit SFU supporting facilities unit
IMU ironmaking unit ISI iron and steel industry
HM hot metal CCS carbon capture and storage
LCA life cycle assessment TFe total iron
IOP iron ore powder PV photovoltaic
ST solar thermal HBI hot briquetted iron
DRI direct reduced iron LMP lime magnetite pellet
MS molten steel NG-CHP natural gas combined heat and power

China. The process of steel production derives from two main routes. in EAF steelmaking processes, with the consumption of about 320–580
Electric arc furnace steelmaking (EAF) process is one of the ways to kW h/t (Kirschen et al., 2009; Cardarelli et al., 2022). Which brings
produce steel (Yang et al., 2021). Compared with the EC of 600–700 extensive cost while considering the fact that the massive yield of steel
kgce and GHG emissions of 2000–2400 kg per ton of steel in BF-BOF and expensive industry electricity price of 0.112 $/kwh (Ai et al., 2020).
route, the EC and GHG emissions are only 350 kgce/t and 500–700 The further development of EAF route in China is limited by the shortage
kg/t in EAF route (Shangguan et al., 2021). Which indicates that EAF of scrap supply and reserve and energy cost. Nowadays, with the
way is an environmentally friendly and energy saving steelmaking upgrading of steel products, the amount of social steel scrap is gradually
method. increasing. The comprehensive utilization of steel scrap resources has
Most of the steel plants outside China are widely exploiting EAF gained more attention. It is estimated that the problems brought by the
steelmaking method. The average proportion of crude steel in EAF was scarcity of scrap will gradually ease (Xuan and Yue, 2017; Ma, 2021).
approximately 26% in the world (red line in Fig. 1). While in China, the However, the challenges driven by energy, especially electricity, have
share was only 10% (green line in Fig. 1). There is still a big gap in the not been well solved in EAF steelmaking processes (Zhu et al., 2022).
development of EAF steelmaking in China. To investigate alternative Besides, the power supply schemes in China mainly derive from thermal
causes, it consumes extensive scrap resources and electricity. EAF power, and clean energy generation scale is relatively small (Xia et al.,
steelmaking processes take scrap as main iron-bearing charge. The scrap 2022). The environmental problems caused by electricity consumption
supply was just 88.3 Mt (10% of the total crude steel production). The in EAF steelmaking processes should not be ignored (Sun et al., 2020).
utilization rate of scrap was 10.7%, which was significantly lower than Solar energy serves as one of typical clean, inexhaustible, and
that in US (75%), EU (58%), and Japan (35%) (Xuan and Yue, 2017). In renewable energy sources. Solar power generation (SPG) is an effective
addition, the electricity is the dominant contributor of inputting energy way of utilization of solar energy with easy accessibility and low cost

Fig. 1. Total production of crude steel in the world and China and the proportion of electric arc furnace (EAF) steel in 2010~2021.

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L. Yang et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 425 (2023) 138868

(Song et al., 2021). Many scholars are dedicated to the researches of traditional energy system (EAF-TES) were compared and explored. From
various application of solar energy integration (Abdelrazik et al., 2022; the perspective of life cycle carbon footprint (LCCF), production cost
Naveen et al., 2023; Karimi et al., 2022; Karaca et al., 2022; Junedi et al., (PC), solar energy price (SEP), raw materials cost (RMC), and carbon tax
2022). For example, in the field of chemistry and chemical engineering, (CT), we try to clarify the environmental impact, economic benefit, and
Yang et al. (2017a) conducted the performance analysis on solar energy development potential of EAF-SES. The results demonstrated that EAF-
integrated with natural gas-to-methanol system from perspective of SES enjoys significant advantages of carbon reduction and economic
carbon efficiency, production cost, natural gas price, solar energy price, benefit in sustainable development and cleaner production of future ISI.
and carbon tax. Li et al. (2023a) introduced solar energy system inte­
grated with water treatment to improve the conversion efficiency of the 2. Process description and data collection
nanoalloys. Zhang et al. (2022a) applied solar energy system to supply
electricity for hydrogen production. As for energy application and The mission of EAF from the beginning of design is to digest steel
environment engineering, Eslami et al. (2022) evaluated the environ­ scrap, and carry out the recycling of iron resources to obtain crude steel
mental and technical effects of district heat pump (HP) heating systems (Tian et al., 2023a). EAF route is characterized by short process, high
combined with solar thermal (ST). Marefati et al. (2021) explored the efficiency, lower EC, clean charges, and multiple product types (Li et al.,
energy storage efficiency of a unified pumped-hydro and compressed-air 2019; Pimm et al., 2021). The popularization of EAF route dissipates the
energy storage system with solar organic Rankine cycle. Li et al. adverse situation of resource and energy exhaustion. The popularization
(2023b), Settino et al. (2023) studied the application of solar energy of EAF route dissipates the adverse situation of resource and energy
integration in energy supply, storage, and heating systems. In agricul­ exhaustion. Nevertheless, in China, besides the scrap, a certain quality of
ture and the food industry, Gao et al. (2022) proposed the novel hot metal (HM) is also charged in EAF steelmaking processes (Tian et al.,
refrigerated warehouses equipped with a solar-driven compressio­ 2022; Yang et al., 2023). The advantages of HM charged mainly
n-assisted refrigeration system for storage of fresh fruits and vegetables. including faster melting time, lower PC, shorter tap-to-tap time, and
Xiao et al. (2023) combined the solar energy with food in storage and correspondingly higher production yield. Thus, in this paper, an EAF
supply chain to achieve temperature monitoring and electricity saving. steelmaking plant located in Hunan province was considered, which has
The above studies preliminarily revealed the wide applicability, envi­ an annual capacity of 1.8 million tons of round tube blank. The main
ronmental sustainability, finer economy of solar energy integrated sys­ production lines and equipment are displayed in Table 1. The selected
tem in terms of energy supply unit. plant enjoys a high reputation due to the advanced equipment, high
In case of traditional ISI, there are also some reports about solar production efficiency, multiple production types, and rich EAF opera­
energy coupling systems. Qadir et al. (2017) considered the renewable tion experience for almost 30 years (Zhu et al., 2023). The current No.2
energy (wind energy and solar energy) integrated with natural gas steelmaking line deploys the common and popular EAF smelting mode
combined heat and power (NG-CHP) carbon capture and storage (CCS) of 50% HM ratio (the mass of HM in the furnace to the total mass of HM
system in steel mills, and verified the feasibility of industrial imple­ and scrap) in China (Li et al., 2022a). Besides, it possesses better hard­
mentation. Bailera et al. (2021) and Liu et al. (2013) detailly reviewed ware and software conditions for field data acquisition, which makes it
the application status and equipment mode of renewable energy easier and more available for subsequent life cycle assessment (Li et al.,
coupling system, such as ST and SPG for decarbonization in ISI. Zhu 2022b). Several of our previous researches were also based on the
et al. (2022) aimed at the non-carbon-related energy sources in EAF aforementioned line (Yang et al., 2017b, 2019, 2023; Zhu et al., 2023; Li
steelmaking processes, and theoretically suggested that the production et al., 2022a, 2022b). Hence, the representative EAF smelting mode of
cost, emissions related to energy, and electricity demand could be the selected steel mill was taken as the research object of this paper.
attenuated through the wind and solar power generation. Furthermore, Regardless of special technologies and negligible factors, the whole
Elsheikh et al. (Elsheikh and Eveloy, 2022) introduced the solar EAF steelmaking processes are commonly divided into four units, which
photovoltaic (PV) electricity-to-hydrogen technologies to direct reduced refer to sintering unit (STU), ironmaking unit (IMU), steelmaking unit
iron (DRI)-EAF process, the results revealed the carbon footprint (SMU), and supporting facilities unit (SFU), which were shown in Fig. 2.
reduction rate of 43%–60% and 53–74%, respectively, while compared The first two units are hot metal production process, and the third unit is
with general natural gas-DRI-EAF scheme and blast furnace-basic oxy­ the smelting process of HM and scrap. The final unit provides the
gen furnace (BF-BOF) scheme. Purohit et al., 2018, 2021 testified a new necessary services of material and energy consumption for the first three
lime magnetite pellet (LMP) making process which took solar flux as units.
driven energy, and then evaluated the thermal efficiency, payback
period, and commercial potential of the integrated system. Toktarova
2.1. Hot metal production process: sintering unit and ironmaking unit
et al. (2022) investigated the cost and power consumption of steel en­
terprises charging hydrogen based hot briquetted iron (HBI). By intro­
The metal charge of EAF steelmaking processes includes scrap and
ducing solar and wind power generation, the peak period of electricity,
HM. Scrap is directly collected and sorted from steel products eliminated
operating cost, and environmental impact could be alleviated and
from various sectors of society. While the acquisition of HM experiences
reduced. Fernández-González et al. (2019) devoted to the
a series of sub processes, mainly covering STU and IMU. After mining,
high-temperature treatment and resources utilization of BOF slags by
adopting concentrated solar energy, the ultimate products could serve as
part of building materials with stable phase composition. Table 1
Basic facilities and equipment of an iron and steel production line in the selected
An important factor restricting the further development of EAF
plant.
steelmaking processes in China is the large amount of electricity con­
sumption and the high electricity cost. From the above description, solar Production line No.1 steelmaking line No.2 steelmaking line
electricity has been successfully applied in many fields, and achieved Facilities and two 45-ton EAFs; one 100-ton EAF;
better performance. However, to the best knowledge of authors, there equipment three 45-ton ladle furnaces one 100-ton LF;
are no public reports on application of solar electricity in EAF steel­ (LFs);
two double-station vacuum one double-station VD
making processes in China. Herein, the new scheme of EAF steelmaking decrease (VD) furnaces; furnace;
processes integrated with solar energy system (EAF-SES) was proposed. two arc-shaped continuous one arc-shaped continuous
The SES integration supply clean electricity for the whole EAF steel­ casting machines; casting machine;
making processes. The life cycle assessment and techno-economic HM production one 180 m2 sintering machine, one 1080 m3 BF
line
analysis of described novel pattern and EAF route integrated with

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Fig. 2. Flow diagram of EAF steelmaking processes integrated with traditional energy system (EAF-TES).

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L. Yang et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 425 (2023) 138868

beneficiation, and mineral processing, the level of iron ore powder (IOP) Table 3
is improved before entering the sintering machine (Haque, 2022; Han Consumption types and relative parameter indexes of material and energy in
et al., 2023; Zhang et al., 2022b). In STU, the high-grade IOP is trans­ IMU (Wang, 2013).
formed into sinter ore with high alkalinity and loose porous structure by Types Parameter indexes
oxygen-rich blast sintering (Xu et al., 2022), as displayed in Equations Iron Sinter: iron grade: >58%; FeO content: 6–10%; drum strength (>6.3
(1)–(7). burden mm): ≥77%; reduction degree: ≥70%; alkalinity: 1.8–2.25; average
/ particle size: 5–50 mm, 5–10 mm: <30%.
C + O2 = CO2 ΔH = − 33500kJ kg Δr GΘm = − 395350 − 0.54T (J / mol) Pellet: iron grade: >65%; drum strength (>6.3 mm): ≥95%;
(1) compressive strength: >2500 N; abrasion index (<0.5 mm): ≤4.5%;
reduction degree: ≥65%; reduction swelling index: ≤15%; average
/ particle size: 10–15 mm.
2C + O2 = 2COΔH = − 9800kJ kg Δr GΘm = − 228800 − 171.54T (J / mol)
Flux No flux or a small amount of flux is needed when adding high alkalinity
(2) sinter
Fuel Metallurgical coke: fixed carbon content: ≥85%; volatile matter
/
2CO + O2 = 2CO2 ΔH = − 23700kJ kgΔr GΘm content: ≤1.5–2.0%; ash content: ≤13%; S content: ≤0.6%; impact
strength: 85%–90%; abrasion resistance: <6%; coke reactivity index:
= − 561900 + 170.46T (J / mol) (3) <25%; coke strength after reaction: >65%; moisture content: 3–7%;
average particle size: 40–60 mm.
/ Anthracite: fixed carbon content: ≥75%; volatile matter content:
CO2 + C = 2COΔH = 13800kJ kgΔr GΘm = 166550 − 171.0T (J / mol) (4)
≤10%; ash content: ≤15%; S content: ≤0.05%; moisture content: <6%;
average particle size: 0.8–1.0 mm.
4FeS2 + 11O2 = 2Fe2 O3 + 8SO2 (5) Coke oven gas: H2 content: 54–59%; CO content: 5.5–7%; CH4 content:
23–38%; CmHn content: 2–3%; CO2 content: 1.5–2.5%; N2 content:
4FeS + 7O2 = 2Fe2 O3 + 4SO2 (6) 3–5%, O2 content: 0.3–0.7%.
BF gas: H2 content: 2–3%; CO content: 25–31%; CH4 content:
MeCl2 + H2 O = MeO + 2HCl (7) 0.3–0.5%; CO2 content: 9.0–15.5%; N2 content: 55–58%.
Others Combustion-supporting gas: compressed air, oxygen, pressure:
Due to the action of coke, the reduction atmosphere is formed in BF. 0.34–0.57 MPa, velocity: 6–8 m/s;
The sinter ore is reduced by CO or H2, and then melted in the BF to High level iron ore: iron grade: 50–65%;
Manganese ore: ultimate Fe content: 80–85%;
obtain high-temperature liquid HM in IMU (Wang et al., 2017; Zhao Ferrous Substitutes: BF dust, residual iron in ferric cake ditch, rolling
et al., 2019; Li et al., 2022c), as the main chemical reactions showed in skin, roasting outcome of iron pyrites.
Equations (8)–(13). Refractories: refractoriness: >1580 ◦ C, different types of firebricks are
selected according to different BF parts.
H2 O + C = H2 + CO Δr GΘm = 133100 − 141.63T (J / mol) (8)

Fe2 O3 ⟶Fe3 O4 ⟶FeO⟶Fe (Temperature ≥ 570◦ C) (9) 2.2. Hot metal and scrap melting process: steelmaking unit

Fe2 O3 ⟶Fe3 O4 ⟶Fe (Temperature < 570◦ C) (10) SMU takes EAF as the core to produce molten steel (MS). In EAF
steelmaking, the main iron burden covers scrap and HM. High temper­
FeO + C = Fe + CO Δr GΘm = 158970 − 160.25T (J / mol) (11) ature HM contains massive physical heat, intensifies the liquid category,
and promote heat transfer and melting of scrap. Furthermore, as the
FeO + CO = Fe + CO2 Δr GΘm = − 22800 + 24.26T (J / mol) (12) main input energy, electricity can fill the energy gap and accelerate the
scrap melting (Yao et al., 2022). Through charges melting, oxidation
FeO + H2 = Fe + H2 O Δr GΘm = 23430 − 16.16T (J / mol) (13) reaction (Equations (14)–(20)), impurity removal, molten pool heating
and refining, the MS with qualified temperature and chemical compo­
In addition, to meet the requirement of STU and IMU, the relative sition is ultimately yielded in SMU (Yang et al., 2021, 2023). The
parameter indexes of consumed energy sources and materials are shown characteristics of consumed energy sources and materials in SMU are
in detail in Table 2 and Table 3 (Jiang, 2016; Wang, 2013). shown in detail in Table 4 (Zhu and Liu, 2018).
[C] + [O] = {CO} (14)
Table 2
Consumption types and relative parameter indexes of material and energy in
[C] + 2[O] = {CO2 } (15)
STU (Jiang, 2016).
Types Parameter indexes [Si] + 2[O] = (SiO2 ) (16)
IOP TFe: ≥60%; Moisture content: ≤10%; Average particle size: ≤8 mm.
Flux CaO content: ≥52%; SiO2 content: ≤3%; Moisture content: <3%; Average [Mn] + [O] = (MnO) (17)
particle size: 0–3 mm (≥85%)
Fuel Anthracite: fixed carbon content: ≥75%; volatile matter content: ≤10%; 2[P] + 5[O] = (P2 O5 ) (18)
ash content: ≤15%; S content: ≤0.05%; moisture content: <6%; average
particle size: 0–13 mm (≥95%).
Coke powder: fixed carbon content: ≥80%; volatile matter content: ≤2.5%;
[Fe] + [O] = (FeO) (19)
ash content: ≤14%; S content: ≤0.60%; moisture content: ≤15%; average
particle size: 0–25 mm (≥80%). 2[Fe] + 3[O] = (Fe2 O3 ) (20)
Coke oven gas: H2 content: 54–59%; CO content: 5.5–7%; CH4 content:
23–38%; CmHn content: 2–3%; CO2 content: 1.5–2.5%; N2 content: 3–5%,
O2 content: 0.3–0.7%. 2.3. Supporting facilities unit
BF gas: H2 content: 2–3%; CO content: 25–31%; CH4 content: 0.3–0.5%;
CO2 content: 9.0–15.5%; N2 content: 55–58%.
SFU is indispensable, which runs through the whole STU, IMU, and
Others Combustion-supporting gas: compressed air, pressure: 0.58–0.65 MPa,
velocity: 4–8 m/s; SMU. Necessary energy supply, raw materials consumption, and related
Substitutes: clean and green energy, low-carbon and renewable materials, processes, such as electricity, coke, oxygen, water, lime, and so on, are
recyclable metallurgical wastes. derived from SFU (Wei et al., 2020). SFU is composed of energy supply
Return fines: unqualified defective sinter, dedusting ash, ferric powder and unit, iron-bearing materials supply unit, air treatment unit, water supply
dust mud.
unit, lime supply unit, and auxiliary materials supply unit, which

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Table 4 2.4. Data collection and analysis

Consumption types and relative parameter indexes of material and energy in
SMU (Zhu and Liu, 2018). Based on the above process description, the consumption data of
Types Parameter indexes materials and energy sources in related units was collected. In SMU, the
Iron Scrap: C content: <2.0%; S content: <0.05%; P content: <0.05%; Ni
main smelting statistic data of the selected steel mill was counted by the
burden content: <0.30%; Cr content: <0.30%; Cu content: <0.30%; external quarterly accounts and PLC system. The sampling period involved was
dimensions: <800mm × 400 mm; thickness: ≥2 mm; bulk density: from March 2020 to September 2022. The number of samples with the
1200–1700 kg/m3. HM ratio of 50% was 1800 heats. After removing the miscellaneous data
HM: C content: 4.0–4.5%; Si content: 0.2–1.0%; Mn content: 0.1–0.6%;
with incomplete statistics and errors, the effective heats were 1536.
S content: 0.001–0.05%; P content: 0.01–0.30%; temperature:
>1250 ◦ C. Moreover, the material-energy consumptions of the upstream IMU and
Other ferrous charge: DRI, HBI, metallized pellet, pig iron. STU affected in the effective heats were traced and matched. For the
Flux CaO content: ≥90%; SiO2 content: ≤3%; S content: <0.1%; caustic convenience of comparative analysis, the function unit of this paper was
soda content: <4%; activity: >300mL/(4 mol/L HCl); overheating rate: selected as 1000 kg of MS, just shown as Fig. 2. The statistical data was
<14%; average particle size: 5–40 mm.
Fuel Main energy source: Electricity, derived from power grid.
further processed through arithmetic average method. Table 5 summa­
Carbon powder: fixed carbon content: ≥80.0%; volatile matter content: rized the average consumption data per heat based on the function unit.
≤0.1%; ash content: ≤18%; moisture content: ≤1.0%; average particle The life cycle assessment (LCA) method was adopted to analyze the
size: 0.5–3 mm. environmental impacts. It closely connects with practical production,
Natural gas: CH4 content: ≥97.5%; C2H6 content: ≤0.5%; CO content:
and provide analysis strategies for process improvement and product
≤0.5%; H2 content: ≤0.5%; N2 content: ≤1.5%; thermal value:
8500–9000 kcal/m3. upgrading. Therefore, it is easily found in many industries. LCA runs
Coke oven gas: H2 content: 54–59%; CO content: 5.5–7%; CH4 content: through the whole life cycle of products from cradle to grave. Of course,
23–38%; CmHn content: 2–3%; CO2 content: 1.5–2.5%; N2 content: a specific link in the process can also be analyzed separately, just as the
3–5%, O2 content: 0.3–0.7%. EAF steelmaking processes described in this article. LCA mainly includes
Others Combustion-supporting gas: oxygen, pressure: ≥0.8 MPa, velocity:
four interrelated steps. Which are briefly described as target and scope
40–60 m/s;
Refractories: MgO–C brick, carbon content:12–20%; apparent porosity: definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment, and result interpre­
2.7–4.2% (110◦ C–24◦ h), 9.5–11.4% (1500◦ C–3◦ h); natural tation (Yang et al., 2023; Cui et al., 2021). The first two items have been
temperature compressive strength:34–39 MPa (110◦ C-24◦ h); hot described in detail in section 2. LCA takes the impact assessment as the
modulus of rupture: 10.3–12.4 MPa (1400 ◦ C); attrition index: 86–100.
core, which aims to illustrate and evaluate the environmental impact of
Graphite electrode: fine particle needle coke (main raw materials): 0–4
mm; bulk density: ≥1.68 g/cm3; specific resistance: ≤5.8 μΩ m; research objectives. Result interpretation clarifies the specific types of
flexural strength: ≥10.0 MPa; elastic modulus: ≤14.0 GPa; thermal environmental impacts on the whole. Besides, the weak aspects in
expansion coefficient: ≤1.5 × 10− 6/◦ C environmental problems are concentrated, comprehensively discussed
and improved. The latter two items were discussed in section 4. The
GaBi software is one of the most widely used practical tool of LCA. The
provide the corresponding materials or energies according to the tech­
life cycle analysis and corresponding environmental performance were
nique index in Tables 2–4 The smooth of EAF steelmaking processes is
performed by it.
realized by the close cooperation of four units.

Table 5
The input-output inventory list of EAF steelmaking processes under the HM ratio of 50% (1000 kg of MS).
Process Projects Flows Process Projects Flows

STU Inputs IOP 1136.89 kg IMU Inputs Sinter ore 839.96 kg

Lime 93.99 kg Fresh water 194.85 kg
Fresh water 77.95 kg Electricity 48.10 kW h
Compressed air 38.05 Nm3 Coal gas 29.57 Nm3
Electricity 34.44 kW h Compressed air 29.79 Nm3
Carbon powder 24.75 kg Anthracite 61.00 kg
Coal gas 21.84 Nm3 Metallurgical coke 199.55 kg
Steam 8.11 MJ Oxygen 60.79 kg
Anthracite 22.60 kg Steam 37.21 MJ

Outputs Sinter ore 839.96 kg Refractory 3.86 kg

CO2 159.47 kg Outputs HM 534.82 kg

CO 23.52 kg BF slag 194.92 kg
SO2 0.34 kg BF gas 71.14 Nm3
Nitrogen oxides 0.46 kg BF dust 22.70 kg
Powder dust 7.34 kg CO2 649.41 kg

SO2 0.51 kg
Nitrogen oxides 0.62 kg

SMU Inputs HM 534.82 kg Scrap 534.83 kg

Lime 36.68 kg Oxygen 44.63 kg
Fresh water 62.80 kg Electrode 0.85 kg
Electricity 170.16 kW h Carbon powder 7.50 kg
Natural gas 2.11 kg Nitrogen 0.15 kg
Refractory 5.56 kg

Outputs Molten steel 1000 kg EAF slag 78.62 kg

EAF dust 21.39 kg CO 49.50 kg
CO2 8.12 kg Iron splashing 10.70 kg
Nitrogen oxides 0.18 kg

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3. Description of solar energy integrated with EAF steelmaking reduction by analyzing the composition of CF.
processes The calculation results of GaBi software were shown in Fig. 4. The
LCCFs of EAF-TES and EAF-SES were 1563 and 1343 kg CO2 eq., based
In EAF-TES, electricity accounts for a major share of about 65% on on the function unit of 1000 kg of MS, respectively. Ignoring the CF
the total input energy, while the residual part is attributed to chemical difference of scrap, the results in this paper are similar to that reported in
energy (Chen et al., 2022). The energy structure based on excessive the reference (Yang et al., 2023). The CF of EAF-SES was 220 kg lower
electricity increases the cost of energy used in EAF steelmaking pro­ than that of EAF-TES. From the aspect of process characters, EAF
cesses. The metallurgical process described in this paper exists direct steelmaking processes covered three units. IMU and STU were two
utilization of many forms of energy sources. Energy types main include dominant contributors. The LCCFs of HM acquisition were responsible
primary energy and secondary energy. The production and acquisition for 85.8% and 94.5% of the whole LCCFs.
of some raw materials consumed by tracing are also accompanied by This was mainly due to the large amount of HM and typical carbon
indirect EC. They are mostly regarded as high-carbon content energy, containing materials, such as anthracite, metallurgical coke, carbon
which provide thermal energy. Therefore, it is inevitable to increase powder, etc. These materials were not replaced in the existing steel
carbon emissions from steel production. Solar energy is one of the production system. In IMU and STU, solar energy could not be directly
commonly employed renewable and clean energy. The above traditional used to provide heat energy for smelting system. In addition, the amount
energy sources can be replaced by solar energy. The application of of electricity, process steam and other forms of energy replaced by solar
EAF-SES is expected to become topics of interest in carbon reduction. energy was relatively small. As a result, the carbon emission reduction
The process of EAF-SES is similar to the EAF-TES, as shown in Fig. 3. effect of SES in IMU and STU was not obvious. However, the situation
EAF-SES also consists of four units: STU, IMU, SMU, and SFU. The dif­ was completely different in SMU. SMU had significant advantage in
ference between the two systems lies in the transformation of energy graphite electrodes, which notably converted electricity to thermal en­
forms. Specifically, solar energy replaces the energy streams consumed ergy. This meant the substitute feasibility of massive electricity with TES
in EAF steelmaking processes. Solar energy first generates electricity. by SES. The same replacement also existed between auxiliary energy
This part of electricity is directly used in EAF steelmaking processes by inputs (carbon powder, natural gas) and solar electricity. So EAF-SES
electrical equipment. In addition, the remaining electricity is adopted showed lower carbon emission of 149 kg CO2 eq. in SMU compared
for thermal energy, such as producing steam or preheating the furnace with EAF-TES. This situation also led to the gap of LCCFs in EAF-TES and
charge. The total electricity consumption is expected to be supplied by EAF-SES.
solar energy power generation system. Of course, not all energy sources It is concluded that the application of SES in EAF steelmaking pro­
can be determined by SES. In SMU, the electricity is converted into cesses enjoys better performance in cutting down LCCF, especially in
thermal energy through graphite electrode. The carbon powder and SMU. What’s more, once the HM was used in SMU, the carbon reduction
natural gas injected to the molten bath provide chemical energy for potential of whole EAF steelmaking processes will be a long way to go.
charge melting. Increasing electricity consumption eventually reduces Therefore, nowadays, a series of low-carbon non-BF ironmaking tech­
or eliminates the use of two materials. The amount of carbon powder nologies to prepare clean burden for SMU have been proposed by many
and natural gas are regarded as electricity consumption. However, in scholars (Rahmatmand et al., 2023; Ma et al., 2021). The metallic charge
STU and IMU, there does not exist electric-thermal conversion device, structure based of full scrap instead of extra HM added gradually pre­
just similar to the graphite electrode. Except for electricity, the thermal vails in EAF steelmaking processes (Tian et al., 2023b). However, it is
energy provided by anthracite, metallurgical coke, etc, was not appli­ worth noting that substantial quantities of carbon-containing materials
cable to SES. Only the energy forms of electricity and steam can be consumption led to extensive LCCFs. Which aggravate the indirect car­
substituted by SES. Thus, Alternative options focus more on SMU. SES is bon emissions in EAF steelmaking processes. More deployment of
coupled with energy supply unit in EAF steelmaking processes, which low-carbon materials would enjoy a significant effect in reducing indi­
supports the direct and indirect EC of substitutes. rect carbon emissions.

4. Results and discussion

4.2. Production cost
In this section, the life cycle assessment and techno-economic anal­
ysis of EAF-TES and EAF-SES was compared and studied. The discussion PC determines the economic performance of the technological pro­
topics mainly focus on the LCCF, PC, SEP, RMC, and CT. Based on the cess. The development of enterprises is inseparable from better eco­
function unit, the total direct electricity consumption was 252.69 kW h. nomic benefits. Lowering PC not only improves net profit, but also
67.34% of electricity was fed to thermal energy in SMU, while the rest promotes large-scale application of technologies. The calculation
was consumed by electro-mechanical equipment. By replacing the use of method of PC was determined by Equation (21). Both raw materials cost,
carbon powder, natural gas and steam, the electricity consumption utilities cost, operating & maintenance cost, and other costs were
increased by 88.83 kW h. In light of the production yield of 1.2 million covered. Some descriptions, calculation methods and assumptions were
tons of steel per year, the sum of natural gas and carbon powder was shown in Table 6 (Yang et al., 2017a; https://www.mysteel.com/.). For
saved by 2532 and 9000 ton, respectively. the comparison and popularity of the findings, the US dollars was
selected as the economic values while considering the situation that
4.1. Life cycle carbon footprint 1CNY was equal to 0.137 $ (https://gushitong.baidu.
com/foreign/global-CNYUSD).
LCCF is an important environmental parameter related to the WPC = WRMC + WUC + WOMC + WDC + WPOC + WAC + WDSC (21)
magnitude of carbon emissions of industrial products (Yang et al., 2023;
Cui et al., 2022). It is obtained by fully considering all aspects from In Table 6, Mi and Mj , xi andxj denotes the consumption data, and unit
initial acquisition to final waste of products. Both direct and indirect CF cost of materials and energies based on the function unit in EAF steel­
are covered. Among them, the direct CF comes from the use and com­ making processes, respectively, which are revealed in Tables 5 and 6;
bustion of carbon-containing materials and energy. While the indirect Hence, in EAF-TES, the WRMC and WUC were obtained, which were 383
CF refers to the fossil fuels consumption in acquisition, processing, and 25 $, respectively. Taking the total fixed capital investment of
transportation, usage, etc. The larger the CF, the higher the carbon 1.781E+09 $, equipment cost of 2.740E+07 $, and steel output of 1.2
emissions of the product. It is of great significance to get the larger million tons per year into account, the WOMC , WDC and WPOC were 47.88,
components of CF, and identify the implementation direction of carbon 0.914, and 1.843 $ per ton of MS. The remaining WAC and WDSC were not

7
L. Yang et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 425 (2023) 138868

Fig. 3. Flow diagram of EAF steelmaking processes integrated with solar energy system (EAF-SES).

8
L. Yang et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 425 (2023) 138868

close to the average data updated daily in the literatures (https://www.

mysteel.com/.). The PC of EAF-SES was 9.13% higher than that of EAF-
TES. The higher part was mainly reflected in the utilities cost, showed in
Fig. 5.
Considering the SPG price of 0.052 $/kWh and electricity storage
cost of 0.167 $/kWh, the actual cost of solar electricity was 0.219
$/kWh (Yang et al., 2017a; https://www.pv-tech.org/how-dubai-­
will-deliver-sub-6-solar; Sommerfeldt and Madani, 2015; EPRI, 2010).
The value was much higher than the industrial electricity price of 0.093
$/kWh (Deng et al., 2023). This led to the total cost of SPG is 3.18 times
of that in traditional power generation.
At least, considering the current solar electricity of 0.219 $/kWh, the
application of EAF-SES was not cost-effective. However, the successful
enterprise application of the system is inseparable from the lower cost.
Taking a panoramic view of PC, raw material cost is always the largest
component. It accounted for 80.18% and 72.09% of the total PC in EAF-
TES and EAF-SES. To break down PC, the RMC is an important focus.

4.3. Raw materials cost

Fig. 4. LCCF of EAF-TES and EAF-SES based on the function unit.

RMC plays an important role in total PC. Based on the results in

Table 6
Section 4.2, the total amount of RMC in EAF-TES and EAF-SES were 383,
Descriptions and assumptions of PC calculation (Yang et al., 2017a; and 379 $ per ton of MS. Fig. 6 revealed several major components of
https://www.mysteel.com/). RMC. As part of RMC, the prices of scrap, iron ore, and metallurgical
coke were three main influence factors because of the larger consump­
Component Calculation Economic assumption
equation tion and higher price. Therefore, in this section, the influences of scrap
price, iron ore price, and metallurgical coke price on total PC were
Production cost (WPC ) Equation (21) 1 + 2+3 + 4+5 + 6+7
1. Raw materials cost WRMC = Mi • xi Scrap: 328.8 $/ton; Iron ore: 68.5
studied. To control the variables and maintain the consistency of the
(WRMC ) $/ton; Lime: 109.6 $/ton; result analysis, it is assumed that the price of scrap, iron ore and
Refractory materials: 335.65 metallurgical coke are independent, and do not affect the price variation
$/ton; Graphite electrode: 2740 of other materials or energies. Thus, the total PC was only influenced by
$/ton; Coke powder: 280.85
single variable.
$/ton; Coal gas: 41.1
$/1000Nm3; Anthracite: 301.4 The research results were displayed in Fig. 7. Where the horizontal
$/ton; Metallurgical coke: 356.2 axis represents the unit price of scrap, iron ore, and metallurgical coke
$/ton; Natural gas: 1041.2 $/ton. (https://www.mysteel.com/.). The influence of three factors on PC was
2. Utilities cost (WUC ) WUC = Mj • xj Electricity: 0.093 $/kWh; Process performed in the vertical axis. With the increase of unit price of mate­
steam: 27.4 $/1000 MJ; Water:
0.562 $/ton.
rials, the PC rose in a straight line. The intercepts of lines represent the
3. Operating & WOMC = WOL + 3.1 + 3.2+3.3 + 3.4+3.5 difference value between the PC and the cost of scrap, iron ore, and
maintenance cost WDS− CL + WMR + metallurgical coke in Section 4.2, respectively. While the slopes of lines
(WOMC ) WOS + WLC denote the consumption of scrap, iron ore, and metallurgical coke in EAF
3.1 Operating labor WOL = ML • xL 570 labors, 13700 $/(labor⋅year)
steelmaking processes. In addition, the PC of EAF-SES was always higher
(WOL )
3.2 Direct supervisory WDS− CL = 10%WOL 10% of operating labor (WOL ) than that of EAF-TES under the same value in abscissa. The trend is
& clerical labor
(WDS− CL )
3.3 Maintenance and WMR = 2%WFCI 2% of fixed capital investment
Repairs (WMR ) (WFCI )
3.4 Operating supplies WOS = 0.7%WFCI 0.7% of fixed capital investment
(WOS ) (WFCI ), WFCI : 1.781E+09 $
3.5 Laboratory charge WLC = 10%WOL 10% of operating labor (WLC )
(WLC )
4. Depreciation cost WDC = 4%WEC Life period of 15 years; salvage
(WDC ) value: 4%; Equipment cost
(WEC ): 2.740E+07 $
5. Plant overhead cost WPOC = 5%(WOL + 5% (3.1 + 3.2 + 3.3)
(WPOC ) WDS− CL + WMR )
6. Administrative cost WAC = 2%WPC 2% of production cost
(WAC )
7. Distribution and WDSC = 2%WPC 2% of production cost
selling cost (WDSC )

able to be directly calculated due to the undefined PC, but they together
accounted for 4% of PC. Hence, except for WAC and WDSC , the total
proportion of previous proven WRMC , WUC , WOMC , WDC , and WPOC in PC
was 96%. Finally, the PC in EAF-TES was obtained, and the same method
was also applicable to the PC of EAF-SES.
According to the aforementioned methods, the PC of EAF-TES and
Fig. 5. Production cost (PC) of EAF-TES and EAF-SES based on the func­
EAF-SES were 478 and 526 $ per ton of MS, respectively. This value is tion unit.

9
L. Yang et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 425 (2023) 138868

Fig. 6. Raw materials cost (RMC) of EAF-TES (left) and EAF-SES (right).

Fig. 7. Influence of RMC on PC (a: scrap price, b: iron ore price, c: metallurgical coke price).

consistent with that reported in references (Tian et al., 2023b; https The results were performed in Fig. 8. The abscissa represented the
://www.mysteel.com/.). But while the unit price changed by the electricity price, and the fluctuation range was 0–0.344 $/kWh (Yang
equivalent amount, the PC was not affected in the same way. The fluc­ et al., 2017a). The vertical axis was the PC per ton of MS in EAF steel­
tuation of iron ore price had the greatest impact on the PC, followed by making processes. With the increase of electricity price, the PC pre­
scrap. sented a linear upward trend. The intercepts of lines represent the
It was worth mentioning that EAF-SES mode could only change the difference value between the PC and the electricity cost in Section 4.2.
energy supply structure and provide clean energy. However, consump­ While the slopes of lines denote the electricity consumption in EAF-TES
tion level of main raw materials was not revised. Therefore, the basic PC and EAF-SES. However, the growth rates of the two lines were not the
of EAF-SES was high. This feature was reflected on the larger intercept of same. The invariance line slope of EAF-SES in the line associated with PC
the vertical axis. While producing one ton of MS, the amount of con­ was much steeper. In the defined abscissa range, two lines have a point
sumption of iron ore, scrap, and metallurgical coke were 1137, 535, and of intersection. The electricity price was set as 0.041 $/kWh, the PC of
200 kg, respectively. Which indicated that PC was more sensitive to iron
ore.
Therefore, it was more economical to employ scrap rather than iron
ore in responding to the rise potential of raw material price. Meanwhile,
the increase consumption of scrap reduced the demand for HM. The PC
brought by metallurgical coke and others decreased. To sum up, the
smelting technology of high proportion of scrap in EAF steelmaking
processes not only has significant effect on alleviating carbon emission,
but also cut down PC.

4.4. Solar energy price

From the above description, the strength on PC of EAF-TES primarily

reflected on utilities cost. Solar energy is a kind of clean energy source.
SPG has the advantage of carbon reduction while replacing traditional
power and energy supply. However, the PC increased, and the reason
derived from the higher utilities cost of solar electricity. In this section,
the influence of electricity price of EAF-TES and EAF-SES on PC was
analyzed. As displayed in Section 4.3, some assumptions are made for
variable control, that is conclude as the electricity price is independent,
and has no impact on other costs. Therefore, the relationship between
PC and electricity price is a linear function. Fig. 8. Electricity price analysis of EAF-TES and EAF-SES.

10
L. Yang et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 425 (2023) 138868

EAF-SES was equal to that of EAF-TES. While the amount of PC was 465 attractive cost advantage of EAF-SES was reflected. With the further
$ per ton of MS. Once the electricity cost was lower than this value, the increase of CT, the PC of EAF-SES will be lower. The deterioration of the
EAF-SES had the positive impact on reducing PC. Conversely, as the ecological environment forces us to pay attention to energy conservation
electricity price further rose, the EAF-SES PC improved rapidly. The PC and emission reduction. As the people’s awareness of environment
of EAF-SES has a higher linear slope and is more affected by the elec­ protection enhanced, the EAF-SES with lower PC and CF will be more
tricity price. and more popular.
EAF-SES enjoyed PC advantages when the electricity price was lower
than 0.041 $/kWh. Nevertheless, the present electricity cost of SES was 4.6. Uncertainty analysis
0.219 $/kWh, which lead to the disadvantage in terms of economic
benefits. Of course, there is no need to be too pessimistic about the In this section, the results reliability was verified by uncertainty
situation. With the development of advanced energy storage technolo­ analysis. As one of the most universal statistical experiment method,
gies and the spread of renewable energy, the cost of electricity will Monte Carlo Analysis (MCA) was adopted (Yang et al., 2023). The
gradually decrease. Especially, the environmental cost, such as CT was simulation results and probability distribution of objects were obtained
considered, this unfavorable prospect can be effectively resolved. In case by repeated random sampling. The simulation accuracy increases with
of the influence of CT, the relative contents were discussed in detail in adequate sampling times. Thus, in this paper, the simulation iteration
Section 4.5. was set to 10000. Under the error fluctuation range of ±10% for the
input data, the deviation degree of the results from the central data was
obtained. The simulation results of resultant probability density of LCCF
4.5. Carbon tax in EAF-TES and EAF-SES were shown in Figs. 10 and 11. The height of
the bar graph represented the probability that the data occurred. As a
Economic benefits are important, but environmental benefits cannot whole, the data centralized to the middle mean value, and the greater
be ignored. The rapid development of any technology should not come probability of the value existed. The standard deviations of two cases
at the cost of damaging the environment. The corresponding processes were 4.64% and 5.29%, which were relatively small compared with the
are allowed to take responsibility for emissions and pay for them. CT was abundant iterations. Hence, with the confidence level of 90.0%, the
taken into account caused by the carbon emissions of EAF steelmaking LCCF of EAF-TES was higher than that of EAF-SES. The integration of
processes in this section. CT aims to reduce GHG emissions by charging. SES in EAF steelmaking processes mitigated carbon emissions, and
The direct and indirect carbon emissions of EAF-TES and EAF-SES were decreased PC while considering CT of more than 217 $/ton CO2.
1.563, and 1.343 ton based on the function unit, respectively. Assuming
that CT is charged separately without affecting the cost of consumed 4.7. Suggestions and limitations
materials and energies in EAF steelmaking processes. Thus, combined
with the PC value in Section 4.2, the PC considering CT were expressed Achieving better environmental performance while lowering eco­
as Equations (22) and (23). Once the additional cost brought by CT is nomic cost is the future development direction of ISI in response to
excluded, the PC is equal to that in Section 4.2. While the CT was growing energy, resource and environmental problems. According to the
assumed to vary from 10 $/t to 400 $/t (Yang et al., 2017a), the comparative analysis results of EAF-TES and EAF-SES, some suggestions
calculation results of PC was displayed in Fig. 9. were outlined as follows:
PCEAF− = 478 + 1.563 • CT (22)
(1) EAF-SES is a green, low-carbon, and environmentally friendly
TES

PCEAF− (23) mode, which reduces carbon emissions at source, and expected to
SES = 526 + 1.343 • CT
further cut down PC considering the progressive development of
With the increase of CT, the PC of two systems rose straightly. However, clean electricity. Except for solar energy, more clean energy
the variation trend of PC was not consistent, which was closely related to sources are suggested to be considered. These energy sources are
carbon emissions. The linear slope of EAF-SES was smaller due to the
lower CF. The intersection of two lines meant the equivalent PC of the
two paths. When the price of CT was higher than 217 $/t CO2, the

Fig. 10. Probability density distribution of LCCF of 1000 kg of molten steel in

Fig. 9. Influence of carbon tax (CT) on PC. EAF-TES.

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L. Yang et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 425 (2023) 138868

5. Conclusions

In China, the current development of EAF steelmaking processes is

limited by the extensive electricity consumption and expensive elec­
tricity cost. Solar clean electricity is expected to attenuate this weakness
while gaining better environmental performance. In this paper, the
novel pattern of EAF steelmaking processes integrate with solar energy
system was developed and analyzed. Both EAF-SES and EAF-TES were
divided to four units: STU, IMU, SMU, and SFU. The process parameters,
input-output data of raw materials and energy related to each process
were displayed and collected. The life cycle assessment and techno-
economic analysis was implemented from the viewpoints of life cycle
carbon footprint, production cost, raw materials cost, solar energy cost,
and carbon tax. The main research conclusions were simply character­
ized as follows:

(1) The life cycle carbon footprints of EAF-TES and EAF-SES were
1563 and 1343 kg CO2 eq. per ton of molten steel. The gap of 220
kg CO2 eq. derived from the lower carbon footprint of solar en­
ergy electricity in EAF-SES. The IMU was the dominant contrib­
utor, followed by STU. Although the SMU revealed the smallest
carbon footprint, the EAF-SES had the most significant carbon
Fig. 11. Probability density distribution of LCCF of 1000 kg of molten steel in reduction effect, which lowered carbon emission by 149 kg CO2
EAF-SES. eq. compared with EAF-SES. Decreasing hot metal ratio, adopting
full scrap smelting mode can better carry forward the carbon
expected for not only providing electricity, but also playing an reduction advantage of EAF-SES.
essential role in the preparation of some materials, such as (2) The production cost in EAF-SES was 526 $/1000 kg of molten
heating, pressurizing, cooling, separation, purification, etc. steel, which was 9.13% high than that in EAF-TES. Reducing
(Rahbari et al., 2023; Hockaday et al., 2020; Bellouard et al., utilities cost of solar electricity is beneficial for cutting down total
2020). production cost.
(2) In EAF steelmaking processes with the HM charged, more CF (3) Raw materials cost accounted for as high as 80.18% and 72.09%
come from the processing and acquisition of HM (Xu et al., 2020; of the total PC in EAF-TES and EAF-SES. The prices of scrap, iron
Zhang et al., 2021). Reducing HM ratio, cutting down the HM ore, and metallurgical coke were three main influence factors,
supply, will be beneficial to dissipating the consumption of nat­ which showed the proportional relationship with PC. The varia­
ural resources, conventional high-carbon materials and energy tion of iron ore price had the greatest impact on PC. Cutting back
sources of the whole EAF route (Yang et al., 2023; Tian et al., on hot metal consumption not only weaken reliance on iron ore,
2023b). Thus, the optimal pattern of EAF steelmaking processes but also lowers PC, and achieves better economic benefits.
with full scrap was suggested due to the short procedures, simple (4) EAF-SES enjoys lower PC at lower electricity price. When the
operations, reuse and recycle of scrap resources, and indepen­ electricity price was 0.041 $/kWh, the PC of EAF-SES and EAF-
dence of natural carbon-containing resources. TES was the same value of 465 $. Once the electricity price
(3) It is worth to vigorously employ clean energy power generation, rises further, EAF-SES possess the higher PC and PC increase rate
which has significant advantages of sufficient electricity supply compared with EAF-TES.
and stable electricity price (Jing et al., 2023; Wang et al., 2022). (5) With the increase of the carbon tax, the PC of EAF-TES and EAF-
Besides, appropriately raising CT is not only helpful for SES increased. While the carbon tax was set to 217 $/t CO2, the
decreasing PC and LCCF, but also a big opportunity for clean two systems were in good agreement with PC of 817 $. EAF-SES
energy. had significant PC advantages at higher carbon tax.

Nevertheless, some limitations also existed in this study, which were Generally speaking, the intensive development of EAF steelmaking
summarized as the next part. processes is closely integrated with the carbon neutrality goal in ISI.
With the rapid popularization of clean energy, more and more suitable
(1) This paper only considers the electricity supply of SES, and ne­ energy sources are available. Based on the results of this paper, future
glects the role of SES in other processes, such as thermal energy work should focus on the comprehensive environmental performance
supplying, raw materials processing, etc. Furthermore, there is analysis and comparison of more clean energy sources, such as wind
still a lack of consideration of the design parameters and per­ energy, nuclear energy, hydropower energy, biomass energy and etc.
formance characteristics of the solar energy system matching the
described EAF steel making processes, which wish to be identified Funding information
in the subsequent research.
(2) The typical EAF-SES under the HM ratio of 50% was presented This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foun­
and explored. However, there are many smelting modes and dation of China (No. 52174328, 22008265), Natural Science Foundation
multiple charge structures in the actual EAF steelmaking pro­ of Hunan Province (No. 2022JJ40574 and No. 2023JJ10077).
cesses. There is still a lack of consideration in this study.
(3) The data used in this paper are based on static analysis and his­ CRediT authorship contribution statement
torical statistics. The data collection and calculation will cause
certain error fluctuation, which will finally affect the effects of Lingzhi Yang: Conceptualization, Software, Validation, Formal
LCA. analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original
draft, Visualization, Funding acquisition. Hang Hu: Software,

12
L. Yang et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 425 (2023) 138868

Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – Hasibuan, Arnawan, Siregar, Widyana Verawaty, Isa, Muzamir, Warman, Eddy,
Finata, Roby, Mursalin, M., 2022. The use of regression method on simple E for
original draft, Writing – review & editing. Mengxian Wang: Software,
estimating electrical energy consumption. HighTech Innovation J. 3 (3), 306–318.
Visualization, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft. Feng Chen: He, K., Wang, L., 2017. A review of energy use and energy-efficient technologies for the
Visualization, Project administration. Shuai Wang: Visualization, iron and steel industry. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 70, 1022–1039.
Project administration. Yufeng Guo: Resources, Writing – review & Hockaday, Lina, McKechnie, Tristan, Neises von Puttkamer, Martina, Lubkoll, Matti,
2020. The Impact of Solar Resource Characteristics on Solar Thermal Preheating of
editing, Supervision. Sheng Yang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Manganese Ores. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series, pp. 3–13.
Resources, Writing – review & editing, Funding acquisition. Tao Jiang: https://gushitong.baidu.com/foreign/global-CNYUSD.
Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources. https://www.mysteel.com/.
https://www.pv-tech.org/how-dubai-will-deliver-sub-6-solar.
Jiang, T., 2016. Principle and Technology of Agglomeration of Iron Ores. Central South
University Press, Changsha, pp. 22–80.
Declaration of competing interest Jing, J.X., Zhou, Y., Wang, L.Y., Liu, Y.F., Wang, D.J., 2023. The spatial distribution of
China’s solar energy resources and the optimum tilt angle and power generation
potential of PV systems. Energy Convers. Manag. 283, 116912.
The authors declare no conflict of interest exists in the submission of Junedi, M.M., Ludin, N.A., Hamid, N.H., Kathleen, P.R., Hasila, J., Ahmad Affandi, N.A.,
this manuscript, and manuscript is approved by all authors for 2022. Environmental and economic performance assessment of integrated
conventional solar photovoltaic and agrophotovoltaic systems. Renew. Sustain.
publication. Energy Rev. 168, 112799.
Karaca, A.E., Dincer, I., Nitefor, M., 2022. Development of an integrated solar and wind
Data availability driven energy system for desalination and power generation. Sustain. Energy
Technol. Assessments 52 (C), 102249.
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solar energy, and thermoelectric generator. J. Clean. Prod. 331, 130001.
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