A

Nirjhar Chakravorti
Presentation
RAW MATERIAL PLANT
FOR IRON MAKING
Nirjhar Chakravorti
Nirjhar, a Mechanical Engineer by
profession, has completed engineering in
the year 2000, from Jalpaiguri Government
Engineering College, India.
Nirjhar has experience in design,
development, project and plant
engineering.
As an engineering professional Nirjhar has
worked at different industries.
Nirjhar’s interest is to know different
technology and process engineering.
Where from iron produced?

Raw iron is found in earth’s crust,

as an ore.
Iron ore mostly found as Fe2O3 (the
form of iron oxide found as the
mineral hematite).
Where from iron produced?
At present, blast furnace is most commonly
used furnace to produce iron.
The Blast furnace iron making process
basically consists of the conversion of iron
oxide to iron in liquid form . This requires
reductant for reduction of iron oxide and
heat for the above reduction reaction to
take place. The primary source to fulfill
both these requirements is carbon (in the
form of coke).
Where from iron produced?

The blast furnace is a vertical

counter-current heat exchanger as
well as a chemical reactor in which
burden material charged from the top
descend downward and the gasses
generated at the tuyere level ascend
upward.
Raw Material Section in iron making

Broadly a raw material section in iron

making plant has the following
sections:
a. Iron Ore Handling System
b. Coke & Coal Handling System
c. Lime & Other Material Handling
System
d. Sinter Plant
Flow Diagram

Iron
Ore Blast
Furnace
Iron Ore Section

Steel Plant
Iron
Stack
Ore Ore crushed &
Transported from Yard
Mine mine to plant

Material
Blast Handling
Furnace System
Iron Ore Section
Iron ore chunks dugs from the earth and
taken to process plant.
Chunks are crushed to small fractions, and
impurities are removed by magnetic
separator or other means. The small iron
fractions are formed into marble sized
pellets in forming drums and discs. Then
the pellets are transported to stack yard of
steel plant.
Iron Ore Section

Iron ore is collected from mines and crushed

Iron Ore Section

Stack Yard

Processed iron ore are dumped at stack yard

Iron Ore Section

Belt Conveyor

Iron ore are transported through belt conveyor

Iron Ore Section

Material
Handling
System

Raw Materials are

Stored and
transported
inside steel plant
and fed into
Blast Furnace
through material
handling system
Flow Diagram

Iron
Ore

Blast
Coal Coke Furnace
Coke
Oven
Plant
Coal & Coke Section
Processed & Stack
Coal Transported from Yard
Mine mine to plant

Steel Plant
Transportation by
Material Handling
System

Coke
Stack Coke
Blast Material Oven
Furnace Handling Plant
System
Coal & Coke Section

Coal are collected from mines. Then

they are washed & crushed to pieces.
After that coal is transported to stack
yard of steel plant. From stack
through material handling section,
they are transported to coke oven
section, where coal is baked and
converted into coke.
Coal & Coke Section

Coal is collected from mines

Coal & Coke Section

Coal is processed, washed and crushed and then

transported into stack yard of steel plant
Coal & Coke Section

Processed coal is dumped at stack yard and transported

to coke oven plant by material handling system
Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant

Coke is source of thermal energy

inside the Blast Furnace, which burns
and the converted heat melts the iron
ore.
Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant
Conventional coke making is done in
a coke oven battery. Inside oven
battery coal is sandwiched between
heating walls. They are carbonized
(at a temperature around 1000o-
1100o C) upto a certain degree of de-
volatization to produce metallurgical
coke of desired mechanical and
thermo-chemical properties.
Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant

Material Storage Bunker Stamp

Coke Stack Handling
(Coal Tower) Charging Car
System

Coal Pushed in
Water
Sprayed

Coke
Coke Oven
Coke lump collected Pushed out Battery
Quenching
under ground, Car Waste Volatile
Crushed & Stacked Substance
Waste

Off gas
Coke Bridge Liquid Chemical
used as fuel
Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant

Schematic View of Coke Oven battery. Here instead of

collecting coal at stamp charging car, loose coal is
directly fed into the oven from top.
Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant
Stamp Charging of Coal :
Stamp charging involves formation of a
stable coal cake with finely crushed coal
(88-90% - 3mm) by mechanically stamping
outside the oven and pushing the cake thus
formed inside the oven for carbonisation.
Coal moisture is maintained at 8-10% for
the formation of cake. Due to stamping,
bulk density of charge increases by 30-35%
causing significant improvement of coke.
Oven productivity increases by 10-12% &
there is a possibility of using inferior coking
coals to the extent of about 20%.
Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant

Stamp Charging Machine: Erection Stage

Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant

Stamped Coal cake ready for charging into the oven

Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant
Coal cake Coal
Oven Door
Coke Oven box pusher
Coal
Coal cake box cake plate
front door Charging
plate

Coal
Pusher and Coal pusher
Charging
Charging Car Plate drive
Car
Rail

Pictorial View
Pusher and Charging Car travels & stops in front of the oven, where
coal cake needs to be pushed
Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant

Stamped Coal cake pushed into the oven

Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant

Oven door in

Stamping & Charging Car Side

Coal cake box
semi open condition Front door in
Quenching Car Side

Open position

Pictorial View
Charging (i.e. pushing) the coal cake inside the oven
Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant
Coke Oven :
During carbonization, coals undergo transformation
into plastic state at around 350o-400o C, swell and
then re-solidify at around 500o-550o C to give semi-
coke and then coke. In coke ovens, after coal is
charged inside the oven, plastic layers are formed
adjacent to the heating walls, and gradually the plastic
layers move towards the centre of oven from either
side and ultimately meet each other at the centre.
The quality and quantity of plastic layer is of extreme
importance and it determines the inherent strength of
coke matrix. For producing coke of good quality, coals
should have certain degree of maturity, good
properties and wide range of fluidity.
Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant

Coal pusher plate holds back the coal

cake inside the oven, while pulling
back the charging plate

Pictorial View
Coal cake is pushed inside the oven and charging plate is pulling back
Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant

Coke inside oven ready for push out from oven

Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant

Hot Coke pushed out from oven

Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant
Quenching of hot coke :
Red hot coke formed inside oven
pushed out by pusher car, and
collected on quenching car.
Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant
Coke Oven Locomotive
engine of
quenching car
Coke collected
on quenching
car Quenching
Car

Hot coke being pushed from an oven into a quench car.

Coal & Coke Section: Coke
Oven Plant
Quenching Car
Quench with coke
Tower

The Quenching car travels and placed below the quench tower. The
coke is treated to high-pressure water jets to cool the coke while still
in the quench car. The coke is discharged from car and crushed into
pieces and stacked.
Flow Diagram
Iron
Ore
Coke
Blast
Coke
Oven Furnace
Coal Plant

Flux
Flux Section

Steel Plant
Flux Flux crushed & Stack
Transported from Yard
source to plant

Material
Blast Handling
Furnace System
Flux Section

Flux is added in the blast furnace to

remove impurities, by producing slag.
Lime is the most commonly used flux
material. Lime may be used as a flux
in the form of CaO, limestone
(CaCO3), dolomite (magnesium
calcium carbonate) or dolomitic lime
(product obtained from burning or
roasting of dolomite).
Flux Section
Lime is used as a flux in solid,
particulate form and reacts with
impurities in the charge to form a
slag.
It is important that the slag be kept
fluid, not only to increase its ability to
scavenge impurities from molten
metal, but also to permit the slag to
be readily removed from the furnace.
Flux Section
Formation of slag has a adverse effect also.
Lime in reaction with silica or silicates
present in the ore forms dicalcium silicate,
which has 38000C melting point. It form a
coating on lime particles and prevent it
from further reaction.
Auxiliary flux is used for the purpose of
facilitating the reaction between lime and
silica or silicates. Fluorspar is a example of
auxiliary flux.
Flow Diagram
Iron
Ore
Coke
Coke
Oven
Coal Plant
Blast
Furnace

Flux

Fines
from Sinter
different
sources
Sinter Plant Section
In order to enhance the productivity of
blast furnaces, a high percentage of sinter
charge is a prerequisite.
Sinter is an agglomeration of iron ore fines,
coke and limestone in the form of cakes.
To ensure sinter burden in the blast
furnaces at 75 per cent, a total of 3 million
tonnes of sinter was envisaged for a
production of about 2 million tonnes of hot
metal.
Sinter Plant Section

Sinter Plant
Sinter Plant Section

Sinter Plant
Sinter Plant Section

Simple Flow Diagram of Sinter Plant

Sinter Plant Section
The raw materials used are as follows - Iron
ore fines (-10 mm), coke breeze (-3 mm),
Lime stone & dolomite fines (-3mm) and
other metallurgical wastes. The
proportioned raw materials are mixed and
moistened in a mixing drum. The mix is
loaded on sinter machine through a feeder
onto a moving grate (pallet) and then the
mix is rolled through segregation plate so
that the coarse materials settle at the
bottom and fines onto the top.
Sinter Plant Section
The top surface of the mix is ignited
through stationary burners at 1200oC. As
the pallet moves forward, the air is sucked
through wind box situated under the grate.
A high temperature combustion zone is
created in the charge -bed due to
combustion of solid fuel of the mix and
regeneration of heat of incandescent sinter
and outgoing gases. Due to forward
movement of pallet , the sintering process
travels vertically down. The different zones
created on a sinter-bed are shown in the
simple flow diagram of sinter plant.
Sinter Plant Section
Sinter is produced as a combined result of
locally limited melting , grain boundary
diffusion and recrystallization of iron
oxides.
On the completion of sintering process,
finished sinter cake is crushed and cooled.
The cooled sinter is screened and + 6 mm
fraction is dispatched to blast furnace
through material handling system and -6
mm is re-circulated as return sinter.
Blast Furnace

All the raw material is charged into

the blast furnace, from top, through
variable throat armour or any other
means.
The purpose of a blast furnace is to
chemically reduce and physically
convert iron oxides into liquid iron
called "hot metal".
Blast Furnace
The blast furnace is a huge, steel stack
lined with refractory brick, where iron ore,
coke and limestone are dumped into the
top, and preheated air is blown into the
bottom.
The raw materials require 6 to 8 hours to
descend to the bottom of the furnace where
they become the final product of liquid slag
and liquid iron. These liquid products are
drained from the furnace at regular
intervals.
Blast Furnace

The hot air that was blown into the

bottom of the furnace ascends to the
top in 6 to 8 seconds after going
through numerous chemical
reactions. Once a blast furnace is
started it will continuously run for
four to ten years with only short
stops to perform planned
maintenance.
Blast Furnace
Blast Furnace
Thank You

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