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Chemical Conversion of Steel Mill Gases to Urea:

An Analysis of Plant Capacity
Ömer Yildirim*, Klaus Nölker, Karsten Büker, and Ralph Kleinschmidt
DOI: 10.1002/cite.201800019

A significant amount of global carbon dioxide emissions is due to steel mill gases. One promising approach for the reduc-
tion of these emissions is their chemical conversion. In this regard, the conversion to urea is very advantageous, since com-
mon urea processes are already using carbon dioxide as a feedstock. In the present paper, urea capacities are determined
that can be realized using steel mill gases. The capacities are estimated based on new process concepts that are presented
in this paper. Exemplarily, the steel mill of thyssenkrupp Steel in Duisburg, Germany, is considered. It could be shown that
reasonable urea capacities can be reached. By this means, a great impact can be made on the reduction of steel mill carbon
dioxide emissions.
Keywords: Ammonia, Carbon dioxide, Hydrogen, Steel mill gases, Urea
Received: March 27, 2018; revised: May 03, 2018; accepted: June 12, 2018

1 Introduction
The steel industry produces considerable amounts of steel
mill gases, which are resulting in high carbon dioxide emis-
sions [1, 2]. Hence, steel mill gases have a great impact on
global warming. For the reduction of carbon dioxide emis-
sions, several approaches exist [3 – 5]. One approach is the
use of carbon dioxide in chemical plants [6], which is also
attractive for the chemical industry.
The long-term aim of the Carbon2Chem project is cre-
ating the basis for the reduction of carbon dioxide emis-
sions of steel mills [7]. This project considers exemplarily
the steel mill of thyssenkrupp Steel in Duisburg, Germany.
As possible products ammonia, urea, methanol, higher alco-
hols, polymers and oxymethylene oligomers are taken into
account. On the one hand, the project deals with the devel-
opment of relevant gas treatment technologies. On the oth-
er hand, innovative synthesis paths are developed, especially
for the chemical fixation of carbon dioxide. Both topics are
investigated in the technical center that was built recently in
Duisburg.
Chemical fixation of carbon dioxide in the urea molecule
is already applied in industrial scale. Here, carbon dioxide is
reacting with ammonia to urea. In conventional urea plants
generally natural gas, water and air are used as feedstock. In
2016, about 171 million tons of urea have been produced
[8], for which 125 million tons of carbon dioxide have been
applied.
The present article deals with urea plants based on steel
mill gases. The suitability of the gases from the steel mill in
–
Duisburg is analyzed. In Sect. 2, an introduction to conven-
tional urea plants is given. In this context, relevant process-
es and typical plant capacities are listed. In Sect. 3, an over-
view of the steel mill in Duisburg is provided. Thereby, the
amount and composition of the steel mill gases are given.
Sect. 4 is dealing with the urea production applying steel
mill gases. Here, the amount of urea is determined that can
be produced from the steel mill gases in Duisburg. In this
context, it is also determined how much carbon dioxide can
be reduced and how much hydrogen is necessary. Further,
the resulting plant capacities are compared with common
plant capacities.
2 Conventional Urea Production
This section gives an overview on the basics of conventional
urea plants. An example of a urea plant is shown in Fig. 1.
This plant was built for Yara in Sluiskil, Netherlands, by
thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG in 2011. In Sect. 2.1,
the process is described that is generally applied for the urea
production. The subsequent section deals with the product
features and the urea market. In Sect. 2.3, typical urea plant
capacities are listed.
2.1 Process Description
The process for large-scale industrial urea production can
be subdivided into three steps. In the first step, synthesis
gas, mainly consisting of hydrogen and nitrogen is pro-
duced. In the second step, the Haber-Bosch synthesis is
Dr. Ömer Yildirim, Dr. Klaus Nölker, Dr. Karsten Büker, Dr. Ralph
Kleinschmidt
oemer.yildirim@thyssenkrupp.com
thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG, Friedrich-Uhde-Straße 15,
44141 Dortmund, Germany.

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Figure 1. Urea plant built by thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions
AG in 2011 for Yara in Sluiskil, Netherlands.
applied, where ammonia is formed at high pressure and
high temperature [9, 10]. In the last step, urea is synthesized
from ammonia and CO2. The main process units are shown
in Fig. 2.
2.1.1 Synthesis Gas Generation
Industrial ammonia synthesis exists for over 100 years [11].
In the first decades, the synthesis gas was produced mainly
from coal, air and water. Nowadays, mostly steam reform-
ing of natural gas is applied. However, plants exist where
other synthesis gas generation processes are used, like coal
gasification or naphtha reforming, if economic conditions
favor this.
In this section, the focus is on the synthesis gas produc-
tion by steam reforming of natural gas as the most widely-
Figure 2. Simplified block diagram of ammonia and urea production form natural
gas.
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used process. In the steam reforming step, hydrocarbons
from the natural gas are converted to a mixture of H2, CO,
CO2 and CH4 over a nickel catalyst. By adding air, nitrogen
is introduced in the amount needed for ammonia produc-
tion. The oxygen of the air partly oxidizes methane.
Subsequently, water-gas shift and CO2 removal is
required. In the water-gas shift step, the CO content of the
gas is lowered by producing H2 and CO2 from CO and
steam over a catalyst.
The gas, now consisting mostly of H2, N2 and CO2, is
cooled down further to a temperature suitable for entering
the CO2 removal unit. This unit has the purpose to remove
CO2 from the gas and to make it available in a condition
and purity suitable for urea production. Several processes
exist to remove the CO2 from the process gas stream [12].
In most modern plants, CO2 is captured by absorption into
an amine solution or potassium carbonate solution and sub-
sequent desorption [13].
The treated process gas stream then enters the methana-
tion unit to undergo a final cleaning step to remove the
remaining CO and CO2. They react with hydrogen over a
nickel catalyst, forming methane and water. This conversion
is necessary since all oxygen-containing compounds are
poisons to the catalyst in the subsequent ammonia synthe-
sis. Water, the only remaining oxygen carrier, is removed by
condensation in the synthesis gas compression.
2.1.2 Ammonia Synthesis
The synthesis gas compressor is feeding the gas to the am-
monia synthesis at a pressure of typically 15 to 20 MPa
[9, 10]. In the reactor the following reaction takes place:
N2 þ 3H2 Ð 2NH3 (1)
Due to the low conversion rate the ammonia synthesis is
designed as a loop with recirculation of the unreacted compo-
nents. By this means, the yield is maximized. Waste heat from
the synthesis, which takes place above 360 °C, is used for
steam production. The steam is used as pro-
cess steam in the reformer and as driving
steam for turbines, e.g., for the synthesis gas
compressor or the CO2 compressor (cf. Fig. 2).
As the synthesis gas usually contains a
small portion of gases, which are inert with
respect to the ammonia formation, some gas
has to be purged out from the ammonia syn-
thesis loop in order to avoid their accumula-
tion. The valuable components ammonia
and hydrogen are recovered from the purge
gas stream as follows: First, ammonia is cap-
tured by absorption in water and is then
added to the ammonia product. From the
remaining stream, hydrogen is separated by
using membrane technology and is sent back
to the suction side of the synthesis gas com-
pressor.
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Refrigeration duty for condensing and separating the

ammonia from the synthesis loop is provided by a compres-
sion-refrigeration cycle, using the product ammonia as
working fluid.

2.1.3 Urea Synthesis and Finishing

Several processes exist for the synthesis and product finish-

ing of urea (CH4N2O). Common to all is that the urea for-
mation reaction proceeds in two steps. Carbamate
(CH6N2O2) is formed as an intermediate product before the
reaction proceeds slowly to the final product. Figure 3. Urea granules of different size.

2NH3 þ CO2 Ð CH6 N2 O2 Ð CH4 N2 O þ H2 O (2)
This reaction requires an operating condition of approx.
15 MPa and 180 °C. The challenge for the urea synthesis
design is to keep the very corrosive carbamate inside the
system under the mentioned conditions. This is among
others accomplished by return of the unreacted compo-
nents into the reactor, so that only urea and the by-product
water can leave the synthesis section. After evaporation of
water, the liquid urea melt is directed to the finishing sec-
tion, which usually is either a fluidized bed granulation or a
prilling unit. Both can produce solid, almost spherical urea
particles (see Fig. 3).
nium nitrate and the urea/water solution leaving the urea
synthesis.
The major part of urea production is urea granules.
Compared to prills, granules show a better stability, which
makes them more suitable for bulk handling, shipping
and storage.
Non-fertilizer applications of urea are mainly further
processing to melamine or use as reduction agent for NOx
removal from combustion exhaust gases. In the latter applica-
tion, urea decomposes into ammonia and CO2, after getting
in contact with hot exhaust gases. NOx is reduced by reacting
with ammonia. Urea solution marketed for this purpose is
also known as AdBlue or diesel exhaust fluid [14].

2.3 Plant Capacities

2.2 Product Features and Market
Urea prills and granules as well as liquid urea ammonium
nitrate fertilizer are the final products used for fertilizer
application. This makes about 85 – 90 % of the total use.
Urea ammonium nitrate fertilizer is produced from ammo-
In the past decades, the capacities of ammonia and urea
plants have increased considerably. Modern large-scale
ammonia plants have a production capacity of 2000 to
3300 t d–1. Typical capacities of urea plants constructed in
the recent past are between 3200 and 3900 t d–1. Tab. 1 lists

Table 1. Selection of ammonia / urea plants built by thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG.

Client Capacity NH3 / urea [t d–1] Location Scope Commissioning

Safco 4 3300 / 3250 Saudi Arabia turnkey 2006

Helwan Fertilizer Company 1200 / 1925 Egypt turnkey 2007

Misr Oil Processing Company 1200 / 1925 Egypt turnkey 2009

Samsung for Ma’aden Phosphate Company 3300 / – Saudi Arabia engineering & procurement 2011

Yara Sluiskil – / 3500 Netherlands turnkey 2011

Orascom / Sonatrach 2 ·2200 / 3450 Algeria engineering & procurement 2012

Misr Oil Processing Company 2 and 3 2 ·1200 / 2 ·2000 Egypt turnkey 2012

Samsung for Fertil 2 2000 / 3500 UAE engineering & procurement 2012/13

CFI Donaldsonville 3300 / 3500 USA engineering & procurement 2015/16

Daelim for Ma’aden Phosphate Company 3300 / – Saudi Arabia engineering & procurement 2016

CFI Port Neal 2200 / 3500 USA engineering & procurement 2016

Iowa Fertilizer Company – / 2200 USA turnkey 2016

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a selection of urea plants built by thyssenkrupp Industrial 4 Urea Production Using Steel Mill Gases
Solutions AG in the recent years.
In the following, the suitability of steel mill gases for the
production of urea is analyzed. As seen in Tab. 2, 45 % of
3 Steel Mill Gases of thyssenkrupp Steel the steel mill gases were used internally in the steel mill.
in Duisburg The residual amount of the gases (55 %) was fed to the
power plant for production of electricity. This case is shown
The steel mill of thyssenkrupp Steel in Duisburg consists in Fig. 4 (see ‘‘Base case’’).
among others of three main units: blast furnace, coke oven In order to determine the impact of the available gases on
and converter. In each of these units, a gas stream is gener- the urea plant capacity, two additional cases are considered.
ated. Exemplary, the data from fiscal year 2015/16 are dis- In Case A, shown in Fig. 4 and explained in Sect. 4.1, gases
cussed in this work. The features of these three streams can are considered that are currently converted in the power
be found in Tab. 2. In column
two, three and four, the volume Table 2. Steel mill gases of thyssenkrupp Steel in Duisburg, Germany, and its features. Trace
flow of each stream and their components are not shown.
composition are listed. Minor
Blast furnace gas Converter gas Coke oven gas Total
components are not considered
3 –1
in this article. In the last column, Volumetric flow [Nm h ] 1 780 000 98 000 152 000 2 030 000
the total amount of steel mill CO [vol %] 25 64 7 26
gases and their average composi-
tion can be found. CO2 [vol %] 23 17 2 21
In the steel mill in Duisburg, N2 [vol %] 48 14 6 42
all gases are either used for the
H2 [vol %] 4 5 63 9
operation of internal processes or
for electricity production in the CH4 [vol %] 0 0 22 2
power plants. The percentage of Gases to power plant [%] 60 0 43 55
the gas streams, that were used in
2015/16 internally, is listed in the Gases for internal processes [%] 40 100 57 45
last row of Tab. 2. As can be seen,
all converter gas is used for inter-
nal processes, whereas 40 % of
blast furnace gas and 57 % of
coke oven gas were used internal-
ly. In total, 45 % of the steel mill
gases were applied internally,
whereas 55 % of the gases were
used in the power plants.
As listed in the table, the steel
mill gases consist of 21 % CO2.
The utilization of the steel mill
gases for heating or power gener-
ation results in producing more
carbon dioxide, since CO and
CH4 are converted to CO2. In
addition to 21 % CO2, also
26 % CO and 2 % CH4 have to be
considered. This results in a total
volume flow of about
994 700 Nm3h–1 CO2, which cor-
responds to a mass flow of
1950 t h–1.

Figure 4. Utilization of steel mill gases in existing plant (Base case) and for two cases investi-
gated in the Carbon2Chem project.

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plant. Therefore in Case A it is assumed that 60 % of the
blast furnace gas and 43 % of the coke oven gas are available
for a chemical plant, whereas none of the converter gas can
be used. In Case B shown in Fig. 4 and discussed in Sect. 4.2,
it is assumed that all gases are available. For the internal
process, natural gas must then be imported as a substitute
for steel mill gases.
For Case A and Case B a conceptual design is presented.
In both cases, a synthesis gas with a molar ratio of H2 to N2
equal to 3 is required for ammonia synthesis. On this basis,
the amount of usable steel mill gases and the urea capacity
are determined. In Sect. 4.3, all cases are discussed and the
CO2 emissions of Case A and Case B are compared with the
CO2 emissions of the base case. In Sect. 4.4, the impact of
external hydrogen sources on the urea plant capacity is
investigated.
4.1 Case A
The process for the production of urea from the steel mill
gases can be subdivided into the following steps:
1) synthesis gas generation,
2) ammonia synthesis,
3) urea synthesis and finishing.
The main process units are shown schematically in Fig. 5
and described in the following.
4.1.1 Synthesis Gas Generation
Blast furnace gas and coke oven gas from the steel mill are
separately treated due to their different composition and are
then mixed to form synthesis gas, consisting of H2 and N2
in the ratio required by the stoichiometry of the ammonia
synthesis. Both gas streams need to be compressed at first
in order to enable reasonably small equipment sizes and an
optimum performance.
Figure 5. Block diagram for the production of urea from blast furnace gas and coke
oven gas (Case A).
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4.1.1.1 Treatment of the Coke Oven Gas
The coke oven gas, consisting mainly of H2 and CH4 is sub-
jected to a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) to extract the
valuable amount of H2. The remaining CH4-rich stream
can be used as fuel elsewhere. The specification of the H2 is
99.9 vol %. Since oxygen is a poison for the catalyst used in
the ammonia synthesis, all remaining oxygen-containing
compounds are removed in the next step (cf. Sect. 4.1.1.3).
4.1.1.2 Treatment of the Blast Furnace Gas
The blast furnace gas, containing mostly of CO, CO2 and
N2, needs a more complex treatment. First, the gas is
cleaned by adsorption. In preparation of desulphurization,
organic sulfur compounds are catalytically hydrogenated to
form hydrogen sulfide (H2S). H2S is finally removed from
the gas stream by chemisorption on a sulfur guard material
(e.g., ZnO) in one or more adsorber vessels. This sulfur
removal step is comparable with the treatment of natural
gas at the inlet of conventional ammonia, hydrogen or
methanol plants.
Also proven in ammonia plants is the water-gas shift
(WGS) unit, in which the bulk of the CO in the gas is con-
verted to CO2 and H2. Due to constraints by kinetics and
equilibrium the exothermal WGS is designed to take place
in two subsequent vessels with cooling in between, first at
high temperature and then at low temperature. For the high
temperature WGS, heating to approx. 350 °C is required.
The heat can be recovered in a gas/gas heat exchanger
downstream of it in order to be used for preheating to the
required inlet temperature.
The gas, now consisting mostly of H2, N2 and CO2, is
cooled down to a temperature range between 50 and 70 °C,
suitable for entering the CO2 removal unit. For its principle
of operation refer to Sect. 2.1.1. For the Carbon2Chem
project, the absorption by an amine-water solution is se-
lected as it is more energy-efficient and environmentally
friendly than other processes. This process is commercially
proven in large-scale ammonia produc-
tion. Most of the CO2 is released near
ambient pressure with a purity of ap-
prox. 99.9 % (mole dry), which is suitable
for the urea production.
4.1.1.3 Mixing and Final Treatment
The treated gas streams from the coke
oven and the blast furnace gas treatment
are mixed. The mixed stream enters the
methanation unit to remove CO and
CO2 and is then fed to the synthesis gas
compressor. Afterwards, the gas stream
enters the synthesis loop at a pressure of
approx. 200 bar. The resulting gas stream
consists of H2 and N2 with a molar ratio
of H2 to N2 equal to 3.
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4.1.2 Ammonia Synthesis
This part of the process is almost identical to that of a natu-
ral gas based ammonia plant, where ammonia is formed as
described in Sect. 2.1.2. The steam produced from its waste
heat is used as process steam in the CO-shift reaction and
as driving steam for various turbines. Since some inert gases
are expected, a purge gas stream is foreseen similar to plants
based on natural gas.
4.1.3 Urea Synthesis and Finishing
The urea process, destined for application in the
Carbon2Chem project, is not different to any commercial
urea process, using ammonia and CO2 as feedstock. There-
fore, the urea synthesis corresponds to the process
described in Sect. 2.1.3.
In order to estimate the urea capacity, it is assumed for
the blast furnace gas that 90 % of the H2 and 90 % of the N2
can be recovered and are available for ammonia production.
Regarding the treatment of the coke oven gas in the PSA, it
is assumed that H2 is recovered with a rate of 78 %. In addi-
tion, it is assumed that the conversion to NH3 and Urea is
100 % each.
The coke oven gas is rich in H2 and lean in N2. The full
quantity that was applied in the power plant can be used
(43 % as per Tab. 2). N2 is added by blast furnace gas. The
calculations have shown that about 2 % of the blast furnace
gas can be used in order to provide a synthesis gas with a
ratio of H2 to N2 of 3. The limiting factor is the H2 content
in the coke oven gas. The calculations resulted in a urea
capacity of 850 t d–1.
4.2 Case B
The same process as described in Sect. 4.1 can be applied
when the converter gas is added as a third gas source (see
Fig. 6). This gas is rich in CO. After mixing with the blast
Figure 6. Block diagram for the production of urea from blast furnace gas, converter
gas and coke oven gas (Case B).
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furnace gas it is undergoing the same treatment as described
in Sect. 4.1.1.2. Compared to Case A, a higher amount of
H2 can be produced.
For determining the urea capacity, similar assumptions as
in Sect. 4.1.3 are used. For the converter gas, it is assumed
that 90 % of the H2 and 90 % of the N2 can be recovered.
Regarding the coke oven gas and the blast furnace gas, the
same assumptions as in in Sect. 4.1.3 are applied.
The coke oven and the converter gas can be used com-
pletely. The correct H2/N2 ratio is adjusted by adding
approx. 5 % of the available blast furnace gas. Limiting ele-
ment is the H2 content of the coke oven gas, again. The
analysis resulted in a urea capacity of 3500 t d–1.
4.3 Discussion
First of all, the urea capacities determined from Sect. 4.1
and 4.2 are compared with common capacities from Sect.
2.3. The capacity of Case A is a bit lower than common urea
capacities. In Case B it is possible to reach a urea capacity of
3500 t d–1, which is comparable with common capacities
(cf. Tab. 1).
Regarding the evaluation of Case A and Case B, also the
CO2 balances must be considered. One major aim of the
Carbon2Chem project is to determine the potential of urea
plants on the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. For
this a life cycle assessment needs to be carried out [15, 16].
On the one hand the consideration of the conventional urea
production from natural gas, water and air is required. On
the other hand, the base case from Fig. 4 needs to be taken
into account. In the present work, only simplified balances
are considered to determine, which urea capacities are rea-
sonable.
For the urea production of 850 t d–1 (35.4 t h–1) in Case A
approx. 25.9 t h–1 carbon dioxide is used. This amount can
be related to the total carbon dioxide emissions determined
in Sect. 3 (1950 t h–1). The ratio is about 1.3 %. This value
gives information about how much car-
bon dioxide reduction is in principle
possible with Case A. Hereby, the carbon
dioxide emission resulting from the ener-
gy consumption of the urea plant itself is
not considered. It is assumed, that the
consideration of this would not change
the general statement. As mentioned
above, a life cycle assessment must be
performed for proper analysis.
Regarding the carbon dioxide balances
of Case B, the amount of chemically
bounded carbon dioxide is about
106.7 t h–1. The ratio of this value to the
above mentioned total carbon dioxide
emission is 5.4 %. In Case B, the energy
use of the internal steel mill processes
must be compensated. For this, addition-
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al natural gas needs to be used. By considering this, about
3 % carbon dioxide reduction can be achieved.
As per reaction (1) for the production of ammonia stoi-
chiometrically three times more H2 is necessary than N2.
However, in steel mill gases, much more N2 is available (see
last column in Tab. 2). For this reason, the urea capacity
and the CO2-reduction potential are limited by H2 availabil-
ity. For high carbon dioxide conversion external hydrogen
is necessary.
4.4. Utilization of External Hydrogen Sources
It is investigated how much hydrogen can be added to the
concept shown in Case A. The calculations have shown that
about 1 000 000 Nm3h–1 can be used. This would result in a
urea capacity of 29 000 t d–1 (1208 t h–1). The amount of
chemically bounded carbon dioxide is 884 t h–1. The maxi-
mum potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from
steel production is therefore about 45 % if the H2 is pro-
duced emission-free. This shows that great impact on the
CO2-reduction can be achieved by external hydrogen.
5 Conclusions
In the present work, the suitability of steel mill gases for the
production of urea was analyzed. Exemplarily, the steel mill
of thyssenkrupp Steel in Duisburg and the data of fiscal year
2015/16 were considered. The steel mill gases consist of
blast furnace gas, converter gas and coke oven gas. The blast
furnace gas accounts to more than 90 % of the total gas vol-
ume.
The analysis of the data has shown that 45 % of the steel
mill gases were applied for heating of internal processes.
The residual 55 % were used in the power plant. Based on
this, two cases were considered. In the first case, those gas
sources are considered that were usually fed to the power
plant. In the second case, all gases are taken into account.
The study of the first case has shown that about 850 t d–1
urea can be produced. This capacity is a bit lower than com-
mon urea capacities. In the second case, it is possible to
achieve a urea capacity of 3500 t d–1, which is comparable
with common capacities. With both cases the carbon diox-
ide emissions can be reduced. For increasing the reduction,
additional green hydrogen, e.g., from water electrolysis, is
necessary. By this means, up to 45 % of the steel mill carbon
dioxide can be used chemically and a urea capacity of
29 000 t d–1 can be reached.
Chem. Ing. Tech. 2018, 90, No. 10, 1–8 ª 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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7
This paper has shown that reasonable urea capacities can
be reached using the steel mill gases from the steel mill in
Duisburg. Further, it could be shown that urea plants can
make an impact on the reduction of steel mill carbon diox-
ide emissions. In the current work simplified carbon diox-
ide balances were used. In subsequent works the impact on
the carbon dioxide emissions will be analyzed by using life
cycle assessment.
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support
by the BMBF (Bundesministerium für Bildung und
Forschung) in the scope of the project Carbon2Chem
(03EK3037A and 03EK3040F).
Abbreviations
PSA pressure swing adsorption
WGS water-gas shift
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DOI: 10.1002/cite.201800019

Chemical Conversion of Steel Mill Gases to Urea: An Analysis of Plant

Capacity
Ö. Yildirim*, K. Nölker, K. Büker, R. Kleinschmidt

Research Article: Considerable amount of carbon dioxide emissions are related with the
steel production. In steel mills different gases are produced, which are currently used in
power plants. The present work analyzes the potential of their use in urea plants. In this
context, different cases are considered, which are compared with respect to carbon dioxide
reduction and resulting urea plant capacity. ........................................................ XXX

www.cit-journal.com ª 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Chem. Ing. Tech. 2018, 90, No. 10, 1–8