Ironmaking and Steelmaking
(MM 439)
UG-level Core Course
Part A: Ironmaking
IRONMAKING
Section #2
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Outline of the ironmaking blast furnace
●
Raw material addition techniques
●
Fluid flow inside the blast furnace
●
Steps in reduction of iron oxide and metallic Fe output
●
Reactions in the raceway
●
Thermal and chemical features inside the blast furnace
●
Raw material charging systems
What is Blast Furnace?
●
A reactor for smelting-reduction of iron oxides
Produces liquid iron + dissolved solutes (C, Si, Mn, S, P, etc.)
●
Vertical-axis, counter-current reactor
Solid input from top**, gas injection from bottom
Upward movement of gases, downward motion of solids (and liquids)
●
Liquid iron (a.k.a. hot metal) tapped near the bottom of the furnace
Hot metal = molten iron (product of reduction) + dissolved solutes
Close to saturation with carbon
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Unreduced oxides + added flux forms slag and exits along with hot metal
Recycling / alternate use of blast furnace slag
●
Gaseous products exit from the top
Recovery of sensible heat for steam/power generation, etc.
Calorific value; used as fuel gas
Overall view of the blast furnace
Source: MSTS, 11th Edition (1998)
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making 7
Key geometric features of a blast furnace
Throat (cylindrical)
Solid material charging
Stack / shaft
(frustum of a cone, downward expanding)
Gas-solid (counter-current) interaction
Stage-wise reduction of iron oxides
Thermal and Chemical Reserve Zones
Belly / Parallel Bosh (cylindrical)
Fusion of solids, liquids dripping
Bosh (frustum of a cone, upward expanding)
Meltdown of iron produced, shower of metal and
Tuyere slag droplets; intense heat transfer
Tap hole
Hearth (cylindrical)
Reservoir of molten metal and slag, plus solid coke,
C dissolution
Inside a blast furnace
Material layers inside a blast furnace
Source: Peacy & Davenport (1979)
Inside a blast furnace
Solid inputs:
Material layers inside a blast furnace Iron ore; raw + prepared
(metallics)
Source: Peacy & Davenport (1979) Coke
Flux
Role of coke
Why is coke required in
the blast furnace?
Inputs through tuyere:
Preheated air
Oxygen, Steam
Pulverised coal
Other fuel
Inside a blast furnace
Solid inputs:
Material layers inside a blast furnace Iron ore; raw + prepared
(metallics)
Source: Peacy & Davenport (1979) Coke
Flux
Alternate layers of iron
oxide and coke
Melting of oxides and Fe
Flooding of pores
Combustion of coke
Inputs through tuyere:
2 C (s) + O2 (g) = 2 CO (g)
Preheated air
Oxygen, Steam
Pulverised coal
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making Other fuel
Inside a blast furnace
Estimated gas temperature inside a blast furnace
Stock-line
Source: Nakamura (1978) and Peacy & Davenport (1979)
Blast furnace centre-line is
typically hotter than its periphery
Why?
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making
Inside a blast furnace
Stock-line
Moore (1990)
Blast furnace centre-line is
hotter than its periphery
Nakamura (1978) MM 439: Iron and Steel Making Peacy & Davenport (1979)
Shape of isotherm inside a blast furnace
V-shape
Unstable operation
Horizontal / flat
Mostly theoretical possibility
Difficult to maintain in practice
W-shape
Deliberately crafted
Reduces sticking along the walls
Requires careful distribution of burden
Bell (inverted V)-shape
Most common proifile
Simple to maintain
Blast Furnace – a few images
Blast preheating
stoves
Gas collector
(downcomer)
Blast furnace Tuyere
shell
Blast furnace
Image source: Tata Steel, Kalinganagar (India) and Port Talbot (UK)
Blast Furnace – a few images
Tapping of hot metal into torpedo ladle Transporting a torpedo ladle
Source: MSTS, 11th Ed. (1998)
Pouring out hot metal from torpedo ladle
IRONMAKING
Section #2
●
Outline of the ironmaking blast furnace
●
Raw material addition techniques
●
Fluid flow inside the blast furnace
●
Steps in reduction of iron oxide and metallic Fe output
●
Reactions in the raceway
●
Thermal and chemical features inside the blast furnace
●
Raw material charging systems
A closer look at the raceway
Source: Peacy & Davenport (1979)
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making
A closer look at the raceway
Combustion
of falling
and flying
particles
Preheated air
(O2, H2O)
C + O2 CO/CO2
Source: Peacy & Davenport (1979)
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making
A closer look at the raceway
Combustion
of falling Coke consumed faster
and flying
particles
Preheated air
(O2, H2O)
C + O2 CO/CO2
C + H2O CO + H2
Auxilliary fuel
Coke consumed slowly
Source: Peacy & Davenport (1979)
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making
Gas composition ahead of a tuyere
Hot O2 enters the BF and starts
reaction with C
Regions immediately ahead of
tuyere exit contain excess O2
C is first oxidised to form CO2
C (s) + O2 (g) = CO2 (g)
CO2 then reacts with hot coke
CO2 (g) + C (s) = 2 CO (g)
CO2 is gradually replaced by CO
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making 27
Gas composition ahead of a tuyere
Hot O2 enters the BF and starts
reaction with C
Regions immediately ahead of
tuyere exit contain excess O2
C is first oxidised to form CO2
C (s) + O2 (g) = CO2 (g)
CO2 then reacts with hot coke
CO2 (g) + C (s) = 2 CO (g)
CO2 is gradually replaced by CO
Gases leaving the raceway
contain practically no CO2
Relative proportion of N2
decreases due to molar dilution
Source: Peacy & Davenport (1979)
(1 mol. O2 º 2 mol. CO)
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making
CO/CO2 equilibrium in Blast Furnace
Continuous interaction between C, CO and CO2, throughout the
entire height of the blast furnace
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making
CO/CO2 equilibrium in Blast Furnace
CO/CO2 ratio varies with height
inside the BF
Remains practically constant over
a range of height Thermal
Chemical Reserve
Reserve
Apparent stability of wustite over zone
zone?
a range of CO/CO2 ratio
Dynamic equilibrium between CO
consumption for reduction and its
generation through Boudouard
Reaction
Apparently constant gas
composition matches fairly well
with thermal reserve zone
Source: Peacy & Davenport (1979)
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making
CO/CO2 equilibrium in Blast Furnace
CO/CO2 ratio varies with height
inside the BF
Remains practically constant over
a range of height
Apparent stability of wustite over
a range of CO/CO2 ratio Chemical
Reserve
Dynamic equilibrium between CO zone
consumption for reduction and its
generation through Boudouard
Reaction
Apparently constant gas
composition matches fairly well
with thermal reserve zone
Tuyere level
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making
Thermal profile in Blast Furnace
Temperature profile inside the
blast furnace appears similar (in
shape) to the CO concentration
Gas
profile S/L
Height above tuyere level
Remains practically constant over
a range of height
Apparently constant gas Thermal
Reserve
composition matches fairly well zone
with thermal reserve zone
Thermal balance between
endothermic and exothermic
reactions, as well as heat transfer
between gas and solids 0
?
Gas temperature profile starts from Temperature
tuyere level upward
Why?
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making
Thermal profile in Blast Furnace
Temperature profile inside the
blast furnace appears similar (in
shape) to the CO concentration
profile
Remains practically constant over
a range of height
Apparently constant gas
composition matches fairly well
with thermal reserve zone
Thermal balance between
endothermic and exothermic
reactions, as well as heat transfer
between gas and solids
Source: Matsuzaki et al. (1979): Nippon Steel Technical Report
Thermal profile in Blast Furnace
100% Fe2O3 Surplus CO, after
reduction of Fe2O3
Generated CO yet to be utilised
for iron oxide reduction
100% Fe
Thermal reserve zone
Chemical reserve zone
Source: Matsuzaki et al. (1979): Nippon Steel Technical Report
Thermal and chemical profiles in blast furnace
Are the theoretical predictions really true?
●
Has anyone measured the temperatures and compositions (of gas as
well as of the metallics being reduced) inside a blast furnace?
Thermal and chemical profiles in blast furnace
Yes!!!
●
Temperature and composition
of gas measured at multiple
locations using probes
●
Samples of iron oxide (and
other solids) collected after
dismantling furnaces
●
Quenching of furnace before
dissection and sample
collection
Ref: Matsuzaki et al.: Nippon Steel Technical Report (2006)
Layering of materials inside a blast furnace
Ref: Blast Furnace Phenomena and Modelling, Report of ISIJ
Committee on Reaction within Blast Furnace (1987)
Layering of materials inside a blast furnace
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Samples collected from inside blast furnaces quenched at
the end of service life
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Different blast furnaces have variations in reduction
profile
●
However, overall trend remains similar
Ref: Blast Furnace Phenomena and Modelling, Report of ISIJ
Committee on Reaction within Blast Furnace (1987)
Suggested references
●
Alternative Routes to Iron Making; Arabinda Sarangi and Bidyapati Sarangi, 2 nd Ed., PHI
Learning (2015)
●
Alternate Methods of Iron Making; Sujay Kumar Dutta and Rameshwar Sah, S. Chand
Publishers (2011)
●
R. H. Tupkary: Introduction to modern Iron Making, Khanna Publishers (2004)
●
A. K. Biswas: Principles of Blast Furnace Ironmaking, Cootha Publishing House.
(Indian edition by Shankar Book Agency, 2005)
●
A. Ghosh and A. Chatterjee: Ironmaking and Steelmaking: Theory and Practice, Prentice
Hall India (2008)
●
D. Mazumdar: A First Course in Iron and Steelmaking, Orient Blackswan (2015)
IRONMAKING
Section #2
●
Outline of the ironmaking blast furnace
●
Raw material addition techniques
●
Fluid flow inside the blast furnace
●
Steps in reduction of iron oxide and metallic Fe output
●
Reactions in the raceway
●
Thermal and chemical features inside the blast furnace
●
Raw material charging systems
Raw material charging system
●
What is “charging system” for raw materials in a blast furnace?
●
Device(s) for addition of solid raw materials from top
●
Need to maintain the layered structure (permeability of bed)
●
Adjust radial distribution of different solids, at any height
●
Also known as “burden” charging system
Burden charging systems in blast furnace
Two-bell system, including its variants
earliest (and longest-running) system
Movable Throat Armour (MTA)
also known as Variable Throat Armour (VTA)
Source: Naito et al. (2015)
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making 47
Burden charging systems in blast furnace
Two-bell system, including its variants
Points to ponder
earliest (and longest-running) system
●
Need for a burden charging system?
Movable Throat Armour (MTA)
●
Why is the BF top not left open?
also known as Variable Throat Armour (VTA)
●
Main function(s) of the charging system?
Source: Naito et al. (2015)
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making 48
Burden charging systems in blast furnace
Longitudinal section of a blast furnace
with multiple Bell charging system
Erstwhile Fukuyama no. 5 of JFE (NKK)
Daily production: 9900 tonnes
Sealing the furnace top
(prevent release of CO and dust)
Distribution of raw materials across
the furnace cross-section
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making 49
Burden charging systems in blast furnace
Two-bell system, including its variants
earliest (and longest-running) system
Movable Throat Armour (MTA)
also known as Variable Throat Armour (VTA)
Bell-less top (BLT)
Compact Bell-less top (CBLT)
modification of BLT
Schematic of a Compact Bell-less Top
charging system for blast furnace
Source: Nag et al. (2004)
F-BF of Tata Steel, Jamshedpur
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making 50
Burden charging systems in blast furnace
Schematic of bell-less (BLT) charging systems
Source: Naito et al. (2015)
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making 51
Schematic of a Bell-less top
charging system for blast
furnace
Source: MSTS
Discharging
from this bin Filling this bin
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making 52
Schematic of a Bell-less top
charging system for blast
furnace
Source: MSTS
Advantage(s) of bell-less
charging systems over multi-bell
and bell + MTA charging?
MM 439: Iron and Steel Making 53
Blast furnace tuyere and injection lance
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Tuyere is made of high purity Cu
(plus small amount of Cr, Ag, etc., to optimise thermal conductivity and creep resistance )
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Tuyere is provides with water-jacket for cooling
●
Auxilliary fuels (pulverised coal, natural gas, coal tar, etc.) are injected through a
separate lance but never mixed with the preheated air upstream
Source: MSTS
Blast furnace trivia
Copper smelting blast furnace of ~1850
Ref.: Peters (1907)
Bibliography
●
Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel (11 th Edition) – Ironmaking Volume, AISE Steel
Foundation, 1998.
●
E. D. Peters: The Principles of Copper Smelting, Hill Publishing Co., 1907.
●
S. Nag, V. M. Koranne, T. Bhattacharya, U. Singh and S. Basu: “Mathematical simulation of
material trajectory for compact bell-less top of ‘F’ blast furnace”, Tata Search, 2004, pp. 84-90.
●
M. Naito, K. Takeda and Y. Matsui: “Ironmaking technology for the last 100 years: Deployment
to advanced technologies from introduction of technological know-how, and evolution to next-
generation Process”, ISIJ International, vol. 55 (1), 2015, pp. 7-35.
●
Blast Furnace Phenomena and Modelling, Report of ISIJ Committee on ‘Reaction within Blast
Furnace’, Elsevier Applied Science, 1987.
●
S. Matsuzaki, A. Shinotake, M. Naito, T. Nishimura, K. Kunitomo and T. Sugiyama:
“Development of mathematical model of blast furnace”, Nippon Steel Technical Report, No. 94,
2006.
●
J. G. Peacey and W. G. Davenport: “The Iron Blast Furnace. Theory and Practice”, Pergamon
Press, 1979.
