EcoGraf announces goal to reduce steelmaking emissions

The company announced the first GreenRECARB products had passed the specification test for use as an environmentally ‘superior’ replacement for petroleum coke furnace additives.

Petroleum coke furnace additives are associated with high carbon emissions, as well as polluting materials such as sulphur and nitrogen. However, EcoGraf managing director Andrew Spinks says by using natural graphite as a feedstock, carbon emissions are substantially reduced.

This comes at a time when steel manufacturers continue to seek more sustainably produced additive materials to replace the use of energy intensive, fossil-fuel based calcined petroleum coke products.

“Our material comes from natural graphite, it’s pure carbon, and there are lower impurities compared to existing coke products used to increase the carbon content of steel,” Spinks said.

“It is also a by-product through the manufacturing of purified spherical graphite at our planned battery anode material facility in Western Australia. So at the moment we have developed a flow sheet to create this recarburiser product as a green alternate carbon additive material for the steel industry, which is the critical first step and we have developed a product specification material data sheet and product samples for our customers,” he stated.

Key advantages of GreenCARB are claimed to include its high purity with reduced sulphur and nitrogen levels, improved carbon absorption efficiency, and low emission manufacturing process compared to existing coke products, which ultimately reduces the carbon footprint of the steel manufacturing process.

“If our customers accept the material, EcoGraf will move forward to a detailed engineering design to incorporate in our battery anode materials facility in Western Australia,” Spinks commented.

With the steel manufacturing industry being one of the highest polluters, he said he hopes greenRECARB will play an important role in the push towards ‘green steel’.