A process for producing direct reduced iron with a hydrogen rich gas, utilizing a non-fired reducing gas heater such as an electric heater to heat the reducing gas to the temperatures sufficient for iron reduction, includes: providing a shaft furnace to reduce iron oxide with the hydrogen rich reducing gas; removing steam and particulates from the shaft furnace top gas with a scrubber; processing all or a portion of the scrubbed top gas in a gas separation unit such as a membrane and a PSA gas separation unit to create a hydrogen rich stream to be recycled back to the shaft furnace as the reducing agent, so that the hydrogen consumption can be reduced when non-fired reducing gas heater is applied.

The present disclosure provides a facility to produce direct reduced iron, which makes it possible to perform reforming and reduction and adjust the carbon amount in a product within a wide range without requiring an externally heating reformer and without causing the metal dusting problem in a circulating gas preheater and the problem of sintering each other or fusion between reduced iron, in a furnace. The facility to produce the direct reduced iron according to the present invention is equipped with a water content control device for controlling the water content in a gas discharged from a shaft-type reduction furnace, a first gas mixing device for mixing the gas from which a portion of water has been removed with an oxygen-containing gas and a hydrocarbon-containing gas to produce a mixed gas, and an auto-thermal reformer for reforming the mixed gas with its energy. The facility is also equipped with a cooling gas loop for circulating a cooling gas, wherein the cooling gas has a hydrocarbon concentration of 50% or more, and the cooling gas loop is equipped with a cooling gas after-cooler having a flow rate control function and capable of controlling the temperature of the cooling gas.

A method for converting a blast furnace plant for synthesis gas utilization includes:

constructing a syngas stove, and constructing a syngas supply system for connecting the syngas stove to a blast furnace;

connecting a first syngas stove to the top-gas supply system, the cold-blast and hot-blast supply systems and operating the first syngas stove for hot blast generation;

disconnecting a first original stove from the top-gas supply system, the cold-blast and hot-blast supply systems; and

converting the first original stove to adapt it for producing syngas. The method includes

connecting the first original stove to the top-gas supply system;

disconnecting the first syngas stove from the cold-blast and hot-blast supply systems, connecting the first original stove and first syngas stove to a gas-combination supply system; and

operating the first original stove and first syngas stove to produce and then supply syngas to the blast furnace via the syngas supply system.

A method for operating a metallurgical furnace and a simplified way of providing synthesis gas for a metallurgical furnace, includes the following steps performing a combustion process outside the metallurgical furnace by combusting a carbon-containing material with an oxygen-rich gas to produce an offgas, which offgas is a CO.sub.2 containing gas; and combining the offgas, while having an elevated combustion-induced temperature due to the combustion process, with a hydrocarbon-containing fuel gas to obtain a first gas mixture having a temperature above a reforming temperature necessary for a reforming process, preferably a dry reforming process; the first gas mixture undergoing the reforming process, thereby producing a synthesis gas containing CO and H.sub.2, the reforming process being performed non-catalytically; and feeding the synthesis gas into the metallurgical furnace.

A plant complex may include a unit that produces CO.sub.2-containing gases, a gas conducting system for CO.sub.2-containing gases, a gas/liquid separation system, a reformer that is connected to the gas conducting system and where the CO.sub.2-containing gas reacts with H.sub.2 and/or hydrocarbons to give a CO— and H.sub.2-containing synthesis gas mixture. The reformer is connected to a reactor for producing higher alcohols in which the synthesis gas mixture reacts with H.sub.2 to give a gas/liquid mixture containing higher alcohols. For separating off the alcohols of the gas/liquid mixture, the gas/liquid separation system is connected to the reactor for producing higher alcohols.

Provided is a method of operating a blast furnace, having generating a regenerative methane gas from a by-product gas discharged from the blast furnace, and blowing a blast gas and a reducing agent into the blast furnace from a tuyere of the blast furnace in which the blast gas is oxygen gas and the regenerative methane gas is used as at least part of the reducing agent.

Herein discussed is a method of producing hydrogen comprising introducing a metal smelter effluent gas or a basic oxygen furnace (BOF) effluent gas or a mixture thereof into an electrochemical (EC) reactor, wherein the EC reactor comprises a mixed-conducting membrane. In an embodiment, the method comprises introducing steam into the EC reactor on one side of the membrane, wherein the effluent gas is on the opposite side of the membrane, wherein the effluent gas and the steam are separated by the membrane and do not come in contact with each other.

Provided is a method of operating a blast furnace, including generating a regenerative methane gas using a blast furnace by-product gas, and blowing a blast gas and a reducing agent into the blast furnace from a tuyere, in which the blast gas is oxygen gas, the regenerative methane gas is used as at least part of the reducing agent, and the oxygen gas and/or the regenerative methane gas is preheated before being blown into the blast furnace from the tuyere.

A hydrogen release and storage system (100) of the present invention includes a first hydrogen release and storage unit (100A) composed of a first hydrogen compound member (101A), a first container (102A) that accommodates the first hydrogen compound member (101A), a first heating apparatus (103A) configured to heat an inside of the first container (102A), a first cooling apparatus (104A) configured to cool the inside of the first container (102A), a first water supply apparatus (105A) configured to supply water to the first container (102A), a second hydrogen release and storage unit (100B) composed of a second hydrogen compound member (101B), a second container (102B) that accommodates the second hydrogen compound member (101B), a second heating apparatus (103B) configured to heat an inside of the second container (102B), a second cooling apparatus (104B) configured to cool the inside of the second container (102B) and a second water supply apparatus (105B) configured to supply water to the second container (102B).

Provided is a solid carbon production facility including: a separation facility configured to separate a carbon dioxide gas contained in a produced gas produced by a blast furnace; a reaction facility configured to heat a fuel gas whose main component is a methane gas by using a heating facility and decompose the methane gas into solid carbon and a hydrogen gas; and a production facility configured to cause the carbon dioxide gas separated by the separation facility and the hydrogen gas decomposed by the reaction facility to react with each other to produce solid carbon and water.