Greenhouse gas emissions estimation for stainless steel and crude steel production in China based on three different accounting approaches

Abstract

In recent years, global warming has become a growing concern around the world and greenhouse gas (GHG) is the major cause of global warming. Construction material manufacturing consumes much energy and generates a large amount of GHG emissions, particularly in stainless steel and crude steel production. This study aims to estimate the GHG emissions for stainless steel and crude steel production in China and is based on three GHG emissions accounting approaches, which are the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) approach, the Life Cycle Inventory Localization (LCIL) approach, and the Comprehensive Energy Consumption (CEC) approach. In addition, different criteria such as the sources of data and benefits and limitations of the three approaches are compared and discussed to identify the possible opportunities for GHG emission reductions in stainless steel and crude steel production. For stainless steel production in China, the IPCC approach indicates that 1.388 kg CO₂-e total GHG emissions will be generated to produce one kg of stainless steel. Among the four types of energy, the combustion of coke and coal account for the highest GHG emissions from the stainless steel production, in which the combustions of coke and coal generate 0.817 kg CO₂-e/kg stainless steel (58.9%) and 0.484 kg CO₂-e/kg stainless steel (34.9%) of the total GHG emissions, respectively. The LCIL approach indicates that the total GHG emissions are mainly contributed by coke combustion (49.5%), followed by electricity consumption (30.5%). The combustion of coke in the BF process generates 0.617 kg CO₂-e/kg stainless steel, accounting for 42.9% of the total GHG emissions. The total GHG emissions calculated based on CEC approach from seven stainless steel manufacturers in China are 1.419 kg CO₂-e/kg stainless steel. Coal combustion is the absolute largest contributor of total GHG emissions (92.8%) compared to other types of energy. For crude steel production in China, the total GHG emissions from the crude steel production plant in China calculated using the IPCC approach are 1.717 kg CO₂-e/kg crude steel, with an amount of 1.687 kg CO₂-e/kg crude steel for total energy related GHG emissions. Among the four types of energy, the combustions of coke and coal account for the highest GHG emissions from the crude steel production, in which the combustions of coke and coal generate 0.785 kg CO₂-e/kg crude steel (46.6%) and 0.735 kg CO₂-e/kg crude steel (43.6%) of the total energy related GHG emissions, respectively. The LCIL approach indicates that the total energy related and total GHG emissions are 1.7150 and 1.7152 CO₂-e/kg crude steel, respectively. The energy related GHG emissions are mainly contributed by coke combustion (59.3%), followed by coal combustion (24.2%). The combustion of coke in the BF process generates 0.884 kg CO₂-e/kg crude steel, in which it accounts for 51.4% of the total energy related GHG emissions. According to the CEC approach, the total energy related and total GHG emissions of 42 crude steel manufacturers in China are 1.925 and 1.959 CO₂-e/kg crude steel, respectively. Coal combustion is the largest contributor of total energy related GHG emissions (44.9%) compared to other types of energy. These three approaches could be applied to other countries to investigate their GHG emissions. Moreover, it is expected that the comparison of these three approaches can provide insights for adopting appropriate approaches of calculating GHG emissions for stainless steel and crude steel production in China.

Date of Award	2014
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology