PREMA is a H2020 project aimed at demonstrating an innovative suite of technologies, involving utilization of industrial off-gases and solar thermal energy to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions from manganese production as a means to obtain sustainable production of Mn-alloys and steel.
This will be achieved by dividing the Mn-alloy production, today done in submerged arc furnaces (SAF), into two separate units as illustrated below. A pretreatment unit will be added before the existing furnace. Within the project various pretreatment technologies using different energy sources like CO-rich industrial off-gas, bio-carbon and solar thermal energy will be developed and demonstrated.
Integration of the novel PREMA pretreatment technologies with the process currently used by smelters will lead to a better flexibility in terms of raw materials leading to a 20 percent reduction in the consumption of fossil carbon, more energy efficient production processes giving a potential for a 20 percent reduction in overall energy consumption and a global reduction of operation costs by at least 10 percent. The ultimate ambition of PREMA is to scale the technology up to use in industrial manganese alloy production both in Europe and South Africa. Regarding the integration of solar process heat into the manganese production process, a solar particle receiver (CentRec®) in the Juelich Solar Power Tower will be used to heat particles up to about 900°C. With the help of a storage system, hot air will then be provided at 800°C for 24 hours from the hot particles. The use of hot air for the pre-reduction step will be demonstrated in a partner’s facility in South Africa.
More information on PREMA: https://www.spire2030.eu/PREMA Leaflet for download: https://www.spire2030.eu/sites/default/files/users/user1041/Dissem_files/prema_leaflet_1.pdf