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Developments in blast furnace technology have ensured its unchallenged superiority for bulk production of hot metal. However, alternative methods of making molten iron have come into the fray under the generic name of 'smelting reduction' to produce smaller quantities of hot metal, predominantly for use in EAF steelmaking in mini-mills by reducing iron ore - preferably fine, low-grade material - using non-coking coal. In Part 1 of this two part series Dr Amit Chatterjee highlights the success of the blast furnace in fighting off competition and examines the first commercial alternative to the blast furnace, the Corex process. In Part 2, other SR processes close to commercialisation will be scrutinised.
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The blast furnace had, until recently, been the only method of producing hot metal on a large scale. However, with the world witnessing a gradual shift from integrated steel plants using the Blast Furnace-BOF combination to a multiplicity of smaller mini-mills based essentially on electric arc furnaces (this is happening in the developing countries in particular where steel production is expected to increase in future), alternative means of producing hot metal using smelting reduction (SR) have come into contention. At the same time, the blast furnace itself has undergone changes to be able to cater to the new demands, thereby raising the bar for the new processes to be adopted.
Given this background, although several SR processes have been conceived to enable hot metal production without using coke or high grade iron oxide as the feedstock (both essential for blast furnace ironmaking), only a few have so far been commercialised. This has happened despite the fact that these new processes are one generation ahead of the classical blast furnace in terms of their intrinsic process versatility as well as superior environmental friendliness ie, they have a potential edge.
Those SR processes that have successfully gone past the rigours of initial development should, in the years ahead, become more popular. However, the choice of the appropriate technology and the raw materials used would be critical factors determining whether the cost of SR metal will be competitive with blast furnace hot metal. Wherever this can be done, it will be a case of selecting the most suitable technology for the prevailing...