Making Good Use of Idle Steel Mills

The ongoing economic depression has added to the world steel doldrums. Large numbers of steel plants sit idle, their industrial capacity wasted. California based Sierra Energy wants to turn this wasted capacity into productive energy. As it happens, the high temperatures used in blast furnaces are ideal for turning mixed garbage from landfills into syngas and other useful byproducts.

Sierra wants to use furnaces that are already built.

Only a few dozen of those massive furnaces are now left in the United States, Hart said. But those could be repurposed to take in trash and pump out syngas, perhaps offering a shot at revival for communities hard-bit by the domestic steel industry's woes. Sierra is looking at a U.S. Steel mill in the iconic Rust Belt city of Gary, Ind. to test out its system, he said.

But in China, where most of the world's steel is now made, there are about 1,500 blast furnaces that could use the extra gas, he said. Sierra is talking with heavyweights Baosteel and Jian Steel in that country, Hart said. _GreenTechMedia

Whether used for stand-alone syngas production from waste, or used to provide syngas in conjunction with ongoing steel production, the overall system will have to be tested to be sure it is technically and economically feasible.

Information on North Bay (Ontario) Biomass Conference

European Bioenergy Conference in Brussels April, 2010