Thermoelectric Generation Using Waste Heat in Steel Works

The steelmaking industry in Japan has significantly reduced its energy use for the past several decades and has kept the highest energy efficiency in the world. However, the steelmaking industry is strongly required to develop new technologies for further energy conservation in view of energy security, high and volatile energy prices, and climate change. One of the key technologies to achieve the requirement is waste heat recovery. This paper describes the thermoelectric generation (TEG) system using the waste heat in the steelmaking process. In this system, the TEG unit, which consists of 16 thermoelectric modules made of Bi-Te thermoelectric materials, generates the electrical power directly by converting the radiant heat released from hot steel products. Each thermoelectric module, whose size is 50 mm × 50 mm × 4.2 mm, generates 18 W when the hot-side temperature is 523 K and the cold-side is 303 K. Therefore, the output of the TEG unit is over 250 W. The performance and the durability of the system have been investigated under various operating conditions in steel works. The results of the verification tests in the JFE steel Corporation’s continuous casting line will be discussed.