Evaluating the carbon footprint of ferrochrome production technologies using HSC-SIM and OpenLCA software packages

Reducing the carbon footprint of metals production processes is currently one of the top priorities to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. Especially in ferroalloy production where the carbon footprint (through CO2 emissions) is enormous. To reduce GHG emissions, understanding of the CO2 contribution of process steps and entire production chain for different technologies is imperative. This research compares the CO2 emission of two leading technologies and makes recommendations for the most important steps in reduction of GHG emissions. In the research, a simulation-based life cycle assessment methodology has been used to systematically quantify emissions of each technology. The simulations have been constructed using HSC Sim (v10.0), linked to OpenLCA software.