BioCarbUp - Optimising the biocarbon value chain for a sustainable metallurgical industry

The ENERGIX program plan clearly states the importance of sustainability and sustainable value chains, including biomass based, contributing to reduced CO₂ emissions and a carbon neutral society in 2050. For biomass, there is an expectation of total biomass feedstock utilisation.

The metallurgical industry in Norway seeks to substitute large amounts of biocarbon for fossil reductants in their processes. The Norwegian Process Industry Roadmap - Combining growth and zero emissions by 2050, and Industrimeldingen lay the foundation for an accelerated utilization of Norwegian biomass resources that would reduce the CO₂ footprint of the metallurgical industry. The former document targets a 43% reduction of CO₂ by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.

To enable this transformation, the whole biocarbon (BC) value chain for the metallurgical industry must be optimized to remove economic constraints, satisfy reductant quality demands, and develop predictable (amount, quality and price), long-term biomass resource demand.

This project responds to the national strategies and the goals of the metallurgical industry by analyzing and optimizing the BC value chain to produce suitable and affordable reductants in a sustainable manner.

Producing BC, a renewable material from biomass resources, will have a twofold effect: (1) reduce CO₂ emissions by substituting for fossil reductants and (2) increase forest resource utilisation by creating higher value material and/or energy products. Due to the BC quality demanded by the metallurgical processes, woody biomass, especially stem wood, is the most suitable candidate for reductant feedstock.

The overall objective of this project is to optimise the biocarbon value chain for the metallurgical industry.