Making More Efficient Use of Blast-Furnace Gas at Russian Metallurgical Plants

Abstract

This article discusses international practice to date in the operation of combined-cycle power plants (CCP) on blast-furnace gas (BG). It describes the most common schemes of BG use from the European list of the best available technologies for the metallurgical industry. Combined-cycle power plants in Japan and China are used as examples to demonstrate the technical-economic effectiveness of employing heatrecovery CCPs. The properties of blast-furnace gas are compared to the properties of other industrial gases. The energy potential of blast-furnace gas is calculated and compared to the potential of natural gas. The principles behind the upgrade of a standard gas-turbine power plant to burn blast-furnace gas are examined. The article also presents theoretical results obtained by the authors in the software package Thermoflow to illustrate the efficiency of burning blast-furnace gas in CCPs at Russian plants.