Iron & Steel Making

Elements/ Compounds in iron ore

Iron ore extracted from mines has in general the following composition- both
lumps and fines. Higher than the required quantities of each of the elements
can be detrimental to the further processes

Total Fe SiO2 Al2O3

Components P S
Low (L) Medium (M) High (H)

Content (mass %) <58 62–64 >65 <6 3-4 0.05–0.07 0.1

Operations in an Integrated Steel Plant
• Ore procurement
• Beneficiation: Purification of Ore
• Pelletizing : Ensures uniformity in fine size through pellets
formed
• Sintering : Drying the green pellets formed to charge into Blast furnace
• Blast Furnace: Ore reduction into hot Metal( Pig iron)
• BOF/ LD converter: Conversion of pig iron to steel through oxidation
• Secondary steel making
• Mills : Processing the steel to make finished products
Blast Furnace
 Input Characteristics of Blast Furnace
To a large extent, silicon, manganese, phosphorus and sulphur contents of hot metal are influenced
by the amount of input of these elements into a blast furnace. Some details are given below.

• About 60% of the silica(SiO2) comes from the oxide feed (lump ore, sinter and pellets), and the
remainder from the coke ash

• The total input of manganese varies considerably—around 60% of the manganese can come
through BOF/converter slag. The remainder comes from coke ash

• Coke is responsible for over 90% of the sulphur input; the remaining 10% or less comes from the
oxide feed

• Around 65–70% of phosphorus input comes from the oxide feed and the remainder from coke
Output characteristics
In terms of the output of these elements from any blast furnace, the following is to
be noted.

• Over 85% of the total silica input gets transferred into the slag. The balance is reduced to
silicon and reports to hot metal

• Over 90% of sulphur can be removed along with slag if its chemistry and volume are
suitably adjusted; the remainder goes into hot metal (and a very small proportion to the
exit gas)

• About 90% of the manganese(Mn) input finds its way into hot metal

• Almost all of the phosphorus(P) input into a blast furnace ends up in hot metal
Basic Oxygen
Furnace( BOF) In steelmaking, hot metal containing carbon ranging from 4.0% to
4.5%, 0.4% to 1.5% silicon, manganese varying from 0.15% to 1.5%
(sometimes even more), normally between 0.060% and 0.250%) and
sulphur 0.150% maximum is refined.
Reactions occurring: [Fe]+[O]= (FeO) ; [Mn] + [O]= (Mno);
Si+[O]= (SiO2 ) ; [C]+ [O]= (CO);
2[P]+5[O] = (P2O5)
Note:
• All reactions are exothermic.
• C is removed as gas.
• Except C, all other impurities are removed as oxides and all
these oxides float on the surface of the molten metal during
refining of hot metal to steel.
• Iron oxidation is unavoidable.
• Oxidation of Fe is loss in productivity; hence its oxidation
must be controlled.
• Oxygen must be dissolved to remove an impurity from the
hot metal.
 Effect of impurities in iron & steel making
The major impurities in an ore are: Manganese, Phosphorous, Alumina, Silica and Sulphur

• Manganese(Mn):
90% of the manganese finds its way to the output metal of BF- which is pig iron. Pig iron is
charged in BOF to obtain steel as an output. Higher Manganese content implies
i) More Coke required for reduction to Mn (in Fe) from MnO in BF- translates to higher
costs
ii) All the manganese goes into the Converter slag:
a) High amount of oxygen required in the converter to oxidize Mn
b) Higher Manganese= High Slag volume, lesser yield
iii) Manganese in steel increases the hardenability and tensile strength but decreases
ductility
Effect of impurities in iron & steel making
• Phosphorous
Almost all of the phosphorus input into a blast furnace ends up in hot metal.
i) Similar to Mn, as Phosphorous undergoes reduction through coke in blast furnace, high P
implies high amount of coke required
ii) Phosphorous in steel causes embrittlement thus reducing the toughness and increasing the
possibility of breakage during processing, fabrication and service
iii)Phosphorus also causes intergranular segregation during continuous casting and deteriorates
the ductility and toughness of products such as high strength plates and pipes.
iv) Incase, secondary steel making is employed, dephosphorization will require more soda ash
for removing the phosphorous content present in steel
Effect of impurities in iron & steel making
• Sulphur:
i)

• Silica

• Alumina
Sponge Iron/ Direct Reduced Iron