Biomass as a CO₂-Neutral Carbon Substitute for Reduction Processes in Metallurgy

The increasing consumption of carbon-based products in recent decades and their impact on the environment and climate change is becoming more and more significant. To curb this problem, the use of pyrolysed biomass as a reducing agent substitute for carbon-based reduction processes can be part of the solution for a CO₂-neutral metallurgy. Previous research has shown that biochar can be a replacement for conventionally used carbon sources. However, the economic interest in this technology has gradually decreased, due to the falling prices for the CO₂-certificates about eight years ago. In the meantime, the prices for the certificates have risen strongly again and the topic is coming back into focus. In this publication, the use of biomass was investigated in an experimental setup and the selection, properties, and possible applications are discussed. The results show that biomass can be an adequate product for CO₂-neutral process control.