IRON MAKING TECHNOLOGIES O OF THE FUTURE U U

Iron Making Today

Primarily based on counter current principles. Needs p epa ed burden (sinter, pellets, co e) dd t o a processes prepared bu de (s te , pe ets, coke) Additional p ocesses and energy consumption Needs substantial quantities of coking coal q g Involves air and thus nitrogen not amenable to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) The best BFs in the world operate only 5% from the thermodynamic limits. So further reduction in energy consumption limited. Requires a lot of land.
2

Direction
Alternative Hot Metal production technologies which do not need coking coal and can use iron ore fines/microfines (no need for Coke plants, pelletisation or sinter plants).

Move towards technologies which inherently need less space and emit less CO2 and amenable to CCS.

No Coke Options
Direct Reduction (Solid state reduction; Product DRI/HBI/Iron Nuggets) gg ) Natural Gas Based Coal Based S l i R d i (SR) P Smelting Reduction Processes (R d i & M l i (Reduction Melting; Product Liquid Iron) Single Stage (Melting & reduction in one vessel) Two Stage (Reduction in one vessel, melting in 2nd vessel) SR processes more relevant for BOF based Integrated Steel Plants as they can produce hot metal DR processes for EAF metal. based steel plants or as scrap substitute.

Current Status

ROMELT

ROMELT
Developed by Moscow Institute of Steel & Alloys (MISA) in the mid eighties. Demonstration plant at Novolipetsk. The waste heat utilization and power generation system were not a part of the demo plant Oxygen consumption (~ 900 Nm3/thm) and coal consumption (~1400kg/thm) high compared to other SR processes Fairly high degree of post combustion. Offgas calorific value of around 800 Kcal/Nm3. Was on the verge of commercialization at NMDCs Chattisgarh Plant g g (1000 tpd, ~300,000 tpa) No commercial plants operating anywhere in the world. One 25 tph ( 200,000 tpa) plant reportedly likely to be (~200,000 constructed in Myanmar..

ROMELT

1.Agitated slag 2.Siphon for hot metal tapping 3.Siphon for slag 4.Hearth with refractory lining 5.Orifice 6.Feed tunnel

7. Waste gas pipe 8. Tuyeres 9. Post combustion tuyeres 10. Slag 11. Hot Metal 12. Water cooling panels

TECNORED

TECNORED
Being developed by TecnoLogos, Brazil in association with g p y g , Danieli. 2t/h demonstration plant under operation Uses cold bonded self reducing pellets/briquettes (mix of iron ore fines & carbon bearing residues) and lump coal. Hot metal quality close to BF hot metal Reportedly needs no oxygen. Uses a mix of hot and cold blast. First Industrial plant of 250 tpd under construction. p p Scheduled commissioning in August 2008. as per latest reports, further delays.

TECNORED

AusIron

AusIron
Process developed b A P d l d by Ausmelt, A t li lt Australia Based on commercially successful top submerged lance technology applied commercially in nonferrous industry 20 installations for gold, lead, tin, i l d ti zinc, copper etc. Th pilot plants f nonferrous f t The il t l t for f furnaces were successfully upscaled by 200 times for commercial applications Demonstration plant for iron making of 15,000 tpa constructed in 2000 in Whyalia, S th A t li Wh li South Australia. Single stage process not requiring any preheating/prereduction High degree of post combustion. Submerged lances leading to high thermal efficiency. Uses iron ore and coal fines Hot metal low in P Completed a feasibility study for a client in Mongolia in association with a Chinese Co. So far no commercial installations

AusIron

15,000 tpa Demonstration Plant

COREX

COREX PROCESS FLOW

DRI

COREX
Developed b Siemens VAI. Commercially most l d by ll successful SR technology. Pl t operating i S th Af i (Mitt l S ld h ) Plants ti in South Africa (MittalSaldanha), India (JSW), Korea (POSCO) Recent addition in China (Bao Steel C3000 module capacity 1.5 Mtpa) C 3000 module, 15 Total fuel rate of around 950 kg/thm out of which coke is 200220 kg/thm. All the non coking coal is imported. p

COREX (contd..)
Typical H.M chemistry C~4.0%, Si 0.50.9%, S0.025 l h % % 0.07%, P0.130.19%, Temp. 14801515 oC Chemistry & Temp. roughly those obtained in BFs.

Limitations:
Cant use fines directly Can t Needs coke (~20%) The degree of postcombustion in the smeltergasifier post combustion smelter gasifier (SG) is low. Proper balance is to be struck between heat requirement in the SG vessel for melting and the CO+H2 content in the gas f the reduction shaft. h for h d h f

COREX (contd..)
U l Unless the net export gas f h from the plant can b utilised h l be ili d very economically (1650 Nm3/thm; calorific value 1800 Kcal/Nm3) the process becomes unviable. For this reason probably Baosteel has opted for a combined cycle power plant along with the COREX unit.

COREX3000 at Bao Steel, China Nominal Capacity 1.5 Mtpa

FINEX

FINEX
The process developed to overcome the shortcomings of COREX i.e. to utilise fines generated in the COREX process (8mm fine ore and 6 mm coal fines) as well as the export gas. Fine ore is pre heated and reduced to DRI in a four preheated stage fluidised bed system that precedes the COREX like meltergasifier. g Reactors R4 & R3 primarily for ore preheating. R2 fine ore reduced to a degree of 30%. In R1 final reduction to 90% d i 90%. Operational pressure in R1 to R4 is 45 bar.

FINEX (contd..)
Discharge from R1 is in the form of fines and are compacted before charging in meltergasifier. p g g g Commercial plant of 1.5 Mtpa started in POSCO in May07. Already achieved rated capacity y y p y H.M quality similar to BF.

HIsmelt

HIsmelt
Iron ore fines/microfines and non coking coal fines based process Developed in Western Australia by JV partners Rio Tinto (60%), Nucor (25%), Mitsubishi (10%) & Shogang (5%). Carbon saturated molten iron bath acts as the primary reaction medium. Solid feed material (ore, coal & flux fines) are injected directly through water cooled lances into the metal bath. Results in very high reaction rate Commercial production in a 0.8 Mtpa plant (6 m dia vessel) in Kwinana, Western Australia commenced in l) l d September 2005. 80% of rated capacity achieved in 2007.

HIsmelt (contd..)
The export gas is not (~800 kcal/Nm3). Need to generate value from off gas offgas utilisation not great thus bringing down the overall capital cost. Process is essentially hot air based (oxygen enriched to around 35% with 95% purity oxygen; Specific consumption of oxygen ~300 Nm3/thm compared to ~550 Nm3/thm for COREX/FINEX) HIsmelt iron contains very low silicon and phosphorus (9095% of the phosphorus input in the slag). Very well suited for production of low P steel grades like high grade API steel even from high P P P iron ore. Conventional hot metal DeP (after DeSi) is a difficult technology. Hot metal high in S. Needs integrated DeS unit.

Typical Hot Metal Analysis

HIsmelt Process Units

Land Usage
Plant BSL (post expansion) BSP (post expansion) DSP (post expansion) RSP (post expansion) A Finex based integrated steel plant Production, Area CS (Mtpa) (Km2) Mt/km2

7 7 3 4 4

11 13 5 8 3

0.64 0.52 0 52 0.60 0.50 1.3

ULCOS
Major European steelmakers are part of an initiative known as ULCOS (Ultra Low Carbon Dioxide steelmaking). The aim of ULCOS program is to reduce the CO2 emissions of todays best routes by at least 50%. Part of IISIs CO2 Breakthrough Program. Selected four iron making process concepts as follows for development: Top Gas recycling Blast Furnace (TGR BF) with CO2 capture and storage (TGRBF) (CCS). These BFs will run on pure oxygen. HIsarna with CCS. This is a Smelting Reduction (SR) based hot metal technology with iron ore and coal fines fines. Natural Gas based Direct Reduction with CCS for making Sponge Iron (ULCORED). Alkaline Electrolysis of Iron oxide for small scale pure iron (ULCOWIN)

ULCOS
Conceptually for the top gas Blast furnace, pure oxygen is to be used and the CO2 and CO will be separated out by a technology called VPSA (Vacuum Pressure Swing Adsorption). The CO is again recycled back to the BF and the pure CO2 is stored underground at a depth of 2 to 5 km. Reduction in carbon consumption by 100 kg/thm (from ~400 kg/thm to ~300 kg/thm). HIsarna process somewhat similar to HIsmelt process and envisages similar bathsmelting technology but uses pure oxygen instead of enriched air blast for oxidation and post combustion. Pure oxygen is required since presence of N2 in the flue gases hinder CO2 separation and subsequent sequestration of CO2 CO2.

TGR BF TGRBF Concept

BENEFITS OF BENIFICIATION

Operating p p g parameters : 3 Mtpa crude steel p p plant

Parameter Coa ash, Coal as , % Ore fines alumina, % Sinter Productivity, t/m2/h Productivity BF Coke rate, kg/thm BF productivity, t/m3/day HM Silicon, % BOF Lime rate, kg/tcs High gangue 17 2.5 1.13 1 13 460 1.8 1.0 110 Best in class 10 0 1 1.67 1 67 350 2.5 0.4 60

Size of facilities required : 3 Mtpa crude steel plant

Parameter Sintering plant area, m2 Coal handling plant capacity, mtpa Coke ovens capacity Mtpa capacity, BF size, m3, working volume Capacity of lime kilns, Mtpa BOF vessel size, m3 size High gangue 365 2.05 1.35 1 35 2 * 2400 0.33 140 Best in class 250 1.6 1.05 1 05 1 * 3400 0.18 105 Change (%) +46 +28 +29 +41 +83 +33