Metallurgical Industries and its

environmental impact
References:
(i) Environmental Pollution and Control in Chemical Process Industries
(ii) Energy and Environmental Management in Metallurgical Industries- R.C.
Gupta
(iii) Basic Concepts of Iron and Steel Making- S.K.Dutta, Y.B.Chokshi
Metals: (i) Ferrous and (ii) Non-ferrous

Metal World (million ton) India (million ton)

Steel 1250 55
Aluminium 37 1
Copper 20.5 0.8
Zinc 10 0.25
Lead 8.5 0.035
STEEL- The most commonly used metal:

Environment-friendly economic engineering material.

➢Strength, stiffness, toughness, ease of fabrication.
➢Can be joined by a variety of methods.
➢Lower production and painting costs
➢Lower repair costs
➢Total life cycle cost
➢Steel touches every aspect of our daily life.
FLOW SHEET OF A CONVENTIONAL INTEGRATED STEEL PLANT

1. Raw material
handling and
storage
2. Raw material
preparation
• Sinter making
• Coke making
3. Iron making
4. Desulphurization unit
5. Steel making
6. Continuous casting
7. Hot rolling and cold
rolling mills
1. Raw material handling and storage

• Storage of raw materials

• Bulk material handling systems (rail
network, wagon tipplers, conveyer belts,
heavy earth moving systems)
• Huge amounts of dust generated
• Major raw materials: Iron ore, coal and
limestone
• Other raw materials: Quartz, dolomite
and manganese
 2. Raw material preparation
i. Iron ore
• Sizing (Oversized→ crushed, undersized iron ore → 1. Raw material
agglomerated as sinter or pellets) handling and
• Washing with water to remove gangue particles storage
• Sintering (iron ore/limestone) 2. Raw material
ii. Coal preparation
• Sinter making
• Sizing (Removes bigger and fine particles)
• Coke making
• Blending to get required composition for coke making
3. Iron making
• Coke making (carbonization of coal at 1200 C in absence of 4. Desulphurization unit
air)→ coal is then cooled (wet/dry methods)
5. Steel making
iii. Limestone 6. Continuous casting
• Sizing (Lumps ~25mm used in BF, fines 3-10mm used for 7. Hot rolling and cold
sinter making) rolling mills
• Calcination- to make lime for use in steel making
 Major iron bearing minerals

• Haematite (Fe2O3)- most abundant iron mineral (containing 70% Fe)

• Magnetite (Fe3O4)/ Lodestone - ferromagnetic mineral
• Limonite (Fe2O3·3H2O)
• Siderite (FeCO3)
• 5.9% - coking coal
• 94.1% - non-coking coal
 IRON MAKING
1. Raw material
handling and
storage
2. Raw material
preparation
• Sinter making
• Coke making
3. Iron making
4. Desulphurization unit
5. Steel making
Iron ore, ash of coke and flux 6. Continuous casting
combine to form the slag 7. Hot rolling and cold
rolling mills
 Reactions in the Blast Furnace

Combustion of coke by oxygen gasifies carbon into CO and generates heat

• Removal of moisture from the raw materials

• Reduction of iron oxides by CO (indirect reduction)
• Gasification of carbon by CO2
• Dissociation of CaCO3
• Reduction of FeO by carbon (direct reduction)
• Reduction of other oxides present as gangue by carbon
• Combustion of coke in front of tuyeres.
 Function of Charged Materials in Blast furnace

• Iron-bearing materials: supplies iron (lump ore, sinter and pellets,

slag.

• Coke: (i) fuel, (ii) reducer

• Fluxes: (i) supply calcined lime, (ii) to form a fluid slag and (c) to form
a slag control of sulphur content.

• Air: burn part of the fuel to produce heat and for smelting the iron.
 Blast Furnace Reactions
• Tuyere Reactions or Combustion Zone Reactions

• Reactions in the stack

P2O5, MnO and SiO2 and (ii) Al2O3, MgO and CaO
 Hearth Reactions

• Specific gravities of slag (2.5) and molten metal (7.0)

• Slag contains CaO, MgO, Al2O3, SiO2 and MnO, traces of P2O5 and FeO
(i) Carbon dissolution: Metal contains 3.5–4.0% C, 0.5–2.5% Si, 0.4–2.0% Mn,
0.05–2.5% P and 0.04–0.1% S.
(ii) Mn reaction:
(iii) Si Reaction:
(iv) S Reaction:
 Desulphurization
• Reagents for external de-sulphurization of hot metal.
➢Magnesium-based powders (Mg and inert material).
➢Calcium carbide mix (CaC2-based powder mixture)
➢Soda ash (Na2CO3)
➢Powdered lime (CaO)

CaC2-based process
 Steelmaking

Steelmaking is two stages process:

• Reduction stage i.e. iron making stage (iron ore to hot metal)
• Oxidation stage i.e. steelmaking stage (hot metal to steel)

Raw materials
• Sources of metallic iron
• Oxidizing agents
• Flux
• Deoxidizers and alloy additions
• Furnace refractory
• Source of heat
 DIFFERENT ROUTES OF STEEL PRODUCTION

1. Blast Furnace- Basic Oxygen steel

2. Sponge Iron (DRI)- Electric furnace steel
3. Smelting Reduction- Basic Oxygen steel
4. Scrap remelting in electric arc furnace
 Various Steelmaking Routes

Route I: BF → LD/BOF (Linz-Donawitz/basic oxygen furnace)

 LD steel technology

• Mn + O = MnO
• Si + 2O = SiO2
• C + O = CO
• 2P + 5O = P2O5

• Liquid steel
• Steel slag
• LD gas
Route II : DR → EAF (Direct reduction → electric arc furnaces)
Route III: SR → BOF/EAF (Smelting reduction → BOF/EAF)
 Casting and Rolling

Liquid metal Steel ingots Billets

Teeming

• INGOT CASTING
• CONTINUOUS CASTING

Continuous casting (CONCAST) unit