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Steelmaking-1
IRON AND STEELMAKING - 1
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2. Steelmaking-1
OVERVIEW OF STEEL PRODUCTION ROUTES
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OVERVIEW OF STEEL PRODUCTION ROUTES (alternate)
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https://doi.org/10.1533/9781782421177.3.267
2. Steelmaking-1
STEEL PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES AND THEIR TOTAL
GHG EMISSIONS FROM 1900 TO 2015
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https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22245-6/figures/1
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WORLD IRON AND STEEL PRODUCTION: 1980–2011
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TREATISE ON PROCESS METALLURGY, Elsevier, 2015
2. Steelmaking-1
STEELMAKING ROUTES: WORLD VS. TURKEY
(2021)
WORLD PRODUCTION TURKEY PRODUCTION
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IRON AND STEELMAKING:
BLAST FURNACE (BF) – BASIC OXYGEN FURNACE (BOF)
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EXAMPLE TO INDUSTRIAL BLAST FURNACES
Blast furnace No. 6 and 7 of Tata Steel in IJmuiden, The Netherlands. 8
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RAW MATERIAL PREPARATION: COKE
Photo of coke battery
Coke, which is used as fuel in blast furnaces during
the ironmaking process, is made by heating coking
coal at a high temperature in a series of ovens
known as a coke oven battery. A coke oven battery
is a group of ovens in which coals are heated to
high temperature (1100 °C) in the absence of air.
The carbon is concentrated, and the volatile mater
is removed from the coal to produce coke by this
process. Metallurgical coke is produced by heating
coking coal (25–30 wt% volatiles content) in the
absence of air. This causes the volatiles to be
distilled from the coal to give a porous coke which
is (i) reactive at high temperatures and (ii) strong
enough to take whole load of materials within the
blast furnace.
Typical Coke Analysis
Fixed Volatile Nitrogen Sulphur
Ash (%)
carbon (%) matter (%) (%) (%)
87–92 0.2–0.5 8–11 1.2–1.5 0.6–0.8
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RAW MATERIAL PREPARATION: AGGLOMERATION
• Agglomeration
can be classified
into four types as
follows:
• 1. Sintering,
• 2. Pelletizing,
• 3. Briquetting
• 4. Nodulizing.
• Agglomeration is the process for aggregate (i.e. • The agglomerate should be strong enough to
bonding) of the small or fine particles to a useful withstand degradation during stock-piling,
size. The primary purpose of agglomeration is to handling and transportation; to arrive at the
improve burden permeability and gas–solid furnace skip with a minimum of approximate 85–
contact, thereby reducing blast furnace coke rates 90% of plus 5 mm materials.
and increasing the rate of reduction, i.e.
• In addition, the agglomerate must be able to
productivity.
withstand the high temperature and the
• Good agglomerate using for blast furnace should degradation forces within the furnace without
be contained 60% or more of iron, a minimum of slumping or decrepitating. The agglomerate
undesirable constituents, and size range of should also be reasonable reducible, so that it
material 5–12.5 mm. can reduce at a satisfactorily high rate in the blast
furnace.
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ORE SINTERING
Sintering is a widely used method to agglomerate iron-containing fine-grained materials. In
sintering the ore fines, concentrates, fluxes, and coke breeze are thoroughly weighed, moistened,
and mixed. The sinter mix is fed on the grate of the sintering machine to make a 0.3–1 m high bed.
The grate is an endless strand of slowly moving pallets. The surface is ignited in the ignition hood
and air is drawn through the bed. Coke in the mix is ignited and the combustion zone descends
slowly downward. The downward flowing air is preheated in the upper zones and together with
combustion of the coke the temperature will rise up to about 1400 C. At this temperature, the ore
grains start to melt and stick together. When the combustion of coke ends, the half molten material
starts to solidify and release heat to the downward flowing air. When the combustion zone reaches
the grate, the pallet has reached the end of the strand where it turns over to the return rails and
the sinter cake drops in a crusher for further processing.
Return Sinter BF Sinter
(a) Schematic view of a typical iron ore sintering plant and (mm) (mm)
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(b) EOS hood on sinter strand in Tata Steel IJmuiden 0-6.3 6.3-50
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ORE PELLETIZING
Similar to sintering, pelletizing is another widely used process to agglomerate the iron ore. Sinter
plants are usually located near the blast furnace plant, but pelletizing plants are often located near the
mining site. Some works have both pelletizing and sintering plants at the smelter sites.
The ore is crushed, ground, and concentrated in several steps to very small grain size— e.g., over 75%
less than 45 m. Binder (bentonite or organic) and possible additives are fed in the slurry and mixed
before filtering. The filter cake is transported to large balling drums or balling discs to be rolled to
green pellets. The green pellets are screened to 9–11 mm diameter. The oversize is crushed and fed
together with the undersize back to balling.
The process to harden pellets by heating them up to the sintering temperature is called induration.
There are three induration processes: Grate-Kiln, Straight Grate, and Vertical Shaft furnace, of which
the first two are dominating whereas the shaft furnace is retreating.
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Illustration of typical pellet firing process
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RAW MATERIAL : ORE (SINTER AND PELLETS)
Typical sinter for blast furnace process
• Sinter: Sintering is an important process (size: < 50 mm)
of agglomeration. Sintering is a process
of heating fine materials (+3 mm sizes)
to an elevated temperature without
complete fusion such that the small
solid particles are in contact with one
another adhere and agglomerate into
larger, more useful sizes. Sinter is an
agglomerate made from small particles
of iron ore or iron-bearing materials
that are semi-fused or fritted together
at a high temperature that is produced
by combustion of coal.
• Pellets: Pellets are agglomerated from
very finely (minus 200 mesh size) iron
ore concentrates to which a small
quantity of binder has been added. The
process of pelletization consists of
formation of green balls (5–20 mm size)
by rolling of moist iron ore fines with
binder.
Pellets (Ø = 10–18 mm) 13
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BLAST FURNACE PROCESS
• Ore, pellet ve sintered ore
• Limestone (CaCO3)
• Dolomite (MgCO3 · CaCO3)
• Sand (SiO2)
• Coke
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BLAST FURNACE CHARGING SYSTEM
• In blast furnace, Iron oxide (in pellet or sinter form), coke, and limestone are
successively charged through the top of the furnace. The charge slowly
descends through the shaft (an 8-hr journey) and is gradually heated by hot
ascending gases (CO, CO2, N2, H2, H2O).
• Therefore, the aim is
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Fe-Oxide + C >>> Fe (liquid) +CO
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BLAST FURNACE ZONES
From the vertical direction the blast furnace could be
generally divided into five zones (externally):
• Throat: it denotes the burden surface on the top of
the blast furnace.
• Stack or shaft: where the ores are heated and
reduction reactions start.
• Belly or bosh parallel: the short vertical section.
• Bosch: where the ore reduction completes, and the
ores are melting down.
• Hearth: where the molten materials (slag and hot
metal) are collected and tapped via the tap holes.
According to the internal state of the feed materials, various other zones can be denoted in the blast furnace:
(1) Primary reduction zone: the upper part of shaft, where higher valence iron oxides (hematite and
magnetite: Fe2O3, Fe3O4) are reduced. The temperature ranges from 400 to 1000 C.
(2) Thermal reserve zone: the lower part of the shaft zone, where the temperature is maintained at about
800–1000 C. In this zone, reduction of wustite (FeO) to metallic iron takes place.
(3) Cohesive zone: it extends from above bosh near the wall up to middle part of stack in the center of the
blast furnace. In cohesive zone, the materials have reached about 1200 C and start to soften and melt except
coke particles.
(4) Active coke zone/dripping zone: beneath the cohesive zone, where final reduction to metallic iron
completes, and melts of slag and hot metal form and drip through the coke layer.
(5) Deadman: a porous packed-bed of unreacted coke particles sitting or floating in the hearth. Carbon16
saturation of hot metal takes place within the deadman.
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CROSS-SECTION OF THE BLAST FURNACE
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TYPICAL BLAST FURNACE PROFILE
Typical profiles of blast furnace with four-bell system and movable deflectors
(working volume and internal volume are 3930 and 4620 m3, respectively). 18
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DEVELOPMENT OF BLAST FURNACES FROM 1860S TO 1980S
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BLAST FURNACE REACTIONS
• Temperature region from 100 to 570 C can be • At temperatures above 843 K, reduction
called preheating. It is a relatively rapid of magnetite with CO and H2 will only
phase. Reduction of iron oxides starts during lead to the formation of wustite, and the
preheating. The stage-wise reductions of iron formation of metallic iron can only go
oxides with CO and H2 are expressed as through the reduction of wustite. The
follows: reactions are listed as follows
• At the lower part of the thermal reserve
zone, where the temperature is around
1000 C, “indirect reduction” of wustite by
the uprising CO gas from the lower zone
takes place.
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MATERIALS BALANCE OF A MODERN BLAST FURNACE
To produce 1 ton hot metal (THM) with about 4.5 wt% C, it consumes about 1630 kg of
ferrous materials as mixed charge (sinter, pellet, and lumpy ore), 380 kg of coke and 120
kg of pulverized coal, and 995 Nm3 of O2-enriched air at about 1180 C. At the same time,
it generates about 300 kg slag (consisting of mainly SiO2, CaO, Al2O3, and MgO), 16 kg
flue dust, and about 1500 Nm3 top gas (CO, CO2, H2, H2O, and N2) at about 160 C and
2.5 bar pressure.
(reference: 1 t hot metal) 21
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EXAMPLE OF HEAT BALANCE OF A BLAST FURNACE
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2. Steelmaking-1
ENERGY RECOVERY AND UTILIZATION AT COKE PLANT, SINTER
PLANT, AND BLAST FURNACE
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IRONMAKING BY DIRECT REDUCTION (DR) PROCESSES
• Direct reduction involves the production of solid iron from iron ores
and a reducing agent (e.g., natural gas). The solid product is called
DRI and is mainly applied as feedstock in EAF. The direct reduction
process has been commercialized since the 1970s and a variety of
processes have been developed.
• Several methods have been used over the past 50 years to produce
DRI. In practice, two major processes are currently operating in large
production namely MIDREX and HyL/Energiron (HYL III), which are
based on (natural) gas reduction in shaft furnaces.
• Approximately 92% of the DRI is produced by using (reformed)
natural gas as a fuel. Furthermore, in a significant number of sites,
coal is used as a fuel in rotary kiln or rotary hearth furnaces (for
example, SL/RN and iron dynamics). Additionally, lot of efforts have
been put to develop fluidized-bed technologies to directly reduce
fine ore concentrate by gas (FINMET, CIRCORED), which is the most
advanced principle but has met serious practical problems due to
sticking tendency in the final stage of reduction.
• World DRI production has seen continuous growth since the year
1970, and by 2011 the total production reached 73.3 million tons.
Among various DRI processes, MIDREX dominates the market
accounting for almost 60% of the total DRI production (MIDREX 44.4,
HYL/EnergIron 11.1, Finmet 0.5, Coal-based 17.3 million tons in
2011, respectively). The total share of the DRI in the world crude
steel production is about 5%, while the blast furnace hot metal 24
account for 60% and steel scrap for the rest.
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DRI PRODUCTION BY SHAFT FURNACE: MIDREX PROCESS
Gas-based direct reduction processes are particularly suitable for installation in those areas
where natural gas is available in abundance and at economical prices. The MIDREX process is a
shaft-type direct reduction process where iron ore pellets, lump iron ore or a combination are
reduced in a Vertical Shaft (reduction furnace) to metallic iron by means of a reduction gas.
The product, DRI, typically has the total iron content in the range of 90–94% Fe. After the DRI
exits from the bottom of the shaft, it can be compressed in the hot condition to HBI for safe
storage and transportation. DRI or HBI are virgin iron sources free from tramp elements and
are increasingly being used in EAF to dilute the contaminants present in the scrap.
(60% of world DRI production).
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DRI PRODUCTION BY ROTARY KILN: (SL/RN) PROCESS
The RK has a refractory lining and is inclined at an angle of 3–4 from the horizontal. In the upper
zone, the raw materials enter the furnace, where ore is preheated while volatiles are removed
from the coal and flux. Residence time in the reduction zone is several hours. Temperature
profiles are controlled by burning of gases in the atmosphere above the bed, as well as fuel
combustion at the discharge end. The final product is cooled and then screened to separate the
DRI from char and gangue. The DRI is briquetted, while the char is recycled.
Although there are many RKs
around the world used for
reducing iron ore, none are large
by the standards of the gas-
based plants; they are limited in
scale-up potential because of
mechanical constraints imposed
on RK design. For example, the
largest kiln reduction plant built
through 1991 was the SL/RN
plant of Stelco at Red Lake,
Ontario that had a design
capacity of 400,000 tons/year.
The kiln was 126 m long and 6 m
in diameter. 26
(SL/RN): Stelco-Lurgi/Republic-National
2. Steelmaking-1
DRI PRODUCTION BY FLUIDIZED BED: FINMET PROCESS
Fluid beds have the great advantage of utilizing lower-cost raw materials than alternate
technologies, but they have not achieved great success.
FINMET is a recently developed fluidized bed reduction process based on the use of iron ore
fines as the feedstock and gas as the reducing agent. The product is hot briquetted iron (HBI).
In comparison with other reduction processes which use pellets or lump ores, the charging of
lower cost iron ore fines to the FINMET process offers a substantial production cost
advantage.
The FINMET process reduces ore fines under
high pressure in a cascade of fluidized beds
using reformed natural gas. It was designed
with four fluid-bed reactors with gravity feed
between them, a reformer, and a briquetter to
compact the reduced ore. Preheated ore from
the first reactor overflows to the second
reactor; 10% of the reduction occurs there,
with the remainder in the final two reactors.
The product is a DRI of 91-94% total iron
content with carbon adjustable between 0.5-
3% which is hot briquetted. Two plants each of
2Mt/y capacity are currently under
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construction.
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SMELTING REDUCTION (SR) PROCESS
• Smelting reduction (SR): This involves
combining iron ore reduction with
smelting in a reactor, without the use of
coke. The product is liquid pig iron, which
can be treated and refined in the same
way as hot metal from the blast furnace.
Today, only one variant of SR is
commercially proven (COREX), but a
number of variants are in an advanced
stage of development.
• Several smelting reduction processes are
in development and only one process is
currently operating on a commercial
basis: COREX. Other process variants
differ in the number of reactors, the
amount of calorific gas produced, the ore
feed (pellet, lump ore, or fines), and
examples are HIsmelt, DIOS, ROMELT,
AISI-DOE/CCF, and HIsarna.
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SMELTING REDUCTION (SR) BY COREX PROCESS
The COREX process is a two-stage process. In the first step, iron ore is reduced to sponge iron
in a shaft furnace by means of reducing gas. In the second step, the reduced iron is melted in
the melter–gasifier vessel. Reducing gas (CO and H2) used in the reduction shaft is supplied by
gasification of coal by means of oxygen, forming a fixed or fluidized bed in the melter–gasifier.
The partial combustion of the coal in the melter–gasifier generates the heat to melt the
reduced iron. Liquid iron and slag are discharged at the bottom, by a conventional tapping
procedure similar to that used in blast furnace operation.
Because of the separation of iron reduction and iron melting/coal gasifying in two steps, a
high degree of flexibility is achieved and a wide variety of coals can be used.
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