DECARBONIZATION OF THE TARANTO STEELMAKING AREA: REDUCTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE IMPACTS

Strict decarbonisation guidelines represent a major challenge for steel industries. The steel production sector is responsible for a large amount of CO2 emissions, equal to up to 9% of global emissions, as well as significant environmental contamination from persistent toxic pollutants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, dioxins and chlorinated furans. According to European policy, the goal of zero net carbon emissions should be achieved by 2050 but traditional steel industries, such as that of the former ILVA in Taranto, still work with technologies based on the carbothermal reduction of iron minerals. These industries represent one of the protagonists in leading the challenge towards decarbonization, thanks to the necessary modification of current industrial plants. The strong point of the steel sector is the "circularity" of steel, a 100% recyclable material. Steel production is therefore in an excellent position to seize the opportunities that arise from the affirmation of a development model based on the circular economy and thus contribute to the decoupling between economic growth, resource consumption and waste production. Specifically, the process of evolution of the Taranto steelworks is based on the abandonment of the integral cycle production system and the adoption of new technologies with electric furnaces powered by pre-reduced iron (DRI: Direct Reduced Iron), produced through the reduction of iron with carbon monoxide and/or hydrogen. The elimination of coke and the transition to new industrial systems would also allow the recovery of the CO2 produced in the various processes and an effective reduction of greenhouse gases. The production of green hydrogen as a reducing gas through renewable sources, the use of bio coal in the synthesis of steel and the development of processes for the electrochemical reduction of iron oxides open up new perspectives to guarantee the steel sector the sustainability necessary for new environmental challenges.