Heat-generating ferro-coke boosts energy efficiency

TOKYO -- Japan's JFE Steel will invest 11 billion yen ($100 million) to build a test plant for ferro-coke, a product that can reduce carbon dioxide emissions in steelmaking 5%.

The steelmaking industry is among the highest emitters of carbon dioxide. Eyeing the Paris Agreement, which came into effect last year, the JFE Holdings unit hopes to fast-track the product's launch.

Ferro-coke can speed up steel extraction by generating high temperatures in blast furnaces, cutting carbon dioxide emissions in the process. The product is a 70-30 mix of low-grade coal and iron ore.

JFE Steel will begin construction of a midsize ferro-coke plant in Hiroshima Prefecture in fiscal 2017, using financial support from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization. Kobe Steel and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal will be involved in some of the experiments.

The pilot plant will produce 300 tons of ferro-coke daily, and will test the extent to which carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced. With the product, JFE Steel aims to improve the energy efficiency of blast furnaces by 10%. The company hopes to commercialize the product by 2022.

Japanese steelmakers boast 25-30% higher energy efficiency than U.S. and European producers. Japanese companies have also been transferring their top-notch plant operating technologies to emerging nations.