Optimization Model for Hydrogen-Based Green Iron Production Powered by Renewable Energy Resources

The imbalance between the load and renewable energy sources (RES) is growing as RES penetration increases rapidly. It is imperative for the iron and steel industry to reduce carbon emissions. Hydrogen-based Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) production plants using green hydrogen is a promising solution. Research to date has primarily concentrated on improving the hydrogen-based iron production process; however, there is no comprehensive modeling of the interactions between the green iron production process and RES-driven hydrogen electrolysis production. The supply of hydrogen is energy-intensive and costly for green direct reduction iron production. To fill this gap, this work proposes an operational scheduling model for RES-powered hydrogen-based DRI (H2-DRI) production. The study investigates the operational flexibility of H2-DRI plants as a means to improve RES utilization and reduce carbon emissions. By modeling the mass and energy balance of the H2-DRI process, a time-variant flexible H2-DRI production model is developed to optimize operational costs. It leverages annual RES wind and photovoltaic data to provide insights into the impact of regional RES profiles on the H2-DRI process and suggests planning strategies aimed at reducing carbon emissions and enhancing on-site integration of renewable energy.