Air Products and Danieli Corus have integrated their technologies to develop Blast Furnace Plus (BF Plus), a patent-pending technology that can reduce blast furnace operating costs while raising the calorific content of the furnace’s top gas. The higher calorific value top gas can be used in combined-cycle-energy power generation to help maximize energy recovery. Under the product offering, Air Products would build, own and operate the oxygen and power-generation equipment.

BF Plus can produce cost savings and increased hot-metal productivity while optimizing power generation through integration with the blast furnace and decreasing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. From the hot end to the rolling mill, Air Products has provided oxygen, nitrogen, argon and hydrogen gases and technologies for all types of steel processes. Danieli Corus’ technology has origins from 90 years of history in practice today at its state-of-the-art Corus Ijmuiden steelmaking plant.