According to blast furnace specialist Paul Wurth, which was awarded the contract to make the conversion, coke oven gas injection will partially offset pulverized coal and metallurgical coke as reducing agents in the Nos. 4 and 5 furnaces. 

“With this new technology, coke oven gas will become a metallurgical process gas instead of being used for producing energy at low efficiency level … thus contributing to reducing the carbon intensity in the blast furnace as well as the carbon footprint of the overall ironmaking operations,” Paul Wirth said in a statement. 

The order is being executed on a turnkey basis and includes design and engineering for the two coke oven gas injection subplants; supply of flow control and check valves, vessels, piping, and supporting structures; and automation and integration into the plant’s existing process technology and configuration.
 
Coke oven gas injection shall start next summer in half of the tuyeres in the No. 5 blast furnace, with the aim to achieve permanent injection in all tuyeres of both furnaces by the end of 2020.

The company is a joint venture of AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke and Saarstahl AG.