VEER SURENDRA SAI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY : BURLA

Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering

Subject Name : Iron Making

Department : Metallurgical & Materials Engineering
Level : Undergraduate (3rd -Semester)
Course coordinator : Dr. Manila Mallik

Dr. Manila Mallik

Course coordinator
 DISCLAIMER

This document does not claim any originality and cannot be used as a substitute for
prescribed textbooks. The information presented here is merely a collection from
various sources as mentioned at the reference of the document as well as freely available
material from internet were consulted for preparing this document. Further, this
document is not intended to be used for commercial purpose and the faculty member
(Course Coordinator) are not accountable for any issues, legal or otherwise, arising out
of use of this document. The faculty member (Course Coordinator) make no
representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the
contents of this document and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
 Historical Development
• The first evidence of iron tools comes from ancient Egypt about 4000 BCE and the
origin of iron implements is probably meteoric iron.
• The oldest existent blast furnaces were built in China as early as 200 BCE .
• The next evolution in ironmaking technology has occurred in Great Britain,
when the successful introduction of coke was made in 1709 by Abraham Darby.
The fuel used in blast furnaces before was charcoal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6vut9m-5xU
Allotropes of iron
 Pure Iron
• Pure iron is a term used to describe new iron produced in an electric arc furnace where
temperatures sufficient to melt the iron can be achieved.

• The result, also known as ‘butter iron’ is typically around 99.8 % pure with a carbon
content of around 0.005 % and manganese content of around 0.005 %.

• Pure Iron, with a minimum Fe content of 99.85 %, without the addition of alloy elements
was first developed in 1909 by the former American Rolling Mill Company (ARMCO)

• Pure iron is silvery white colored metal and is extremely lustrous. Its most important
property is that it is very soft.

• Pure iron can be hammered into sheets and drawn into wires.
 Wrought Iron
• Wrought iron is a form of commercial iron which has very low carbon content (less
than 0.10 %), less than 0.25 % of impurities consisting of sulphur, phosphorus,
silicon and manganese.
•
• It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2 % by weight)
which gives it a ‘grain’ resembling wood, which is visible when it is etched or bent
to the point of failure.

• Historically, wrought iron was known as ‘commercially pure iron’

• Wrought iron is soft, ductile, magnetic, strong with high elasticity and tensile
strength, malleable and hence it can be heated and reheated and worked into
various shapes, becomes stronger the more it is worked, and suitable for
members in tension or compression.
 Hot shortness
Sulphur present in amounts greater than permissible limit, reacts with Iron
present in steel. The compound formed by this reaction is Iron Sulphide (FeS).This
is a low melting alloy which forms as films along the Austenite Grain Boundaries.
During high temperature operations like rolling, forging, etc, this low melting alloy
breaks or cracks down along the grain boundaries which leads to Transgranular
Fracture which ultimately leads to failure of the metal.This is called Hot shortness
which is failure of metal at high temperatures.
To prevent this phenomena, Manganese is added to steels. Manganese reacts
with Sulphur to form MnS which is a high melting alloy and prevents breaking or
cracking along the grain boundaries, hence preventing failure.
 Cold shortness
Large quantities of phosphorus (in excess of 0.12% ) reduce the
ductility thereby increasing the tendency of the steel to crack
when cold worked. This is called cold-shortness
 Cast Iron

Is it possible to do mechanical working with Cast Iron???

 Cast Iron
• The term ‘cast iron’ represents a large family of ferrous alloys.

• Cast irons are multi-component ferrous alloys, which solidify with a eutectic.

• The major elements of cast irons are iron, carbon (2 % or more), silicon (1 % to 3 %),
minor elements (less than 0.1 %), and often alloying elements (less than 0.1%). Cast
iron has higher carbon and silicon contents than steel.

• Cast iron in its basic form is a brittle material.

 Pig Iron
• Pig iron is an intermediate product of a steel plant which is cast in a pig casting
machine from hot metal (liquid iron) produced during smelting of iron ore in a blast
furnace or in a smelting reduction furnace.
• The term ‘pig iron’ has arisen from the old method of casting liquid iron from
a blast furnace into moulds arranged in sand beds.
• The name ''pig iron'' originated in the early days of iron-ore reduction when
the total output of the blast furnace was sand cast into ''pigs'' a mass of iron
roughly resembling the shape of a reclining pig.
• The traditional shape of the moulds used for these ingots was a
branching structure formed in sand. It had many individual ingots at
right angles to a central channel or runner.
 DRI
• Direct reduced iron (DRI) is produced by the reduction of iron ore (in the form of lumps or
pellets) by either non-coking coal or a reducing gas produced by reforming of natural gas.

• The reducing gas can also be produced by the gasification of coal. The reduction process
is conducted at high temperature but substantially below the melting point of iron.

• Since the reduction reaction takes place in solid state, the lump or pellet retain their
original shape, but are considerably lighter due to the removal of the oxygen from the ore.

• Hence the produced direct reduced iron has a highly porous structure. This porous
structure gives DRI an appearance of a sponge and because of it, DRI is also known as
sponge iron.
 POSITION COUNTRY

1ST Australia

2ND Brazil

3RD China

4th India

• The major iron ore mining centre is in Singhbhum district, Jharkhand.

• The districts of Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh also form
the richest reserves of quality iron ore.
• The iron ore available here is Hematite which has about 60-70 percent
metallic iron content.
Why the name is blast furnace??
The reductants are combusted by oxygen in the hot blast and
its main task is to reduce and heat up the descending burden.

Reduction
Direct (by carbon) and indirect (By CO)
Reduction
 PLANT LAYOUT
In a blast furnace plant, there are several other accessories besides the furnace
proper.
These accessories may be classified into the following categories:

1-Blast furnace proper

2-raw materials storage and handling [storage bins for different raw materials] .
3-gas cleaning system and gas storage[ dust Catcher, scrubber, electrostatic
precipitator].
4-hot blast supplying equipment
5-liquid product disposal and handling [laddles]
6-process control equipment[ thermocouple, control room ]etc
Schematic two-dimensional vertical section as illustration
1 2

3
EVALUTION OF FLUX:
 Flux- value of flux is expressed in terms of available base.
Available base vale depends upon the basicity of slag under
operating condition. (ration of base to acid content ).
 Basicity of slag in b/f is = 1-1.3
 Basicity = (CaO+MgO)/ SiO2
• Coke is the most important raw material fed into the blast furnace in
terms of its effect on the blast furnace operation and hot metal quality.
• A high quality of coke should be able to support a smooth descent of the
blast furnace burden with as little degradation while providing the
1.lowest amount of impurities,
2. highest thermal energy,
3.highest metal reduction, and
4. optimum permeability for the flow of gaseous and molten products.
• Introduction of high quality coke to a blast furnace will result in
1. lower coke rate,
2. higher productivity
3. and lower hot metal cost.
 Coal Coke
Fragile/soft Hard
Low calorific value High calorific value
High volatile Low volatile
matter,ash,moisture,low fixed matter,ash,moisture,high fixed Coking coal
carbon carbon Primary coking coal (caking index>24)
Medium coking coal (caking index<24)
Low coking coal (caking index<12)
Non uniform size uniform size
Non porous Porous

Classification of coal- pit,lignite,bituminous,anthrasite

Non-coking coal-pit,lignite,anthrasite
coking coal-bituminous
• Coking coal, also known as metallurgical coal, is used to create coke.
• There are many varieties of coal in the world, ranging from brown coal or
lignite to anthracite. The property that really sets coking coals apart from
other coals is its caking ability, which is the specific property required in order
to make coke suitable for iron making.
• Coke is produced by heating coking coals in a coke oven in a reducing
atmosphere. As the temperature of the coal increases, it becomes plastic,
fusing together before resolidifying into coke particles. This is known as the
caking process. The quality of the resultant coke is determined by the qualities
of the coking coals used, as well as the coke plant operating conditions.
1

2
 2

3
 1. It is circular in cross section, and around 30 m in height.
The outer shell is made of steel. Inside the shell, there is
refractory lining. Nowadays the steel shell is of welded
construction rather than the earlier form of rivetted
construction.
2. The tall structure has recently been made ‘free standing’,
i.e. the only support is provided by the foundation. The
furnace interior is broadly divided into:
• Stack, whose wall slopes outwards going downwards
• Belly, the cylindrical portion below the stack
• Bosh, below the belly and sloping inwards going downwards
• Hearth, below the bosh and tuyere region and the
cylindrical portion.

Schematic sketch of a blast furnace indicating different parts.

GAS CLEANING SYSTEM
 Dust catcher
• The b/f gas is led by the downcomer directly into a dust catcher. The dust
catcher operates on the principle that the dust is contained in the gas by virtue
of its velocity and hence, if the velocity is zero the dust particles will be
eliminated from the gas.
• The state of zero velocity is achieved in the dust catcher by simply reversing the
direction of the gas flow , from vertically downward to vertically upward
direction.
• It is cylindrical steel structure with conical top and is lined from inside with
firebricks. The downcomer leads the gases into the dust catcher through a
vertical pipe that flares out and extends nearly to the bottom of the dust
catcher.
• The gas comes down vertically and suddenly changes its direction to vertically
upwards since the outlet is located nearly at the top of the dust catcher.
• This brings the gas to a point of zero velocity in form of the tip of the vertical
inlet pipe and coarse dust thus falls in the bottom cone of the dust catcher from
where it is periodically removed.
• The dust catcher is provided with valves for gas inlet and dust removal
The gas from the dust catcher is led into the primary or semi-fine gas cleaning system
which consists of any one of the following units:

1. Scrubbers or spray towers

2. Ventury Washer
3. Revolving Spray-towers
4. Field washers
5. Spray fans
1. Scrubbers or spray towers
• It consists of a tall cylinder with conical top and bottom.
• The gas enters in this at a point near the bottom of the cylinder and leaves
through a centrally located outlet at the top.
• Water is fed from the top in the form of one or more water rows of water
sprays to cover the entire cross-section of the cylindrical shell.
• Inside cylindrical shell several layers of wooden packing with perforation
are fitted to break up the gas flow into small jets and thereby bring
intimate contact of gas and water. The dust contained in the gas stick to
the wooden packings and is washed with water.
• The coarse cleaned gas from the dust catcher enters the scrubber at an
angle of nearly 50°. Its velocity is reduced considerably because of sudden
increase in volume and as a result some coarse dust settles at the
bottom itself as it becomes wet.
• Finer dust is washed down from the top. The scrubber not only cleans the
gas but it cools it to 30-35°C.
• The slurry that is formed collects at the bottom and is continuously
removed from there into a thickener for separating water from the solid
for recirculation. Nearly 80-90 % of the dust contained in the incoming gas
is removed by this method with about 3.5-4.5 liters of water consumption
per cubic meter of gas. The dust content of the outgoing gas is 0.5-1.5
g/m3.
• A centrifugal type water separator at the exit end of the gas separates any
entrained water in the outgoing gas.
Ventury washer
• It is a vertical unit with a construction where water is injected in the form of sprays to wet the gas moving
downwards. Two sets of water sprays are used, one at right angle to the direction of gas flow and the other at an
obtuse angle like 110-120°.
• The washer is lined from inside with abrasion resistant material to withstand the erosive dust-laden gas.
• A water separator is provided at the bottom of the ventury and a tall cooling tower by the side to cool the gas.
The dust content of the clean gas is around 0.05 g/ m3.

.
 Fine or secondary cleaning
• It is carried out both in wet and dry conditions. Wet-type cleaners are either
electrostatic precipitators, high speed disintegrators or Theissen disintegrators.
Wet cleaning unit is based for blast furnace gas cleaning for its superior
performances,
Electrostatic separator
• It is essentially based on the principle that under an action of high applied
static voltage the dust particles in a gas phase acquire electrostatic charge
and are attracted to an electrode of opposite polarity where they are
collected and washed out. The corona effect also helps this behavior.
• The unit consists of either tubes or plates as one electrode and wires ,
centrally located in each tube or parallel with the plates. Rectified high
voltage is applied across these two electrodes. The gas enters from the
bottom and rises upwards through a system of such cells, while a thin film of
water flows over the surface of the tube or plates from inside downwards.
The dust particles on ionization get attracted to these wet surfaces and are
washed down .
• The slurry is led to a thickener.
• The dust particles are precipitated on the electrode and hence the name. The
precipitator is usually divided into two zones, one of which is working while
the other is under repair, if required. In some designs the precipitators is
mounted directly above the primary washer.
AGGLOMERATION OF ORE
What is agglomeration: agglomeration is a technique by which the fine iron ores
are converted into lumps.

Why agglomeration is required :

1- use of fine iron ore in iron making , since during communiation of iron ore some
of the ores are converted into fines. So these fines cannot be feed into furnace
directly so it is first converted into lumps .

Why we cannot charge fines into blast furnace :

1- if we charge fines into furnace it get converted into lumps inside the blast
furnace and it will reduces permenabilty for gases and slag and metals .
2- heavy dust loss occurs from the top in the b/f gas.
1- the fine concentrate is charged as a layer 15-50 cm thick on to the endless revolving
belt or grate or pallets which moves over wind boxes at regular speed .
2- burners under the ignition hood is used to start the combustion of the bed surface . This
combustion is propagated through the mass or charge by a current of air drawn through
the charge into the wind box below which is connected a suction fan sufficient high
temperature are develop in the material to cause partial or incipient fusion which produces
a porous cinder like material called sinter
3- when the sinter reaches the end of the machine it is discharged and cooled .
4-The cooled sinter is sized to give a uniform product .
The sinter roasting of sulphide ore does not require addition of any fuel to the charge
because the sulphur in the charge itself act as a fuel . But for an oxide or fuel is required
ex- iron ore
• More is the slag bond stronger is the sinter but with less reducibility and more is the diffusion
bond more is the reducibility but less is the strength.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylW3w35qR20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPyLVBiRMwU

https://nptel.ac.in/content/storage2/courses/113104059/lectu
re4/4_6.htm#:~:text=In%20slags%2C%20these%20tend%20to,
one%20or%20several%20oxygen%20ions.&text=These%20oxid
es%20are%20called%20network,silica%20by%20reacting%20wi
th%20it.
Burden Distribution in Blast Furnace
1. Introduction:

• Uniformly permeable burden offers better passage of up-going gases in the counter current reactor i.e
the in the B/F. the production rate of blast furnace is directly determined by the two factors viz:
i. The rate of reduction of iron oxide
ii. The rate of heating of the burden

• These two factors are related to the quantity of blast that goes through the furnace and depends upon
the degree and time of contact with the gases with the burden. For efficient reduction and heating of
burden, the burden should have uniform and good bulk permeability throughout the cross section to
offer uniform resistance to the blast and increases its residence time. This also enhances CO
utilization in other words decreases coke consumption.
• Burden distribution is a generic term used to denote radial ore/coke distribution as well as particle
size distribution in a blast furnace. The initial distribution of charge in the throat usually persists
throughout the furnace shaft so, it is of much importance in the bed permeability.
2. Charging systems
Two Bell Charging System
 Large bell supporting rod passes through the hollow supporting rod of small bell
Step 1. Bothe the bells are closed, skip bucket tipped to dump charge in small bell hopper
Step 2. Large bell remains closed when small bell opens to admit charge to big bell hopper
Step 3. Small bell is closed to prevent escape of gas to atmosphere and the big bell opens to
admit charge to furnace.
Step 4. Both the bells are closed and ready to repeat charging cycle.
3. Factors affecting Burden Distribution
A) Furnace Design
a. Angle and size of the BIG bell
b. Additional mechanical devices
c. Speed of lowering the BIG bell

B) Physical properties of burden

a. Size range of the burden
b. Angle of repose
c. Density

C) Control system
a. Distribution of charge on the BIG bell
b. Stock level
c. Order of charging
 Factors affecting Burden Distribution
Angle and size of the BIG bell
• Angle: 50-53° from the horizontal for rapid discharge & not
• sticking of wet materials
• Clearance between big bell and f/c wall
More clearance leads to formation of crest(peak/heap) of fines further away from the f/c wall
and formation of M contour(hopper) of stockline , less clearance means more fines at the wall
forming V contour. The permeability of the whole improves with a crest reasonably away
from the wall. In other words it accounts for keeping the clearance between the BIG bell and
the f/c wall as large as possible or having a larger throat to bell dia ratio. The normal
clearance is nearly 800-1000mm or a good throat-bell dia ratio seems to be 1.36
Stock line level
Stock line: The distribution pattern at the top. Charge or stock level in the furnace throat
Speed of lowering the BIG bell
Speed at which big bell is lowered alters the contour as faster speed throws the burden away
towards the wall and slower speed lends to segregate the fines.

Density of charge materials

Densities of ore(5-6gm/cc), coke(1.5) and flux(3-3.5) are quite different. Rolling tendency of
coke is maximum.Since density values cannot be altered, the sizes may be so chosen that their
differential rolling tendencies are offset to some extent. From this point of view agglomerates
are more preferable to lump ores.
Angle of repose
The base angle of the conical heap of the particles formed on a horizontal plane when allowed to fall
gently is called the “angle of repose” of that material. Angle of repose depends upon the particle size,
size distribution, shape, surface characteristic, moisture content etc. of that material.
Material Size distribution Avg. size Angle of repose
• Iron ore 10 – 30mm 18mm 33-35°
• Coke 27-75mm 45mm 35-38° ridge
• Sinter 31-34°
• Pellet 26-28°
Surface wide size range, roughness, moisture, clay content increases angle of repose. Higher the angle
of repose higher the ridges.
Size and size range
• Fines (-5mm) maximum of 5%
• Permeability decreases with increases in size range % of fines ( generally -10mm, sometimes -
5mm).
• Top size of iron ore should be as low as possible. Because-The rate of reduction of iron ore
decreases drastically (perhaps exponentially) with increasing size.
Distribution of charge on BIG bell
• Two skip cars are employed to haul the charge materials to the small bell hopper. The
McKee revolving distributor ensures good mixing of the materials.
• For a charging sequence CCOO↓ the small bell hopper is rotated through 60° after every
skip is dumped on the small bell and the small bell is lowered after every four skips to
dump the charge on to the BIG bell.
• When 8(eight) such charges that means 32 skips are deposited on the BIG bell, it is
lowered to allow the whole material to fall in to the furnaces.
• By virtue of this operation there will be alternate layer of ore and coke and the mixing is
improved further when it is dropped in to the furnace.
FOR EFFECTIVE PRODUCTIVITY AND UNIFORM GAS FLOW IN
B/F
1- screening of solid charge to prevents fines in the burden .
2-agglomeration of fines (sintering , pelletising)
3- proper charging device for better distribution of charge in horizontal section.
4- a revolving chute is used for uniform charge distribution of charge in
horizontal sec.
5- revolving chute uniformly distribute the charge over small bell.
Sintering is a heat exchange process where there is a exchange of heat between solid and gas,
So obtain faster rate of heat exchange , the heat capacity should be maximum , the rate of air
drawn should be maximum for that the permeability of the bed should maximum .
EFFICIENCY OF GOOD QUALITY OF SINTER DEPENDS UPON
Size: Strength of the sinter directly depends upon the size distribution of the charge mix.
Because this factor determines the contact area of the particle .size is large contact area is small and vice versa and
less contact area less will be the strength.
Best size for sintering are as follows:
Coke breeze of fine anthracite coal -3 mm
Limestone or dolomite -3mm
Ore size 10 mm
FUEL CONTENT
Fuel content is usually in the range of , 6-8%
For better result two layer charging with relatively less fuel in the lower layer has been found to give better result.
Cost of fuel is 50 % of total coast of sinter operation.

Double layer charging , extended hood, gas sintering decreases the solid fuel requirement.
MOISTURE
Presence of moisture in the sinter mix is advantageous :
1- It maintains permeability in the bed during sintering
2-the rate of rise of temperature at higher temperature levels is more rapid in wet than in dry mix .
3- the presence of moisture increases the specific volume of air required for sintering. For better heat transfer during
sintering.
Moisture in the sinter mix is around 3-6%.
But the entire process depend upon the critical amount of moisture (water) present in the feed.
Suppose the amount of water is less then critical amount then there is non unifom water distribution in the
system , the major amount or water will be present in granulate material leaving non granulated material dry.
And if the amount is more then critical amount then growth will be more where as strength will be reduced due
to increase in plastic behavior .
Three different water – particle system:
1. Pendular state: when water is present just at the point of contact of the
particles and surface tension holds the particles together
2. Funnicular sate: when some pores are fully occupied by water in an
aggreagate
3. The capillary state, when all the pores are filled with water but there is no
coherent film covering the entire surface of the particles
ORGANIC AND INORGANIC BINDERS USED IN PELLETISATION
 Organic binders : startch , dextrine, alginate
 Inorganic binders: ferrous sulphate , alkali chlorides, alkali and alkaline earth
carbonates, bentonite (max 1 percentage is added in mix)
 Limestone and dolomite can be used which produces slag bond during this
process.
EQUIPMENT OR INDUSTRIAL PRACTICE
 Two type of pelletiser are there :
 1- disc
 2-drum

• Disc pelletiser: it consist of a disc with outward sloping perpheral wall .resemble like flying saucers. Which
rotates around its own center , in an inclined position to horizontal .
• Dia of disc -3.6-5.6 m .
• Inclination is 45 degree to the horizontal.
• The material to be pelletized is generally fed directly onto the disc and moisture level is made up with the help of
moist material on the disc. It can also control the material flow pattern on the disc. In the reason where water is
added seeds are easily formed . With the growth of these seeds their fractional drag against the disc decreases
and the centerifugal force acquired by them increases and consequently they move out of nucleation zone. They
also tends to rise on the inclined surface of the pelletiser in the direction of rotation and fall down against the toe
section of the disc. The height and the width of trajectory of the ball movement increases with the size of the ball
until eventually the balls are deflector downwards by the scraper. During this movements the ball encounter
fresh feed and growth takes place more by layering while compaction assimilation plays a relatively minor role.
THE RATE OF PRODUCTION OF BALLS ON A DISC IS A
FUNCTION OF THE FOLLOWING VARIABLES
1- diameter of the disc
2-height of the peripheral wall
3- angle of inclination of disc
4-place on the disc where mix is fed
5-speeed of rotation
6-place where water is sprayed
7-rate of feed
8-rate of moisture addition
9-rate of withdrawal of the product
10-nature of size of feed.
11-desired size range of pellets and percentage recycled
12- binders and flux.
DRUM PELLETISER
• This type of pelletiser is a steel drum which is having both end open with
a length to diameter ratio of 2.5-3.5 rotating around its own axis in a
slightly inclined position to the horizontal .
• Length-6-9 m
• Dia-2-3m
• Angle of inclination-2-10 degree
• Rotate at (Rpm)-10-15 rpm
• Here the charge is fed from that side of the drum which is at higher
level.Water is also sprayed there the material rolls over the surface of the
rotating drum and slides downward due to inclination of the drum in a
cascading motion. And finally it comes out at other end.
Blast Furnace Operations
BLOWING IN:-
The Process of Starting a B/F Operation is known as blowing in.
The blowing in operation is divided into three categories:
(1) Drying
(2) Filling
(3) Lighting and operating until routine process is established
1. Drying:-
The newly lining B/F contains significant proportion of moisture. This must be slowly and
completely removed before the operation of B/F. This process is also known as drying.
The B/F drying can be done by any one of the following three techniques:
(1) Supply of hot blast from stove.
(2) Use of wood and coke fire on the hearth.
(3) Use of a oven as an auxillary furnace to generate and supply hot gases.
2. Filling :-
• At the end of drying, it depends upon the method of use for drying, the furnace is cleared off all the
things used for filling.
• Filling of the furnace means filling of hearth with light wood and oil upto the tuyers level and
laying over this old timber.
• Coke is charged above the timber scaffold from the top upto the bosh level. Certain quantity of
limestone charge along with the coke after the initial coke blank is set.
• A small amount of old B/F is slag added with coke after the coke level rises beyond the mantle
level.
• Then the B/F is ready for ignition.
 Reasons
• WHY DRYING IS NEEDED?
• the water absorbed by the refractory brick work is to be driven off as much as possible for
avoiding extreme thermal shock
• if the water from these sources is not removed from the blast furnace before it is put into
operation, it absorbs heat more than that provided for the blow-in charge and hence
prevents the hearth from reaching the desired temperature. In such cases, hot metal and
liquid slag entering the hearth can freeze there and in such case it becomes impossible to
remove them from the blast furnace.
• WHY SLAG IS ADDED DURING FILLING ?
• the slag provide a material that will melt readily and carry heat down into the hearth
3. Lighting and Operation until routine practice is established:-
• After filling the furnace, the dust catcher dump valve is closed.
• The furnace is lighted either by inserting red-hot bars through the tuyers or slag hole and iron
notch. Sometimes gas torch is also used. This kind of natural burning is continued for 24-36
hours.
• Sufficient mount of gas produced from the furnace top, the bells are closed and the dust catcher
dump valve is slowly opened to conduct gases through the gas cleaning system.
• Tap holes are kept open for hot gases to escape out during the early period. Once coke burning
and slag formation starts furnace crew are vigilant in observing the tap holes.
• Sudden decrease in the outcoming gas through the tap hole is taken as an indication of beginning
of slag production in the hearth and the tap hole is immediately closed thereafter. They are again
opened after 3 to 8 hours
• After two days, the ratio of iron ore increase in the burden.
• It takes about a week to establish normal routine process to obtain desired quality of metal and
slag.
BANKING:-
• Sometimes a furnace has to be shutdown for an extended period during campaign for variety
of reasons like labour trouble, shortage of raw materials transport, strike or a breakdown in
B/F.
• During these troubles, the furnace has to be shutdown temporarily and these troubles of B/F
should be adjusted in such a way that less amount of loss is occurred. This temporary shut
down of B/F is known as “Banking”.
• It means reduced combustion rate. This is done by taking some percentage of blast from the
fire and covering the fire with excess coke.
• The amount of blank coke charge depend upon the length of shutdown period.
• The blank coke charge is followed by light charges, 50-60% of the normal burden.
• The longer is the anticipated shutdown, the lighter is the burden.
BLOWING OUT:-
The process of stopping the furnace operation at the end of its campaign is known as
blowingout.
It is accomplished in two ways.
(1) Charging is stopped and stack is allowed to sink until minimum of it remains inside.
As the stack sinks, the blast is reduced and the top of the stack is cooled by water
sprays inserted through the top. The furnace becomes cold in about 2 hours.
(2) In this method blank coke charge is followed by clean silica gravels of +25mm and -
50 mm size is used.
• The stack line temp. decrease by water sprays. The time required for blow-out is
very short, about 6-8 hours.
FANNING:-
• Occasionally during the campaign of a blast furnace situations arise when the full productive
capacity of the furnace is not required for a period of time.
• When this occurs, the problem can be solved by shutting the furnace down or curtailing the
operation of the furnace by reducing the quantity of blast being blown.
• The blast/wind rate is usually reduced until the hot blast pressure at the tuyeres is very low.
• A positive pressure must be kept in the hot-blast system to assure that there is no danger of gas
coming back from the blast furnace into the blower system.
• The technique of reducing the wind volume to less than 20–25% of normal is known as
fanning.
• Fanning has the advantages of keeping the gas system pressurized and furnishing a
small quantity of blast furnace gas for use as fuel, and enables a resumption of near full operation on
relatively short notice.
• This technique is used for emergency situations or short periods only.
• Prolonged use, such as eight hours out of every 24, or on weekends, often results in a hearth
buildup and frequently promotes inwall scab formation.
BACK DRAUGHTING:-
• Occasionally it is necessary to take the furnace off blast for short periods, often less than two
hours, to perform various maintenance functions such as the replacement of tuyeres or repairing
skip cables.
• In such instances, the furnace is not banked but is back draughted/ back drafted. In
this operation, as soon as the wind is stopped, the bustle pipe is put under negative pressure.
• This is done usually by opening the chimney valve and the hot-blast valve to a stove that has already
been prepared by heating it to temperature and then shutting off the gas valve.
• During the operation, the bleeders at the top of the furnace also are opened to pull some of the furnace
gas out through the top.
•
TAPPING:-
• The metal and slag are removed from the B/F periodically. The removal operation is generally known as “Tapping”.
• The time interval between the two taps is also known as tapping time.
• For production of 1 ton of pig iron, the amount of slag production is approximately 300-700 kg.
• The density of slag is one-third of metal and hence the volume of slag is three times the metal of
the same weight. Hence volume wise the slag volume will be nearly twice that of the metal in a
commercial blast furnace.
• It is generally seen that metal is tapped every 4-6 hours but tapping times for slag is 2 hours.
• After tapping metal, they are collected in ladles. Then they are carried to the cast house for
shaping them.
• Hence the ladles and cast house should always be ready for operation.
• If the same molten pig iron is used for casting then the cast house should be nearer to the B/F.
DISPOSAL OF SLAG:-
• When slag was considered as waste product produced to obtain useful molten pig iron.
• It was transported from the B/F to slag dumping yard in slag ladles.
• The slag was tipped on the heaps in molten condition and was allowed to be air cooled.
• This air cooled slag was used to make mineral wood, ceramic ware or used as filler material on Railways.
• B/F slag as a raw material for the manufacturing of Portland cement.
• For this the slag needs to be granulated. B/F slag as it flows out from the furnace through channels in the cast house
is allowed to fall in stirred water held in a steel ladle and where it gets granulated.
• In this form,it is easy to transport it to cement manufacturing sites and finally in cement making kiln.
Metallurgical tests
Or
Room temperature
physical properties
The iron ores were found to have excellent physical properties exemplify with tumbler index (82 wt%–91
wt%), abrasion index (1.27wt%–4.87 wt%) and shatter index (0.87wt%–1.64 wt%).
Reducibility of ferrous material is characterized by their
fractional oxygen removal rates in gaseous reducing atmosphere
Porosity is measured by ARCHIMEDES principle
Physical behaviour of material during reduction at high temperatures
SULPHUR IN HOT METAL
Main source of sulphur-coke (90 %)
Iron ore,(sulphide ) flux (sulphide, sulphate)
Effect of sulphur :disadvantage of sulphur
 Hot shortness:Sulphur affects both internal and surface quality of steel
 Sulphur contributes to brittleness

 It forms undesirable sulphides which promotes granular weakness and cracks in steel
during solidification.
 It has adverse effect on the mechanical properties.
 It lowers the melting point and intergranular strength of steel.

Advantage of sulphur :
Free cutting steel Machanability
ESULPHURIZATION OF HOT METAL
lphur reaction :
[FeS] + (CaO)= (CaS) + (FeO)
K= a (CaS). a (FeO) / a[FeS].a(CaO)
(% CaS)/(%FeS)
or assuming Henarian behavior we can write proportional(%CaO)/(
FeO)

K= %(CaS). (%FeO) /[%FeS]. (%CaO)

DESULPHURISATION INDEX
(%S) (%CaO)
𝛼𝛼
[%S] (%FeO)
The ratio (%S) / [%S] is referred as the desulphurizing index and which varies with
sicity and the oxygen potential

[]-metal
()-slag
{}-gas
• Desulphurisation of metal can be controlled by adding reagents (via injection
or mixing), such as lime, calcium carbide and magnesium.
• Lime reacts with dissolved sulphur via the following reaction:
CaO(s) + [S]Fe CaS(s) + [O]Fe
• reaction between CaO and [S] is favoured at higher temperatures.
Calcium carbide
• When CaC2 is used in steel desulphurisation, then the reaction of
sulphur with calcium carbide
• CaC2(s) + [S]Fe CaS(s) + 2C(s)
the reaction is favoured at lower temperatures.
Magnesium is only used for HMD. It has a boiling point of 1105°C, and hence in contact
with HM (1250–1450°C) it will vaporise. Magnesium gas dissolves into liquid iron, after
which it can react with the dissolved sulphur .The magnesium gas can also react directly
with the dissolved sulphur at the bubble/metal interface,.
[Mg]Fe + [S]Fe MgS(s)
Resulphurisation
A disadvantage of desulphurisation with magnesium is the so called resulphurisation, the
net sulphur transfer from the slag back to the metal. The MgS in the slag reacts with
oxygen from the air, or from other sources, forming MgO and unbounded sulphur (reaction
• Desulphurisation by CaO or CaC2 is in reality controlled by kinetics
rather than thermodynamics
• When CaO reacts with sulphur, CaS is formed
• This CaS forms a layer around the CaO particle, through which other
dissolved S atoms need to permeate before they can react with CaO.

• During the process of desulphurization, lime particles are continuously

being covered by two precipitates namely calcium sulphide (CaS) and
calcium silicate (CaSiO4). These compounds impede the desulphurizing
reaction by surrounding the lime and forming thick barriers at the lime –
hot metal interface. In order to reduce this growth, the grain size of the
lime is to be restricted to 45 micrometer maximum.
CONDITION FOR SULPHUR REMOVAL
 Temperature- high
 Basicity-high
 Atmosphere-reducing
 Oxidising potential of slag- low
 The presence of Mn in the melt help in removal of the sulphur .
 So generally we are adding Mn ore or Mn bearing slag during iron making in the blast furnace
burden to ensure adequate Mn in the metal phase.
Blast furnace profile
According to the internal state of the feed materials, various other zones could be denoted in the blast furnace:
1. Primary reduction zone: the upper part of shaft, where higher valency iron oxides (hematite and magnetite) are reduced (Fe2
O3 , Fe3 O4 ). 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 1000–1200 °C . In this
zone, reduction of wustite (FeO) to metallic iron takes place.
3. Cohesive zone: extends from above bosh near the wall up to middle part of stack in the centre of the blast furnace. In the
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 the final reduction to metallic iron completes, melts of
slag and hot metal form and drip though the coke layer.
5. Dead-man: a porous packed-bed of unreacted coke particles sitting or floating in the hearth. C arburization of hot metal take
place within the dead-man.
Different Regions within a
Blast Furnace
The different regions within a blast furnace are illustrated
TALL SHAFT B/F VS LOW SHART FURNACE

• Advantage of tall shaft b/f is that it has extremely high thermal efficiency this is because
processing(depends upon reducing power and temp of gaseous generating at tyueres ) ,
preheating and reduction takes place before it descend into the melting zone.
• And one of reason of using tall b/f is that the gas produced at tyueres is 60 % N2 and
nitrogen is inert which helps only in heat transfer.
• How to increasing the thermal efficiency and reduction in low shaft furnace ?
• If the heating and smelting zones in the furnace are compressed by accelerating the heat
exchange and chemical reaction that means more sharper thermal efficiency and
reducing potential gradient are obtained.
• For this we are using oxygen enriched blast which produces higher temperature and
furnace gas containing lower nitrogen content and higher reducing potential .
consequently the necessary heat transfer and reduction would be achieved over a shorter
shaft.
LOW SHAFT FURNCE
• It can run on two types of charge , one is consists of lumps of individual charge
materials.
• Other consists of briquettes made from suitable mixture of fines or ore, stone and lignite
with tar as binder . advantages of using briquette is that it assures uniform distribution of
charge but guarantees sufficient permeability for efficient heating and reduction.
• In this furnace little reduction occurs in the upper part but rapid reduction occurs a short
distance above the tuyers.
• The reduction of ore takes place predominantly directly by carbon rather than by gas
because of short shaft . the off gas contain large amount of heat (high temperature) and
concentration of CO is high also that is (CO/CO2 = 6)

CONSTRUCTION OF LOW SHAFT FURNACE:

 Height more that 5 m
 Circular and rectangular cross section furnace are used
 Hearth is 8- 10 m2 in area
 Avg consumption of lignite is 2000 kg/t of iron
 No coke oven plant and sintering plant is necessary which save capital
ADVANTAGES OF LOW SHAFT FURNACE
1- Use of fines , low grade friable type of ores in the charge
2- Use Low grade fuels like lignite or that in non metallurgical coal.
3- Top gas is rich in fuel which can be used anywhere in plant
4- Costly high capacity turbo blowers are not necessary for blowing of hot blast as blast
pressure required here is low .
5- Costly stoves are not necessary since preheating of blast is done in recuperators.
6- Si content is low
7- Production rate is around 2.5 t/m 3 of usefull volume of the furnace which is more than
that of blast furnace
8- Control of smelting operation is easy

Disadvantage :
• Briquetting of charge mix may be necessary for efficient production which adds to the
cost of raw materials
• The daily production of individual unit is low of 100-200tpd and hence battery of furnace
are required to be obtained even a sizeable production rate.
 Why Alternative routes of iron making???
The production of iron is only intermediate inevitable step in the ultimate production of steel
from natural source like iron ore.
The place where coking coal is not available but other gaseous (natural gas) or solid fuels like
non-coking coals are readily and abundantly available an alternative method of iron production
using other fuel is feasible.
Traditionally, blast furnace hot metal and recycled steel scrap have been the main source of
iron. However, blast furnace hot metal production has decreased over the years owing to
problems associated with the availability of high grade metallurgical coke. With increased
efficiencies of steel making as well as with the advent of continuous casting, scrap generation
has also decreased.
All these factors have contributed towards the development of alternative technologies to
produce iron units.
Alternative routes of iron making

• Electrothermal process
• Sponge iron production
• Smelting reduction
Electro-thermal process

Electric arc furnace

Corex

Rotary kiln Midrex , HyL

Electrothermal processes
• Electrothermal production of pig iron is carried out commercially in a three electrode
submerged arc furnaces of the fixed or the nontilting type.
• The plant consists of the following:
• 1. The furnaces proper along with the power transformer, secondary busbars, flexible cables,
electrodes, electrode holders and their contacts, shell rotation mechanism.
• The charge storage bins, charge weighing, mixing, charging,
• Furnace gas disposal system.
• Cast house liquid product disposal system.
• Raw material preparation plant
• Furnace operation control.
 Sponge iron production(DRI)
Today processes are available to produce solid iron (Fe) in the form of sponge iron (also
referred to as Direct Reduced Iron or DRI) as well as to produce hot metal without high-grade
coke i.e. via Smelting Reduction (SR).
Direct-reduced iron (DRI), also called sponge iron, is produced from direct reduction of iron
ore (in the form of lumps, pellets or fines) by a reducing gas produced from natural gas or coal.
The reducing gas is a mixture, the majority of which is hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide
(CO) which act as reducing agents. This process of reducing the iron ore in solid form by
reducing gases is called direct reduction. DR processes convert iron ore (fines, pellets, sinter,
etc.) into sponge iron at temperatures well below the melting point of iron. These processes
distinctly differ from the conventional blast furnace process in two major respects: solid
metalized product is produced, rather than molten iron; and a wide variety of reductants may
be used in place of metallurgical-grade coke.
The conventional route for making steel consists of sintering or pelletization plants, coke
ovens, blast furnaces, and basic oxygen furnaces. Such plants require high capital expenses and
raw materials of stringent specifications. Coking coal is needed to make a coke strong enough
to support the burden in the blast furnace. Integrated steel plants of less than one million tons
annual capacity are generally not economically viable. The coke ovens and sintering plants in
an integrated steel plant are polluting and expensive units.
Direct reduction, an alternative route of iron making, has been developed to overcome some of
these difficulties of conventional blast furnaces. DRI is successfully manufactured in various
parts of the world through either natural gas or coal-based technology. Iron ore is reduced in
solid state at 800 to 1,050 °C (1,470 to 1,920 °F) either by reducing gas (H2+CO) or coal. The
specific investment and operating costs of direct reduction plants are low compared to
integrated steel plants and are more suitable for many developing countries where supplies of
coking coal are limited.
• In this process, the ore is converted into metallized ore, by removing the
oxygen from the iron oxide lattice to leave metallic iron.
• The iron left after the removal of oxygen has a honeycomb like construction
and hence the name sponge iron. Originally, when direct reduction of iron or
DRI plants were envisaged, the idea was to replace coke whose availability
and cost became highly uncertain and prohibitive.
• The original process of DRI replacing coke and using coal was used as a
precursor of a new regime of making iron and steel.
 • The direct reduction process is energy efficient, but most competitive with the Blast
Furnace (BF) when it can be integrated with Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) to take
advantage of the latent heat produced by the DRI.
Typical Chemistry of DRI:
Fe Total 90-94%
Fe Metallic 83-90%
Metallization 92-96%
C 1.0-2.5%
P2O5* 0.005-0.9%
S* 0.001-0.03%
Gangue* 2.8-6%
• Gangue is the term for the oxide minerals (i.e. CaO, Al2O3, SiO2, MgO) that remain in the
DRI and are removed in the steel slag.
• The amount of metallic iron produced from a given quantity of ore is termed as the degree of
metallization and is defined by the ratio of the amount of the metallic iron produced to that of
total iron in the ore.
What is carbon boil?
Carbon boil is a part of process for refining pig iron to steel on
Open Hearth Furnace. Large quantities of iron oxide is added to
the molten pig iron and the oxygen from the iron ore reacts
with carbon to produce large quantities of carbon dioxide
which comes out of the iron as bubbles creating a boiling kind
of action.
Disadvantages
• Final product is solid and requires melting.
• Low productivity in terms of unit volume.
• Low carbon content which may create difficulties in subsequent steel making
• Directly reduced iron is highly susceptible to oxidation and rusting if left
unprotected, and is normally quickly processed further to steel.
• Very low productivity of individual unit as compared to B/f.
• Transportation problem of DRI as it prone to reoxidation
• Electric power is needed for melt and make steel .
USE OF SPONGE IRON
• Since it does not contain any residual elements or tramp elements it is used to
• produces better quality of steel with desire specification in electric arc furnace.
• To improve the productivity it can be used as burden material in b/f (upto50% sponge iron)
• Sponge iron used in LD and open heart for making steel.
• Electric arc furnace
• In basic oxygen furnace as a coolant during the blow
• Induction furnace ,as a feedstock

Degree of Metallization:
The percentage of iron as part of the whole iron, existing as metallic iron is called degree of
metallization.
Percentage Reduction:
The percentage oxygen, associated with iron as oxides, removed from the ore particle is often referred to
as percentage reduction.
Direct reduction processes available can be broadly grouped under two categories based on the
type of reductant used. These are:
• Coal based processes
• Gas based processes
Coal Based Processes
• Rotary kiln based processes
SL/RN, CODIR, ACCAR, DRC, TDR, OSIL, Jindal
• Shaft furnace based processes
Kinglor METOR
• Rotary hearth furnace based processes
INMETCO, FASTMET, COMET.
From amongst various solid based processes, only a few have attained commercial significance.
Most of the processes such as SL/RN, KRUPP-CODIR, DRC, TDR, SIIL, JINDAL, OSIL,
whereas Kinglor Metor process utilises an externally heated vertical retort.
Gas Based Processes
• Retort processes
HyL-1,Hoganas
• Shaft furnace processes
Midrex,HyL-III, plasmared, Armco, purofer.
• Fluidized bed processes
Finmet
Today gas based DR plants subscribe to more than 90% of installed DR capacity in the world, of
which MIDREX and HYL together have about 85 % of the total capacity to their credit. In the gas
based processes, the reduction of iron oxide is carried out by a mixture of CO & H2 at a temperature
of about 750-950°C. The reducing gas is produced by reformation of natural gas. The reformation is
partial oxidation of hydro-carbons. To enhance the reformation process, normally a catalyst is used.

Coal based processes Gas based processes

Uses Non-metallurgical coal Uses reformed natural gas

Poor reduction kinetics Good reduction kinetics

C%=0.15 to 0.2 C%= Upto 2.5

Coal based process
Coal based process
• A long kiln, 70-80 m in length and few meters in dia. Slightly inclined to the horizontal
and rotating slowly around its own axis is employed as a reactor.
• The charge is fed from the end which is at a higher level.
• The charge travels under the gravity aided by the rotation motion, through several
heating zones and the reduction iron oxide product comes out of the other end of the
kiln. The throughput rate of the solid iron oxide, its reducibility, its size, guange
contents, the rotation of the kiln and other related factors are adjusted such that the
oxide is reduced to the extent of 93-95% by the time it travels the whole length of the
kiln. The reduction is slow and continuous and takes place over the length of the kiln.
In this process the iron oxide gets heated to a maximum of 1050 degree centigrade.
The temperature profile in the kiln over its entire length is adjusted and controlled
using secondary blowers at appropriate places.
• The product comes out of the kiln at high temperature and being non equilibrium
material is very prone to reoxidation. It is therefore cooled in rotary coolers to almost
room temperature before its comes in contact with atmospheric oxygen.
• The most critical factor to be controlled in this process is the burning of coal and its conversion to
CO. this is achieved by controlling the total air blown in the kiln and its division at various places
of blowing. Primary air is supplied through the discharge end and the secondary pipes at various
points across the whole length while the kiln s rotating. The charge gets preheated over about
30% of its length from the charge-end .i.e by that time it attends nearly 800C. Coal is burned after
this zone.
• In general all the coal is introduced at the charge-end but under certain situation a part is
introduced with the charge and the remainder at appropriate place where temperature is above
800ºC.
The 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 reducing gas is produced from a mixture of natural gas (usually methane) and recycled gas from the reduction furnace.
The mixture flows through catalyst tubes where it is chemically converted into a gas containing hydrogen and carbon
monoxide. The desired reducing-gas temperature is typically in the range of 900 °C . The gas ascends through the material
column in the counter-current direction and removes oxygen from the iron carriers. The product, direct-reduced iron (DRI),
typically has a 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 hot-briquetted iron (HBI) for
safe storage and transportation. DRI or HBI are virgin iron sources free from tramp elements and are increasingly being used
in electric arc furnaces to dilute the contaminants present in the scrap.

The first commercial-scale MIDREX Direct Reduction plant began operation in 1969 at Oregon Steel Mills in Portland,
Oregon. There are now over 60 MIDREX® Modules operating, under construction, or under contract in 20 countries.
The scale of MIDREX plants continues to grow and today MIDREX has built the largest single module DR Plant in the world
at Hadeed in Saudi Arabia, with a rated capacity of 1.76 million tons per year.
Smelting Reduction Practice
• The charge consists of ore, coke, and limestone. Higher basicity upto 1.7-1.8 can also be
employed depending upon the Sulphur load in the charge.
• The use of self fluxing sinter has been very encouraging. It decreased power consumption by
10-15%. Preheating the charge by using furnace gases has also proved to be beneficial in
reducing the power consumption upto 25%.
• The furnace gases contains:
 CO- 72-75%
 CO2- 13-15%
 H2-7-10%
 N2-1-3%
 Hydrocarbons 2-3%
• The electric power consumption is generally 2200-2500 KWH/t for basic iron.
• Slag composition:
 CaO- 40-45%
 SiO2-25-30%
 MgO-2-10%
 Al2O3-5-25%
 Alternative Technologies: Smelting Reduction & COREX
• 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, AISI-DOE/C C F and ROMELT.

• The Corex process is a two stage process, as is shown in figure below. 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 (C O and H2 ) used in the reduction shaft is supplied by gasification of coal by
means of oxygen, forming a fixed or fluidised 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. The process is designed to perform at
elevated pressure, up to 5 bar. Charging of coal and iron ore is performed through a lock hopper
system.
• The reducing gas contains 65-70 % C O, 20-25 % H2 and 2-4 % C O2 . After leaving the melter
gasifier, the hot gas is mixed with cooling gas to adjust the temperature to approximately 850 °C .
• The gas is then cleaned in hot cyclones and fed into the shaft furnace as a reducing gas. When the gas
leaves the shaft furnace, it still has a relatively high calorific value and may be used as an export gas
where the opportunity exists.
• The COREX process was developed in the late 1970s at Alpine Industrieanlagenbau (VAI, now
Siemens-VAI)), and its feasibility was confirmed during the 1980s. Following the first industrial
application of a Corex C -1000 plant (nominal production of 1,000 THM/day) at Iscor Pretoria, South
Africa, four C -2000 plants (nominal production of 2,000 THM/day) were subsequently put into
operation at Posco/Korea,
FERRO ALLOY
• Ferro vanadium, ferro chrome silicon, titanium, manganese, tungsten , molybdenum,
• Main function of ferroalloy is facilitate the addition of alloying elements to molten steel.
• Ferroalloys ensure that the loss of the alloying elements due to oxidation is kept low
because they have fusion points lower than those of alloying elements and can, there fore
dissolve rapidly in steel or iron.
• Other function is deoxidation of steel : It is used to help in eliminating oxygen and other
dissolved gases.
• these alloying elements form stable oxide which do not dissolve in steel and ferroalloy of
titanium and zirconium forms stable nitrides and eliminates nitrogen from steel.
• Ferro alloys of silicon and nickel control the graphite morphology is cast irons, which
improves the mechanical
Fe-Mn
• It is a master alloy of iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) with a minimum Mn content
of 65 %, and maximum Mn content of 95 %.
• It is produced by heating a mixture of the oxides of Mn (MnO2) and iron (Fe2O3)
with carbon (C) normally as coke or coal.
• Ferro-alloys are usually produced by the reduction of a metallic ore (generally
oxide) by carbon with the addition of electric energy in a "Submerged Arc
Furnace" (smelting process);
• High carbon ferro-manganese is produced by the reduction of manganese ore by
carbon, in electric submerged-arc furnaces or in blast furnaces.
• USE-Ferro-manganese (Fe-Mn) is an important additive used as a deoxidizer in
the production of steel.
• Fe-Cr
• Ferrochrome, or ferrochromium (FeCr) is a type of ferroalloy, that is, an alloy
of chromium and iron, generally containing 50 to 70% chromium by weight
• Ferrochrome production is essentially a carbothermic reduction operation taking place
at high temperatures. Chromite (an oxide of Cr and Fe) is reduced by coal and coke to
form the iron-chromium alloy.
• The heat for this reaction can come from several forms, but typically from the electric
arc formed between the tips of electrodes in the bottom of the furnace and the furnace
hearth. This arc creates temperatures of about 2,800 °C (5,070 °F). In the process of
smelting, huge amounts of electricity are consumed, making production very
expensive in countries where power costs are high.
• Use-ferrochrome produced worldwide is used in manufacturing stainless steel.
References
https://www.slideshare.net/guddu_92/iron-making
https://www.slideshare.net/nirjhar_jgec/raw-material-in-iron-making
https://www.slideshare.net/SukeshKumar18/ppt-on-coke-preparation
https://www.steel.org/~/media/Files/%20AISI/Making%20Steel/coke_prod_blast_furnace_ironmaking.pdf?la=en
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUchJZzLR0w

Book Reference
Introduction to Modern Iron Making by V.R. Tupkary, R.H. Tupkary
Principle of blast furnace iron making by A.K. Biswas
Metallurgical Thermodynamics Kinetics and Numericals by Dr S. K. Dutta and Prof. A. B. Lele
Introduction:
In recent years many advances have been made in blast furnace design and practice to
(i) Reduce coke consumption
(ii) Increase productivity
The various improvements made in the furnace design are:
(i) large capacity blast furnace
(ii) better prepared burden
(iii) high top pressure
(iv) efficient burden distributor
(v) better coke quality
(vi) auxiliary fuel injection through tuyeres
(vii) humidification of blast
(viii) oxygen enrichment of blast
(ix) higher blast temperature through better stoves
(x) lime dust injection through tuyeres
BELL LESS TOP CHARGING:
In this design large bell is replaced by a distributor
chute with no sealing function. A rotating chute is
provided inside the furnace top cone. All the materials are
charged via, holding hopper, with seals at its top and
bottom which are charged and discharged alternately.
The advantages of this design are:
(i) Greater charge distribution flexibility
(ii) Easy access to any part of the system
(iii) Less maintenance cost
(iv) Total overall height can be much less
(v) Less investment for top construction
(vi) More operational safety and easy control over varying charging
parts
BURDEN PREPARATION
1-Iron ore fines agglomerated by sintering and pelletisation.
2-incorportion of flux in the sinter (fluxed and super fluxed sinter)
3-incorportion of MgO in the form of dolomite in the sinter to offset the ill effect of high
alumina under Indian condition.
4-Increased in the strength of pellets with lower fuel consumption. By using low sulphur
portland cement , slaked lime etc. as binders to develop the strength.
The carbonate bonding (C-B) process, the hydrothermal and the (COBO) process are the
typical example of this category.
In C-B process slaked lime is used as binder during balling and the pellets are hardened in
carbon dioxide atmosphere . The calcium carbonate thus formed developed the strength. In
COBO process hardening is carried out at 200 degree centigrade. In an autoclave under
15kg/cm2 pressure of co2 to expedite the process.
AUXILIARY FUEL INJECTION:
• Because of the increasing cost and rising scarcity of coke, it should be replaced by other cheap and readily available fuels
without affecting the furnace efficiency.
• Solid fuels coal, either pulverized or in the form of slurry, liquid fuels either light oil, naptha, or heavy oil, or gaseous fuel like
natural gas or coke oven could be readily injected in the tuyeres. The choice of type of fuel to be injected depends on its
availability, economics of its use and feasibility of injection.
• Pneumatic transport and injection of oils and natural gas is relatively easier than pulverized coal.
• Due to ease of use, oil, followed by natural gas, were the popular injectants in the sixties and seventies. With the oil crises,
many companies stopped injecting oil into the Blast Furnaces and turned to alternative sources of fuel. Coal preparation and
pneumatic conveying had become proven technologies by that time and this encouraged iron maker to consider coal as a
suitable injectant.
• Most iron makers inject coal into their Blast Furnaces at present, the vast majority since 1980, due to its relatively low cost and
beneficial effects on the Blast Furnace process. Replacing the use of coke with alternatives has the following additional
benefits:
• Coke purchased from external sources could be minimized or eliminated altogether for plants with a coke shortage. The cost of
building a new coke plant is about three times more than that for a PCI plant, for example. Even a rebuild of an existing coke
plant can be twice as expensive when compared to the cost of a new PCI plant
• The useful lifespan of existing coke batteries could be prolonged by running the batteries at reduced throughput, thereby
obviating the need for costly rebuilds
• Old, environmentally unsound coke plants could be shut down
• Reducing the output of an existing coke battery could improve the quality of the coke produced by using the extra process room
created due to the lower production rates
However, as coke provides physical support and gas permeability in the BF, its complete substitutions is
not possible. The amount of coal that can be injected will depend on the coal and coke quality, furnace
geometry, and operational practices.
The fuel injection has resulted in 6-10% saving in coke and increase in productivity by about 0.5-2.0%.
These injections affect the following furnace parameters:
(i) Flame temperature
(ii) Bosh gas composition and volume
(iii) Top gas temperature and CO/CO2 ration and hence efficiency
(iv) Operational efficiency
(v) Slag volume and its basicity
(vi) Overall production efficiency
Within the boundaries posed by process parameters such as flame temperature and pressure
differential over the burden, tuyere injectants also benefit the Blast Furnace process enormously. The
cooling effect of the injectants in the raceway enables the use of higher hot blast temperatures and lower
moisture additions, thereby reducing the total fuel consumption. The same cooling effect also permits the
use of a higher concentration of oxygen in the hot blast, thus reducing the raceway gas volume.
Pulverized coal injection technology has the potential to spur innovations to blast furnaces: recycled materials, such
as waste plastics and biomass, as well as recycled ores can be injected with pulverized coal into the furnaces via
tuyeres. Thus, the technology is expected to be developed as core blast furnace technology, addressing resource,
energy, and carbon dioxide issues.
Formed Coke:
Another important fuel to substitute conventional coke is the recently developed formed coke.
Several processes have been developed the world over to produce moulded fuel from non coking lower rank coals.
These are designated as formed coke. Following advantages are obtained from using formed coke :
(i) Cheaper non coking coals are used to make the formed coke.
(ii) Lower capital and running manufacturing cost.
(iii)Consistent quality of product.
(iv)Continuous operation of the plants.
Ferro Coke:
A carbonized lump produced form a mixture of iron bearing fines and non metallurgical coal is known as ferro-coke.
It is produced by carbonizing the mixture much in the same way as that for conventional coke making.
Following are the advantages claimed :
(i) Non metallurgical coal is used indirectly as a fuel in the blast furnace.
(ii) Total fuel requirement in the furnace is reduced
(iii) Reduced coke consumption
(iv) Increased productivity.
HIGH BLAST TEMPERATURE AND DRIVING RATE
Thermal efficiency of the b/f can be increased by increasing the hot blast rate and increasing the
temperature of the hot blast.
chance in hot blast temperature 600(fiftees)—900(sixtees)—1200—1300(now a days) degree
centigrade.
So to increase the hot blast temperature demand in increase in the design of the stoves to store more heat
energy at high temperature. This is done by design of the checker shapes and materials ,
Various chances or modification of hot blast stove are

1-combustion chamber is located out side the stove so that entire stove volume is available to build
checker and thereby store more energy.
2-Combustion chamber is located in the dome itself by altering the dome shape to hold the burner.
(stove efficiency reaches upto 90 %)
A recuperator system on the stoves has been used to preheat the gas and combustion air to generate
higher temp while side by side improving its efficiency . The stove waste gaseous are used to preheat
the gas and combustion air to almost 45o degree.
Due to high temp of hot blast it reduces the fuel consumption in the furnace.
A higher hot blast temp is often used in conjunction with humidified blast so that flame temp in the
combustion zone of the blast furnace is still within proper limits .
HIGH BLAST TEMPERATURE AND DRIVING RATE
Thermal efficiency of the b/f can be increased by increasing the hot blast rate and increasing the
temperature of the hot blast.
chance in hot blast temperature 600(fiftees)—900(sixtees)—1200—1300(now a days) degree
centigrade.
So to increase the hot blast temperature demand in increase in the design of the stoves to store more heat
energy at high temperature. This is done by design of the checker shapes and materials ,
Various chances or modification of hot blast stove are

1-combustion chamber is located out side the stove so that entire stove volume is available to build
checker and thereby store more energy.
2-Combustion chamber is located in the dome itself by altering the dome shape to hold the burner.
(stove efficiency reaches upto 90 %)
A recuperator system on the stoves has been used to preheat the gas and combustion air to generate
higher temp while side by side improving its efficiency . The stove waste gaseous are used to preheat
the gas and combustion air to almost 45o degree.
Due to high temp of hot blast it reduces the fuel consumption in the furnace.
A higher hot blast temp is often used in conjunction with humidified blast so that flame temp in the
combustion zone of the blast furnace is still within proper limits .
OXYGEN ENRICHMENT AND HUMIDIFICATION OF BLAST
• In blast (air) presence of about 79% Nitrogen by volume restricts the temperature generated
in the combustion zone as Nitrogen only acts as heat carrier. This temperature can be
increased by decreasing Nitrogen content i.e increasing the Oxygen content in the blast
which is called Oxygen enrichment of blast.
• Oxygen enrichment upto 25 % in the blast is found to be advantageous . It has been show
that only 2 % increase in oxygen reduces the nitrogen burden by about 4 unit per unit
weight of coke and higher temperature would be possible.
 For every percentage increases in oxygen content , increases in production rate of about 3-
4 % with marginal shaving of coke. Main reason of shaving of coke is due to cracking of
moisture giving rise to hydrogen which acts as a reducing gas up in stack.
Advantages
1. Increases f/c temperature in turn decreases coke rate
2. Less amount of flue gas so reduces the loss of sensible heat
3. Increases productivity about 3-4% with 1% increase in oxygen.
4. Blast produces double the volume of reducing gases per mole of carbon burnt.
Disadvantages
1. Higher temperature leads to higher Silicon content in pig iron, only beneficial for foundry
iron.
At high temperatures SiO2 + C → SiO + CO reaction occurs and the SiO is in gaseous state
which is again reduced to metallic Si and joins the hot metal.
2. Higher enrichment may cause
3. sticking of and increasing Si content in hot metal refractory
4.failure and tuyere burning
Addition of steam is the corrective addition because of its endothermic reaction with carbon:
H2O+ C→CO+H2
Generally oxygen enrichment and humidification(endothermic reaction) is done simultaneously .
Disadvantages : there is a limitation of excess temp
in tuyer region but if temp exceed the
1- bridging occurs
2-sticking of stocks
3- higher silicon content in pig iron
HUMIDIFICATION OF BLAST
By incorporating moisture through tuyers we can generate double the volume of reducing
gas per mole of carbon burnt.
For every carbon burnt one mole of CO and an addition mole of hydrogen will be
availableas product of burning of coke for reduction in bosh and stack.
The more the moisture more will be the additional hydrogen available.
Kinetically H2 reduction of iron oxide is faster that By CO because of its smaller size.
Fe2O3 + H2---- exothermic reaction
H2O+ C------ CO+ H2
this reaction is endothermic in nature . so furnace temperature decrease so to compensate
this temperature the blast temperature is increased or adding oxygen inrichment is done.
moisture is introduced in form of water because if steam is introduced the cost increases as
it required fuel to heat the water into steam.
HIGH TOP PRESSURE
• Aim to increase the gaseous reduction .
• Here by throttling back discharge gas the static
pressure inside the furnace is increased. Throttling
device is located after the second stage of cleaning
after scrubbers. here a septum valve is provided just
after the wet scrubber and part of the semi cleaned gas
is by passed to the big bell hopper to obtain zero
pressure differential across the big bell. Major
problem face in case of high pressure is noise level
emitted at the septum valve control area.
• Result of high top pressure of 0.7-0.85 kg/cm2 gauge
top pressure
A-increase the production rate by 11%, and
b-shaving of coke is 35kg/t of pig iron and
c-marked decreases in flue dust loss .
• Limit of the effective top pressure is about 3kg/cm2
gauge for obtaining increased production rate and
decreased coke rate.
Benefits of HTP
1- increased production rate : due to increase in the contact time between ore and reducing
gases due to increase in the residence time of the gas in the stack portion , and due to high
pressure the rate of reduction of ore increases.
2- reduction in fuel consumption that is coke consumption rate .
3- more uniform operation with lower and more consistent hot metal silicon content . It is due
to the flexibility of operation .
4- furnace campaign life increases sue to increase in the lining life sue to smoother operation.
5- decreases in the dust loss(leads to reduction in load on gas cleaning system) and channeling.
6-boudouard equilibrium moves to left side due to which coke consumption decreases.
Boudouard equilibrium CO2+C↔2CO shifts to left leading to coke saving.
7-SiO2+C→SiO+ CO at bosh level is hindered results in decreased further reduction of SiO
gas and less Si in hot metal.
8-HTP also minimizes channeling (a blast furnace irregularity) and dust loss out going through
B/F gas.
Difficulties in adoption in existing furnaces
• In bell less charging systems it is easier to maintain High Top Pressure, but in case of existing
furnaces with two bell charging systems a differential pressure is created across the big bell.
• As the B/F inside pressure is higher than the pressure of the big bell hopper the bell is difficult to be
lowered down.
• So pressurizing the big bell hopper is needed for charging the furnace. Again depressurizing the big
bell hopper becomes necessary to lower the small bell.
• Therefore an additional system of pressurizing and depressurizing the big bell hopper is required in
an old furnace which is capable of withstanding the high top pressure for feasible adoption of the
technology.
• Generally a part of the semi cleaned blast furnace gas after scrubber is by passed through a septum
valve to the big bell hopper to increase the inside pressure. Further sealing of these bell charging
systems becomes critical during adoption of HTP.