2.C.1 - Iron & Steel Production

Last updated on 18 Mar 2020 09:15 (cf. Authors)

Short description

NFR-Code Name of Category Method AD EF Key Category 1
2.C.1 Iron & Steel Production T2 NS CS L & T: SO2, CO, PM2.5, PM10, TSP, Pb, Cd, PCDD/F | L: Hg | T: NOx
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This sector comprises process-related emissions from oxygen steel and electric-steel production.
The last Siemens-Martin steel works (Stahlwerk Brandenburg) was shut down shortly after 1990; the last Thomas steel works (Maxhütte Sulzbach-Rosenberg) discontinued the production in 2002. Due to their minor relevance and the phasing out, the emissions from Siemens-Martin and Thomas steel production are jointly calculated with the emissions from oxygen steel production. The other structural elements are sinter production, hot iron production, hot rolling, iron and steel foundries (including malleable casting).
Energy-related emissions from steel production for the years 1990 - 1994 (for individual pollutants until 1999) are reported under 1.A.2.a.

In 2018 a total of 29.8 million t of raw steel was produced in six integrated steelworks. Electrical steel production amounted to another 12.7 million t.

Method

Activity data

Activity data are surveyed plant specific and submitted by national statistics. After discontinuation of the special statistics for iron and steel production (FS. 4, R. 8.1), the information is collected by the German steel trade association Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl (WV Stahl) based on a formal agreement.
In the iron and steel industry, only minor amounts of secondary fuels are used for pig iron production in individual blast furnaces. They are used as substitute reducing agents, instead of coke. To date, these materials have not yet been included in the national statistics and in the Energy Balance. For this reason, the data used was provided by the steel trade association (Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl).

As the activity rates for 2017 could not be provided by WV Stahl as a result of competition problems, aggregated values from emissions trading were used instead. The consistency of emissions trading data has been verified against comparative figures for previous years. The deviations are less than 1%, only in sintering production they are noticeably higher (maximum + 8%).

Emission factors

The emission factors used for emissions calculation are based on emission data from individual plants, either determined by the Umweltbundesamt (UBA) itself (emission factors for 1995 - 2001) or by a research project (emission factors for 2008). As the EF for the years 1995 - 2001 as well as for 2008 are based on real stack emission data, it is not possible to distinguish between combustion and process emissions (they are emitted via the same stacks). Hence whereever plant-based EF were availaible, i.e. for most pollutants for the years 1995 and later, all emissions are reported under 2.C.1.

Please note that the reported emissions now also cover diffuse emissions from sources that were not covered in previous reporting periods, nor in the EMEP/EEA Guidebook. For many pollutants and sources, individual EFs for channelled as well as diffuse emissions have been determined. While there is sufficient knowledge and measurement data of channelled emissions, the emission data concerning diffuse sources is usually based on estimations, using parameters adapted to the local conditions of the individual emission source. Therefore, emission data for one source of diffuse emissions is hardly significant for the diffuse emissions from other plants. The emission factors given below were calculated as the weighted average of pollution loads reported for individual diffuse sources by the plant operators, in relation to their corresponding production amounts.

Table 1: Overview of applied emission factors applied for sinter production
pollutant Type of source EF 1995 EF 2000 EF 2005 EF 2010 EF 2016 unit Trend
Cd 0.000098 0.000098 0.000052 0.000017 0.000017 kg/t falling
CO 19.152 17.325 15.497 14.4 14.4 kg/t falling
Cr 0.000077 0.000077 0.000044 0.00002 0.00002 kg/t falling
Hg 0.000059 0.000059 0.000028 0.000005 0.000005 kg/t falling
Ni 0.000139 0.000139 0.000068 0.000015 0.000015 kg/t falling
NMVOC 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12 kg/t constant
NOx 0.558 0.46 0.401 0.401 kg/t falling
PAH 248.571 177.143 120 120 120 mg/t falling
Pb 0.005299 0.005299 0.003242 0.0017 0.0017 kg/t falling
PCB 2.285714 1.571429 1 1 1 mg/t falling
PCDD/F 4.575 3.149 1.724 0.796 0.578 µg/t falling
SO2 1.08 0.837 0.691 0.691 kg/t falling
TSP channelled 0.65 0.465 0.234 0.096 0.096 kg/t falling
TSP diffuse 0.046 0.046 kg/t new EF
PM10 channelled 0.445 0.336 0.177 0.07 0.07 kg/t falling
PM10 diffuse 0.016 0.016 kg/t new EF
PM2.5 channelled 0.214 0.206 0.13 0.056 0.056 kg/t falling
Table 2: Overview of applied emission factors applied for pig iron production
pollutant Type of source EF 1995 EF 2000 EF 2005 EF 2010 EF 2016 unit Trend
B(a)P 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 mg/t constant
Cd channelled 0.000004 0.000004 0.000004 0.000004 0.000004 kg/t constant
Cd diffuse 0.000000203 0.000000203 0.000000203 0.000000203 0.000000203 kg/t constant
CO channelled 1.18 0.915 0.65 0.491 0.491 kg/t falling
CO diffuse 0.398 0.398 0.398 0.398 0.398 kg/t constant
Cr channelled 0.000019 0.000006 0.000002 0.000001 0.000001 kg/t falling
Cr diffuse 0.000008 0.000008 0.000008 0.000008 0.000008 kg/t constant
Hg channelled 0.000002436 0.000000192 0.000000015 0.000000003 0.000000003 kg/t falling
Hg diffuse 0.000000005 0.000000005 0.000000005 0.000000005 0.000000005 kg/t constant
Ni channelled 0.000021 0.000006 0.000002 0.000001 0.000001 kg/t falling
Ni diffuse 0.000008 0.000008 0.000008 0.000008 0.000008 kg/t constant
NMVOC 0.018525 0.018525 0.018525 0.018525 0.018525 kg/t constant
NOx channelled 0.051938 0.051938 0.051938 0.0517 0.0517 kg/t falling
NOx diffuse 0.000001 0.000001 0.000001 0.000001 0.000001 kg/t constant
Pb channelled 0.000022 0.000022 0.000022 0.000022 0.000022 kg/t constant
Pb diffuse 0.000011 0.000011 0.000011 0.000011 0.000011 kg/t constant
PCDD/F 0.026 0.009 0.004 0.004 0.004 µg/t falling
SO2 channelled 0.242 0.242 0.242 0.242 0.242 kg/t constant
SO2 diffuse 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 kg/t constant
TSP channelled 0.022 0.015 0.01 0.008 0.008 kg/t falling
TSP diffuse 0.016 0.016 0.016 0.016 0.016 kg/t constant
PM10 channelled 0.013 0.009 0.006 0.006 0.006 kg/t falling
PM10 diffuse 0.007 0.007 0.007 0.007 0.007 kg/t constant
PM2.5 channelled 0.009 0.007 0.005 0.004 0.004 kg/t falling
Table 3: Overview of applied emission factors applied for oxygen steel production
pollutant Type of source EF 1995 EF 2000 EF 2005 EF 2010 EF 2016 unit Trend
Cd 0.000053 0.000038 0.000024 0.000016 0.000016 kg/t falling
CO 11.5 11.077 10.654 10.4 10.4 kg/t falling
Cr channelled 0.000715 0.000306 0.000125 0.000028 0.000028 kg/t falling
Cr diffuse 0.000069 0.000069 0.000069 0.000069 0.000069 kg/t new EF, constant
Ni channelled 0.00009 0.00006 0.00003 0.000006 0.000006 kg/t falling
Ni diffuse 0.000004 0.000004 0.000004 0.000004 0.000004 kg/t new EF, constant
NOx channelled 0.006 0.005 0.005 0.004 0.004 kg/t falling
NOx diffuse 0.0037 0.0037 0.0037 0.0037 0.0037 kg/t constant
PAH 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 mg/t constant
Pb channelled 0.002941 0.001883 0.000824 0.000189 0.000189 kg/t falling
Pb diffuse 0.000278 0.000278 0.000278 0.000278 0.000278 kg/t new EF, constant
PCB 2.67 1.74 1 1 1 mg/t falling
PCDD/F 0.07 0.07 0.07 0.069 0.069 µg/t falling
SO2 diffuse 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 kg/t constant
TSP channelled 0.155 0.145 0.145 0.024 0.024 kg/t falling
TSP diffuse 0.049 0.049 0.049 0.049 0.049 kg/t new EF, constant
PM10 channelled 0.099 0.093 0.093 0.02 0.02 kg/t falling
PM10 diffuse 0.019 0.019 0.019 0.019 0.019 kg/t new EF, constant
PM2.5 channelled 0.025 0.023 0.023 0.017 0.017 kg/t falling
Table 4: Overview of applied emission factors applied for electric steel production
pollutant Type of source EF 1995 EF 2000 EF 2005 EF 2010 EF 2016 unit Trend
B(a)P 2.531 1.661 0.792 0.271 0.271 mg/t falling
Cd 0.00024 0.000157 0.000065 0.000016 0.000016 kg/t falling
CO channelled 1.7 1.187 0.674 0.366 0.366 kg/t falling
CO diffuse 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 kg/t new EF, constant
Cr channelled 0.000481 0.000206 0.000258 0.000323 0.000323 kg/t fluctuating
Cr diffuse 0.000851 0.000851 0.000851 0.000851 0.000851 kg/t constant
Hg channelled 0.000306 0.000288 0.000154 0.00007 0.00007 kg/t falling
Ni channelled 0.000483 0.000207 0.000145 0.000124 0.000124 kg/t falling
Ni diffuse 0.000284 0.000284 0.000284 0.000284 0.000284 kg/t constant
NMVOC 0.035 0.024 0.012 0.006 0.006 kg/t falling
NOx channelled 0.122 0.12 0.106 0.098 0.098 kg/t falling
NOx diffuse 0.014 0.014 0.014 0.014 0.014 kg/t new EF, constant
PAH 45 22 3.793 3.79 3.793 mg/t falling
Pb channelled 0.004075 0.001747 0.00072 0.00017 0.00017 kg/t falling
Pb diffuse 0.000056 0.000056 0.000056 0.000056 0.000056 kg/t new EF, constant
PCB 5.68 3.36 1.50 1.50 1.50 mg/t falling
PCDD/F 0.466 0.295 0.158 0.158 0.158 µg/t falling
SO2 channelled 0.113 0.113 0.113 0.113 0.113 kg/t constant
SO2 diffuse 0.004 0.004 0.004 0.004 0.004 kg/t new EF, constant
TSP channelled 0.28 0.12 0.074 0.018 0.018 kg/t falling
TSP diffuse 0.043 0.043 kg/t new EF, constant
PM10 channelled 0.179 0.08 0.051 0.013 0.013 kg/t falling
PM10 diffuse 0.007 0.007 kg/t new EF, constant
PM2.5 channelled 0.045 0.04 0.038 0.011 0.011 kg/t falling
Table 5: Overview of applied emission factors applied for hot and cold rolling
pollutant Type of source EF 1995 EF 2000 EF 2005 EF 2010 EF 2016 unit Trend
CO 0.005 0.005 kg/t constant
NH3 0.0007 0.0007 0.0007 0.0007 kg/t constant
NMVOC 0.003 0.003 0.003 0.003 kg/t constant
NOx 0.41 0.276 0.196 0.196 kg/t falling
SO2 0.059 0.05 0.044 0.044 kg/t falling
TSP channelled 0.02 0.02 kg/t new EF, constant
TSP diffuse 0.01 0.01 kg/t new EF, constant
PM10 channelled 0.000304 0.000304 kg/t new EF, constant
PM10 diffuse 0.000645 0.000645 kg/t new EF, constant
PM2.5 channelled 0.000266 0.000266 kg/t new EF, constant
Table 6: Overview of applied emission factors applied for iron and steel casting
pollutant EF 2010 unit Trend
B(a)P 10 mg/t constant
NH3 0.027 kg/t falling
NMVOC 0.15 kg/t constant
NOx 0.242 kg/t falling
PAH 100 mg/t constant
PCDD/F 0.19 µg/t constant
SO2 0.256 kg/t falling
TSP 0.2 kg/t constant
PM10 0.137 kg/t constant
PM2.5 0.0836 kg/t constant

Discussion of emission trends

Trends in emissions correspond to trends of emission factors in the table above, in many cases due to regulatory measures. Since 2010, the main driver for the emission trends in most cases is the activity data.

Recalculations

Replacing data of the preliminary energy balance with data of the final energy balance leads to restatements for the year 2017.

For more information on recalculated emission estimates for Base Year and 2017, please see the pollutant specific recalculation tables following chapter 8.1 - Recalculations.

Planned improvements

HCB emissions are not yet included in iron production due to lack of emission data (notation key NE). And the standard emission factor is not seen as appropriate. In order to overcome this data gap, information search will be done within the scope of a Project for actualizing several emission factors. The project should start in 2021 and is designed to run three years. For that reason it is not possible to predict wether emission reporting for HCB could be implemented in national inventory before Submission 2024.

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