Energy and Mass Flow Analysis and Economic Evaluation of Hydrogen‐Based Direct Reduction Electric Arc Furnace Process

With the continuous improvement of global environmental awareness, green, environmentally friendly, and low‐carbon production methods have attracted more and more attention. The energy and mass flow and economy of gas‐based direct reduction (DR) process are comprehensively analyzed to provide new ideas for optimizing production efficiency, reducing energy consumption, and controlling production cost. The influences of the key factors such as ore grade, reduction gas composition, metallization rate of direct reduced iron (DRI) and carbon content on the energy, and mass flow indexes of the shaft furnace are discussed in detail. The coupling process of shaft furnace and electric furnace is studied. The effects of DRI cost, scrap composition, and reduction gas composition on the energy and mass flow indexes of shaft and electric furnaces are analyzed under the set production conditions. It is found that selecting iron ore with high Fe grade, DRI with high metallization rate, appropriate carbon content of DRI, and reasonable reduction gas components, the energy consumption and cost of the gas‐based DR steel production process can be significantly reduced, and the CO 2 emissions can be reduced at the same time. Important theoretical and practical significance for understanding and optimizing DR process are provided.