Quantitative evaluation of CO₂ emission reduction of active carbon recycling energy system for ironmaking by modeling with aspen plus

The use of the Active Carbon Recycling Energy System in ironmaking (iACRES) has been proposed for reducing CO₂ emissions. To evaluate the performance of iACRES quantitatively, a process flow diagram of a blast furnace model with iACRES was developed using Aspen Plus, a chemical process simulator. The CO₂ emission reduction and exergy analysis was predicted by using the mass and energy balance obtained from the simulation results. iACRES used a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) with CO₂ capture and separation (CCS), an SOEC without CCS, and a reverse water-gas shift reactor as the CO₂ reduction reactor powered by a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. iACRES could provide a CO₂ emission reduction of 3-11% by recycling carbon monoxide and hydrogen, whereas the effective exergy ratio decreased in all cases.