Analysis of Carbon Metabolism Mechanisms and Reduction Strategies Toward Low-Carbon Steel Manufacturing

Reducing emissions is increasingly critical for mitigating the environmental impact of the iron and steel industry. Achieving this transition requires an accurate evaluation of carbon emission intensity for steel production, which relies on an in-depth analysis of carbon metabolism mechanisms across the entire steel production chain. Existing approaches predominantly focus on carbon tracing within material flows, which cannot deeply integrate carbon migration pathways with energy flows and thus fail to reveal the actual sources and transmission mechanisms of carbon emissions. To address this gap, this study develops a carbon metabolism simulation model of the steel manufacturing process that considers the coupling of material production with the energy network. The differentiated carbon metabolism patterns are characterized in terms of carbon fixation, migration, and dissipation to support more accurate carbon emission accounting and enable the formulation of targeted decarbonization strategies. The results show that the coking process fixes 72.51% of its carbon input. The sintering and pelletizing process shows typical carbon dissipation characteristics, with nearly 100% of input carbon discharged. Carbon emissions from steelmaking and the rolling process are mainly induced by indirect energy consumption. The total carbon dissipation of integrated steel production system is 440.62 kg-C/t-CS, with the ironmaking process contributing the largest share of 33.92%.