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Extensive experimental characterization of Moroccan steel and iron industry by-product for high-temperature thermal energy storage

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Abstract

Morocco has made a concerted effort in previous years to produce renewable energy to meet market demand while protecting the environment and opening the route for circular economy. By-product from steel and iron industries in Morocco that employ electric arc furnace to produce steel is the focus of the present paper. It aims to study the possibility of using by-product “Electric Arc Furnace Slag” issued from Moroccan steel and iron industry as high-temperature sensible thermal energy storage material for the benefit of the same industry. In first, a fully characterization of the selected by-product has been performed. As a result, the filler material showed great thermophysical properties in terms of densities, thermal capacity, thermal diffusivity, and thermal conductivity. The bulk and skeletal densities are of around 3477.64 and 3913.9 kg m−3, respectively. The thermal capacity ranges between 0.3 and 0.85 kJ kg−1 K−1 for as-received by-product and from 0.6 to 0.9 kJ kg−1 K−1 for the by-product after thermal cycling. Its crystallographic structure and morphology remain similar to the one of EAF-slag studied in open literature. Thereafter, the material stability and suitability for high-temperature (up to 700 °C) thermal energy storage have been highlighted. The characteristics of EAF-slag after thermal cycling and isothermal study were compared to those of raw EAF-slag. Accordingly, the filler material is stable and able to store thermal energy at high temperatures. Equally important, thermal cycling impacts positively the filler material. Thanks to the oxidation to magnetite, the energy density of EAF-slag increases. More importantly, the material becomes more stable by exhibiting less than 1% of mass loss. Yet, few cracks were observed inside the cycled material. The investigation revealed that the fast-heating rate (superior to 5 °C min−1) is the main responsible. As a result, the authors recommend a slow heating rate especially for the first heating cycles of this by-product (around 2 °C min−1).

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Abbreviations

CSP :

Concentrated solar power

TES:

Thermal energy storage

TESM:

Thermal energy storage material

EAF :

Electric arc furnace

WHR :

Waste heat recovery

CAES :

Compressed air energy storage

ACAES :

Adiabatic compressed air energy storage

TGA:

Thermogravimetric analysis

DSC:

Differential scanning calorimetry

LFA:

Laser flash apparatus

XRD:

X-ray diffraction

XRF:

X-ray fluorescence

SEM:

Scanning electron microscopy

BSED:

Backscattered electron detector

EDX:

Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy

RT:

Room temperature

α:

TESM thermal diffusivity, m2 s-1

\({C}_{\text{p,s}}\) :

TESM heat capacity, kJ kg-1 K-1

\({d}_{{\text{bulk}}}\) :

Bulk density, kg m−3

\(\lambda\) :

TESM thermal conductivity, W m-1 K-1

\(\rho\) :

TESM density, kg m−3

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Inorganic Materials for Sustainable Energy Technologies (LIMSET), Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Lot 660, Hay Moulay Rachid, 43150, Ben Guerir, Morocco

    Hmida Slimani, Abdechafik Elharrak & Abdessamad Faik

  2. Department of Energy and Environment (GEE), Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers of Rabat (ENSAM-R), Mohammed V University in Rabat (UM5R), Rabat, Morocco

    Yousra Filali Baba

  3. Department of R&D and Industrial Integration, Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN), Complexe Zénith Rabat No 50, Rocade Sud Rabat-Casablanca Immeubles A-B-C-D, Souissi, Rabat, Morocco

    Fayrouz El Hamdani & Hicham Bouzekri

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Contributions

Hmida Slimani contributed to material preparation, characterization, investigation, visualization, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. Yousra Filali Baba contributed to conceptualization, methodology, material preparation, characterization, investigation, visualization, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. Abdechafik El Harrak contributed to material preparation and characterization. Fayrouz El Hamdani performed supervision. Hicham Bouzekri performed supervision. Abdessamad Faik contributed to resources, conceptualization, methodology, and writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Yousra Filali Baba.

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Slimani, H., Filali Baba, Y., Elharrak, A. et al. Extensive experimental characterization of Moroccan steel and iron industry by-product for high-temperature thermal energy storage. J Therm Anal Calorim 149, 5141–5152 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-024-13197-2

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