Research of the life cycle for two most common routes of steel production with a focus on the impact to the human body

ABSTRACT

The metallurgical industry simultaneously represents both one of the most crucial sectors of the industry and a sector with significant emissions. Alongside methods to mitigate the harmful impact on the environment, we need to consider reducing the hazardous, toxicological impact on the human organism. In this article, we explore the life cycle of two steel production methods: BF-BOF and EAF. The results of our research indicate that the EAF method has a lesser impact on the human organism. Our goal is to identify the key processes that constitute the primary source of emissions of hazardous substances in each of these two pathways. We investigated the distribution of the impact of production processes in each of the two aforementioned methods. In traditional steel production using oxygen converters, the primary source of emissions is the production of pig iron in blast furnaces. In the second case, it was the used electricity. For this study, we applied the LCA methodology, which enables determining the impact of the investigated process throughout its entire life cycle. In the conclusion, possible options for mitigating the harmful impact of each case are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Human body
• LCA methodology
• steel production
• sustainability
• toxicology

Acknowledgments

This research was made possible within the study of a doctoral programme at the Department of Sustainability and Product Ecology, VSСHT, Prague and the support of the Czech Technical Agency.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Аuthor contributions

Ivanna Harasymchuk was responsible for the concept, design and writing of the article. Data interpretation was made by Ivanna Harasymchuk and Vladimír Kočí. Critical revision for intellectual content was made by Tatiana Trecáková. The submitted version of the manuscript was reviewed and approved by all authors. Final approval was made by Vladimír Kočí. All authors agree to be responsible for all aspects of the work, ensuring that they have properly researched and resolved issues related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, I. Harasymchuk, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the grant project [SS02030008] Center for Environmental Research: Waste and Circular Economy and Environmental Security and the institutional support of University of Chemistry and Technology Prague.

Notes on contributors

Ivanna Harasymchuk

Ivanna Harasymchuk student. Researching the optimisation of BAT for the steel industry with an attention to life cycle assessment. In addition, working on the issue of steel decarbonisation with regard to its impact on the human body.

Vladimír Kočí

Vladimír Kočí focuses primarily on reducing the environmental impacts of products, technologies, and organisations in his professional work. He is generally involved in the issues of product ecology and sustainability. The basic tool of his work is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method.

Tatiana Trecáková

Tatiana Trecáková work and interests focused on life cycle assessment (products and organisations), sustainability management, innovation.