Reverberatory Furnaces Decarbonization—The Case of Hydrogen Combustion: Proof of Concept and First Experimental Results on Borel Furnace

Gas-fired furnacesFurnace are the primary source of scope 1 carbon emissions in secondary aluminumAluminum production. Possible retrofitting solutions include oxyfuel burners, air-hydrogenHydrogen combustionCombustion, and electric plasma torchesPlasma torch. In this context, many questions remain regarding the performance of these technologies and their impact on emissions and metal quality. This paper presents the results of an experimental campaign on a furnaceFurnace equipped with a 47 kW oxyfuel burner operated with natural gas, hydrogenHydrogen, and mixtures of both. The objectives of this study are to validate previous simulationSimulation models for melt rate and energyEnergy consumption, that indicate oxy-hydrogenHydrogen as a viable retrofit solution, to investigate the impact on drossDross rate and magnesiumMagnesium loss for a 5000 series alloyAlloys, and to demonstrate the feasibility of the oxy-hydrogenHydrogen concept.