Evaluation and Improvement of Energy Utilization Efficiency in Typical Iron and Steel Smelting Route Based on Input‐Use‐End Model

Abstract

Evaluating the energy efficiency of the iron and steel smelting route is of vital significance to achieve energy saving and consumption reduction. By establishing an input‐use‐end model, a new index is put forward herein to evaluate the energy utilization of the iron and steel smelting route—energy utilization efficiency. Furthermore, energy utilization efficiency of a typical iron and steel smelting route is analyzed based on the established network diagram. The results show that 1) the cleaned coal is the largest energy input in the whole route, which is 14 460.4 MJ, followed by injected coal. 2) About 57.6% of primary energy is converted into byproduct gases and 31.7% of that is converted into various waste heats. 3) The energy loss of the whole route is 9583.8 MJ, of which the direct loss, indirect loss, and internal loss are 2630.8, 5366.9, and 1586.1 MJ, respectively, accounting for 14.5%, 29.5%, and 8.7% of the total purchased energy. 4) The energy utilization efficiency of the whole process is 47.6%. 5) Improving energy recovery is the most effective measure to improve energy utilization efficiency instead of degrading energy input and changing product structure.