Feasibility of improving energy efficiency when using technologies that produce iron outside the blast furnace

Calculations and a comparative analysis which were performed show that compared to blast-furnace smelting and converter steelmaking, the expediency (based on indices for greenhouse-gas emissions and the energy content of the product) of non-blast-furnace-based technologies for iron and steel production depends on the extent to which secondary energy resources (SERs) are used: the efficiency of SER use and the use of steel scrap in steelmaking. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.