The commitment to limit global warming to a maximum of two degrees Celsius requires a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors. The steel industry is responsible for around 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Several projects have, therefore, been initiated to minimize greenhouse gas emissions in steel production.
The currently predominant technology for primary steel production is the carbon-based blast furnace-converter route (BF-BOF). In the short and medium term, carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies, among others, offer an opportunity to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases from these production processes into the atmosphere. In the long term, hydrogen-based direct reduction (H-DR) is a promising solution for avoiding greenhouse gas emissions. However, in addition to the ecological benefits of this technology, economic costs must also be considered, which leads to an increase in the specific costs of steel production. In addition, an uncertain regulatory environment makes long-term decision-making more difficult. This makes it necessary to use quantitative techno-economic planning approaches to support strategic decisions concerning the design of the transformation path to low-carbon steel production. A particular focus must be placed on considering uncertainties in corporate decision-making.
An existing model for capacity planning in production networks is to be expanded as part of a student research project or master's thesis. In addition to decisions on reducing, modifying, and expanding production capacities, additional entrepreneurial choices can be included in the context of strategic planning. Furthermore, based on a deterministic level of information, the model must be extended to include uncertainties. Robust optimization lends itself to this. This aims to identify ideal solutions for many possible future scenarios.
Knowledge of mathematical optimization (Operations Management lecture) and software solutions for implementing optimization models (Python, Gurobi) helps write a student research project or master's thesis on this topic.
If you are interested, please contact Yannik Graupner.