The Bio-Economy in Ferromanganese Production: Environmental Impacts of Biocarbon and Carbon Capture and Storage Integration
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Poster Number: 15
Main Presenter: Marvin Werra
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Ferromanganese (FeMn) production relies heavily on metallurgical coke, generating hard-to-abate carbon dioxide emissions. To drive industrial decarbonization within the bio-economy, substituting fossil reductants with biocarbon and integrating carbon capture and storage (CCS) represent promising, yet environmentally unexplored, mitigation strategies in FeMn production. This study applies a life-cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental co-benefits and trade-offs of replacing metallurgical coke with biocarbon derived from stem wood and forest residues in Norway, both with and without CCS. We found that the climate impact of conventional FeMn production is 2312 kg CO2-equivalents per tonne of alloy. A realistic 50% biocarbon substitution reduces the climate change impact by 29%, while a full substitution yields a 57% reduction. Combining biocarbon substitution above 78% with CCS achieves net-negative emissions. At the same time, potential trade-offs may occur with regard to
terrestrial acidification and particulate matter formation. Biomass availability is a key consideration: achieving a 50% substitution requires approximately 25% of Norway’s currently unused forest residues, or 8% of its total current wood harvest volume. Although some economic and technological barriers remain to be overcome, this study offers an initial quantification of the environmental implications of this transition in connection to local resource availability.
Keywords: Biocarbon, Net-Negative Emissions, carbon footprint






















