AISTech 2019 — Proceedings of the Iron & Steel Technology Conference

6–9 May 2019, Pittsburgh, Pa., USA

DOI 10.1000.377.007

BOF Slag: Turning Waste Into Value

Ragunath N1, Bikram Konar2, Arunava Maity1, Saikat Chatterjee1,3, Anand Senguttuvan1,3, Kinnor Chattopadhyay2,3
1
M. N. Dastur & Co. (P) Ltd.
P-17 Mission Row Extension
Kolkata 700013, India
Email: Ragunath.N@dastur.com
2
Process Metallurgy Research Labs (PMRL), University of Toronto,
184 College Street, Suite 140, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S3E4
Email: kinnor.chattopadhyay@utoronto.ca
3
Dastur Innovation Labs
250 Yonge Street, Suite 2201
Toronto, ON M5B 2L7, Canada
Phone: +(1) - 647-6-DASTUR, +(1) - 647-632-7887
Email: Chatterjee.Saikat@dastur.com

Keywords: BOF slag, re-utilization, phosphorus recovery, process simulation, waste to value, phase equilibria, technical
comparison

INTRODUCTION
The bulk of steel production is met through the Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) route. In 2017, 71.6% (1206.9 million metric
tons) of the world steel was produced through the BOF route[1]. The impurities present in hot metal are removed in the form
of slag upon addition of fluxes and oxygen blowing during the converting process in BOF. This slag is known as steel
making slag or BOF/LD slag and is considered as a solid waste by the steel industries. About 150-200 kg of BOF slag is
generated per ton of liquid steel depending on the raw material chemistry and the steel grade requirement[2].
Around 45% of the solid wastes generated in steel plants, such as Blast Furnace (BF) slag, BF sludge, BF flue dust, BOF
slag, BOF sludge and ladle slag are dumped[2]. Applying the same proportion to BOF slag, the amount that is dumped comes
out to be ~ 95 mtpa. The chemical composition of the BOF slag varies depending on the raw material chemistry, steel grade
produced and operating procedure of steel plants. A typical composition of BOF slag under Indian conditions is given in the
Table I.

Table I. Chemical composition of BOF slag under typical Indian conditions[2]

Components CaO SiO2 MgO Al2O3 P2O5 TiO2 Fet K2O Na2O S
wt.% 45-50 12-15 1-2 1-3 1-3.5 0.8-1 16-25 0.05-0.2 0.05-0.2 0.15-0.3

Steel plants are trying to use a part of BOF slag generated in BF to harness the free CaO and FeO present. Although the BOF
slag contains large amounts of free CaO and FeO which are of great value, it needs to be processed to remove other unwanted
phases to maximize its efficient utilization as an ingredient for sinter plant or for direct charging into BF. The presence of
high levels of phosphorus (1-3 wt.% P2O5) in the BOF slag prevents its unlimited internal recycling (within steel plant) since
it increases the phosphorus load in hot metal/steel. Increased phosphorus levels mean increased effort, treatment time and
associated cost for removal of additional phosphorus from steel. Hence, phosphorus needs to be removed from the BOF slag
first to turn this so-called ‘waste’ product into a valuable one. The present work depicts a practically implementable
methodology consisting of chemical modification and physical separation of granulated BOF slag for P2O5 removal enabling
its internal recycling.

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 55

 EXISTING BOF SLAG UTILIZATION TECHNIQUES AND THEIR DRAWBACKS
Till date, BOF slag has been used in various areas, as depicted in Figure 1. It is used for road construction, cement making,
soil treatment, industrial waste water treatment, precious slag balls manufacturing, wave dissipating concrete blocks, railway
ballast material and in aquatic life preservation[3]. Although BOF slag has found various applications, there are certain
limitations which inhibit its complete utilization. Owing to the high hardness exhibited by BOF slag, it is used in road making
and as a ballast material for railway tracks. In cement making, it is used as a substitute for clinker. Liming of acidic soil is
done to reduce its pH. Since BOF slag has high amounts free CaO, it is also used for soil conditioning[2]. The hot BOF slag is
granulated to obtain Precious Slag (PS) balls which are used for ship repairing and maintenance works in oil refinery plants.
The molten BOF slag is cast to special shapes and piled on the coast to help dissipate the energy of waves. These structures
are called wave breakers[4]. The BOF slag is mixed with artificial sand and is cast to special structures which are dropped into
sea. The Fe content of the structure acts as nutrient for seaweed and algae and helps in the development of fishing grounds
and seaweed beds[4].

Figure 1. Various applications of BOF slag

The limitations of direct BOF slag utilization for the above mentioned applications include the volume expansion resulting
from the absorption of moisture or CO2 by the free lime and magnesia present in the BOF slag leads to crack formation in the
resulting structure. Hence the slag must be weathered for 6-9 months or the free lime and MgO need to be stabilized before
using it for any other purpose. Excess FeO content in BOF slag results in the formation of tetra calcium alumino ferrite
(C4AF) which negatively affects the hydraulic property of cement. Moreover, the presence of P2O5, which segregates in the
grain boundaries, results in the corrosion of reinforced materials in concrete structure[2].
Attempts were made to reuse BOF slag in BF operation in order to utilize the free CaO and FeO present in it[2]. However, the
phosphorus present in BOF slag gets transferred into the hot metal, thereby increasing the refining load in the primary steel
making process. Additional flux is required to remove the excess phosphorus. Hence directly recycling the BOF slag in BF is
not economically viable.
These bottlenecks prompted researchers to look for processes that could lower or separate the phosphorus content of BOF
slag so that it could be reutilized within the steel plant. This would result in multiple benefits such as:
• cost saving by substituting lime input to sinter plant with CaO rich BOF slag aggregate
• conserving lime resources and energy spent in mining them
• reducing the land requirement and associated costs in dumping waste slag
• reducing the environmental pollution caused by dumping
• using the phosphorus rich component as a feed stock for the fertilizer industry
The previous processes attempted for BOF slag de-phosphorization can be broadly classified into three groups namely
physical, chemical and physio-chemical as depicted in Figure 2. The processes are based on magnetic separation[5], flotation
technique[6], carbothermic reduction[7]and dual phase separation[8]. The main phases in BOF slag are calcium silicate, di-
calcium ferrite and wustite. P exists in BOF slag as tri-calcium phosphate, 3CaO.P2O5 (C3P). It is soluble in the calcium
silicate phase, which is non-magnetic. The other phases in BOF slag are magnetic. Hence it is possible to separate P from the
BOF slag by applying a magnetic field to the granulated BOF slag. However, the P partitioning between the magnetic and
non-magnetic phases was found to be inefficient[9]. The flotation technique was tried to separate P from BOF slag using
sodium oleate as collector and gum acacia as Fe depressant. However, the P distribution between the floating and non-
floating fraction was found to be not significant enough for scaling up the process[6].

56 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

 Figure 2: Previous attempts to separate phosphorus and utilize BOF slag
In carbothermic reduction process in EAF[7], powdered BOF slag and graphite are mixed and charged. At temperatures of the
order of 697-1170 ºC, while the lower oxides of Fe2O3, FeO and MnO gets reduced by the graphite to metal which settles at
the bottom, P2O5 gets reduced to P2 gas and escapes. The remaining non-metallic phase remains unreduced in the melt. Since
P exists as 2CaO.SiO2-3CaO.P2O5 (C2S-C3P), higher temperatures (~1500 ºC) are required for its proper removal, otherwise
it partitions to both the metallic and non-metallic phase.
In dual phase separation process, the liquid slag is super-heated and slowly cooled, which results in the precipitation of
crystalline C2S-C3P phase, thus aiding P removal. On account of having lower density, the C2S-C3P phase floats to the top
of the melt and can be separated, the remaining melt has a high Fe concentration. Achieving controlled cooling while treating
large quantities of slag generated in steel plants is difficult. Additionally, the process timing for each cycle of treatment is
also quite high. These limitations made the process difficult to be adopted on an industrial scale[8].
Though several processes have been conceived and tested successfully at laboratory scale for the de-phosphorization of BOF
slag, steel industries have not largely adopted any of them due to technical or economic constraints in scaling them up. The
presence of these limitations raises red flags for their plant-scale implementation. Hence more technically efficient and
economically viable processing routes need to be developed.

FRAMEWORK FOR A NEW BOF SLAG PROCESSING ROUTE

Basis of separation of phosphorus from BOF slag

The objective of the proposed process is to remove P from the BOF slag so that the free CaO/MgO and FeO content of it can
be reutilized within the steel plant, while the P-rich part can be sold to the fertilizer industry. The framework for designing a
new BOF slag processing route is based on the premise of ‘melt chemistry modification and physical separation’.
A SEM micrograph of solidified BOF slag shown in Figure 3 depicts the various phases present in it:
• phosphorus rich phase (Calcium silicate with associated C3P) indicated by red region
• base phase mainly composed of calcium aluminium melilite with some Fe and P indicated by blue region
• remaining oxides (RO) phase consisting of iron oxides or Fe-Mn oxides indicated by green region

Figure 3. SEM microstructure of solidified BOF slag showing presence of various phases[10]
C3P has varying degrees of solubility in different types of calcium silicates[11].The different calcium silicates that can be
found in BOF slag are 3CaO.SiO2(C3S), 2CaO.SiO2(C2S), CaO.SiO2(CS). The relative amount of calcium silicates that

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 57

exists depends on the basicity of the slag. At higher basicity of the order of 4, C3S forms. At intermediate basicity of 3 and 2,
C2S forms with fractions of C3S and CS respectively. At lower basicity of 1 CS forms. The solubility of C3P phase is partial
in C3S and CS phase whereas it has infinite solubility in C2S[11]. Thus conditions favouring the formation of C2S phase in
the BOF slag will be beneficial for P2O5 removal. P2O5 exist in the form of C3P which gets attached with the calcium silicate
phases present in the BOF slag, the formation of which depends on the basicity of the slag.
Calcium silicate phases (CS, C2S, C3S) are non-magnetic while the base and RO phases exhibit magnetic behaviour and
hence it is possible to separate the phosphorus rich phase using magnetic separation technique when the slag is granulated to
micron sized particles. The addition of melt modifiers like SiO2 and Al2O3 enhances the phosphorus segregation to the non-
magnetic phase[11]. The ternary phase diagram calculated by Liu et al.[12] for the CaO, SiO2 and Al2O3 system at 1600 ºC as
shown in Figure 4. The various phase regions are indicated in the figure. The black dot represents the original (unmodified)
BOF slag composition.
With addition of SiO2, the free lime in the slag gets stabilised and the region of stability moves from 4 to 3 to 2, shown by
brown arrow in the figure. At region 4, a mixture of liquid, RO and C3S phases exist while at region 2 only liquid and C2S
phases exist. The C3S phase has been converted to C2S. Now this will enhance the P2O5 segregation as the C3P phase has
infinite solubility in C2S while it has partial solubility in C3S and CS. Therefore the addition of SiO2 results in the formation
of C2S.
With addition of Al2O3, the slag composition changes along the blue line as shown in the figure. The region of stability
moves from 4 to 3 to 2. With Al2O3 modification, the mechanism of P2O5 enhancement is different than SiO2. The added
Al2O3 reacts with the solidified nC2S-C3P to form gehlenite Ca2Al2SiO7 resulting in the formation of n’C2S-C3P. Thus the
effective concentration of C3P in the non-magnetic phase is increased.
Similar phase transformation trend is observed for the BOF slag at 1250 ºC as well.

Figure 4. Ternary phase diagram at 1600 ºC for CaO, SiO2 and Al2O3 system reproduced from Liu et al.[12]
Lin et al.[13] found that adding melt modifiers like SiO2, Al2O3 and TiO2 to the BOF slag followed by heat treatment would
enrich the phosphorus concentration in the non-magnetic phase. Phosphorus recovery rates as high as 80% were achieved
after magnetic separation using this method on a 10wt% P2O5 enriched melt modified BOF slag. This process holds great
potential for effective phosphorus removal from BOF slag. However for successful industrial application the technical and
economic feasibility of the process needs to be evaluated for actual BOF slag.

Determination of optimum process parameters

In order to determine the optimum amount of melt modifier addition and the heat treatment temperature for maximum
precipitation of C3P phase, process simulations were performed using FactSageTM[14] according to Eq. (1). The composition

58 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

of BOF slag that was considered for performing simulations is shown in Table II. Simulations were performed for varying
SiO2 additions at different holding temperatures varying from 1150 – 1450 ºC with 50 ºC interval.

Modified slag
100 g BOF slag + X g SiO2 º º (1)
1150 C < T < 1450 C (Amount and phases formed)

Table II. BOF slag composition used for simulation[3]

Slag components CaO SiO2 MgO Al2O3 P 2O 5 MnO FeO K 2O Na2O S

wt. % 47.88 12.16 0.82 1.22 3.33 0.28 26.30 0.071 0.036 0.28

The calculated amounts of SiO2 addition required for maximum C3P precipitation at different temperatures are plotted in
Figure 5. Though the simulation suggests that the maximum precipitation of C3P (7.78 g from 100 g of slag) occurs for the
case of 22 wt% addition of SiO2 at 1150 ºC, the basicity of slag becomes less than 1.5 in this case. This results in the
formation of CS phase rather than C2S phase[11]. So despite the formation of maximum C3P phase, its complete separation to
the non-magnetic phase will not happen. For C2S formation to happen instead of CS phase for the 22 wt% SiO2 addition, the
holding temperature (1150 ºC) needs to be reduced further, however this would result in increased viscosity. This makes C3P
diffusion to the non-magnetic phase difficult. Thus, segregation of all the C3P phase to the non-magnetic phase in not
possible and only a small fraction goes to the non-magnetic phase practically for this case. The next case resulting in
maximum C3P formation is for 11 wt% SiO2 addition with a heat treatment temperature of 1250 ºC. The basicity of the
modified slag in this case is 2.15. At this basicity, C2S is the stable phase in BOF slag. Under these processing conditions,
~7.5g of C3P is formed for 100 g of BOF slag input. Most part of the C3P formed gets separated to the non-magnetic phase
in this case. Thus, among all the various scenarios considered, the case with 11wt% SiO2 addition at a temperature of 1250 ºC
results in maximum de-phosphorization of BOF slag.

Figure 5. Simulation results of wt% of SiO2 added and max. C3P formed for various temperatures
The variation in amounts of C3P formation at 1250 ºC as a function of wt% SiO2 added is depicted in Figure 6. The formation
of C3P shows similar trend with various wt% SiO2 addition for heat treatment at other temperatures as well.

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 59

The amount of non-magnetic and magnetic fraction obtained from the simulation results of the 11wt% SiO2 melt modified
BOF slag heat treated at 1250 ºC is 58% and 42% respectively. The weight % of various phases that exist in the magnetic and
non-magnetic fraction obtained using simulation is shown in Table III. It is compared with the results of magnetic separation
done on actual BOF slag performed by Kumar et al.[9], which is considered as the base case. The phosphorus segregation
between the magnetic and non-magnetic fractions in the unmodified BOF slag does not vary much[9].

Figure 6. Predicted C3P for different wt.% SiO2 addition at 1250 ºC

On the other hand, the simulation results show that all the C3P phase that forms at equilibrium in the chemically modified
slag dissolves the C2S phase which forms the non-magnetic fraction. No C3P phase is left in the magnetic fraction in the melt
modified slag.

Table III. Chemical composition of phases in the separated magnetic and non-magnetic fractions for the following two cases:
(a) chemically modification + magnetic separation (Present work) and (b) only magnetic separation[9]

wt.% of components in non- wt.% of components in

Cases
magnetic fraction magnetic fraction
CaO SiO2 P2O5 FeO CaO SiO2 P 2O 5
(a) 11wt% SiO2 addition, heat treated
63.59 30 6.41 69.11 18.95 5.82 0
at 1250 ºC (Present work)
(b) Unmodified slag[9] 48.32 11.47 2.54 16.54 45.75 13.86 2.39

The basicity of the 11wt% SiO2 melt modified slag and the original BOF slag are 2.15 and 3.61 respectively. At higher
basicity, the calcium silicate that exists in the BOF slag is in the form of C3S. Since the basicity of chemically modified slag
is lowered to 2.15, the calcium silicate that is formed in the BOF slag is in the form of C2S. Since the dissolution of C3P
phase is partial in C3S and infinite in C2S, more phosphorus gets partitioned to the non-magnetic fraction in the case (a) than
case (b).
Also, the BOF slag considered in the base case is obtained from steel plant where it has undergone rapid cooling during the
dumping process. When the slag is rapidly cooled, there is not enough dwelling time at the higher temperatures for selective
precipitation of C2S-C3P. As a result, there is no significant difference in the P segregation between the magnetic and non-
magnetic fraction in the original BOF slag. On the other hand, selective precipitation of C2S-C3P occurs at the heat treatment
temperature of 1250 ºC (Melting point of slag is 1550 ºC). Holding the slag at this temperature for sufficient time helps in the
diffusion of phases thereby aiding attainment of equilibrium. Thus melt modification and heat treatment aids in the P removal
from BOF slag which can then be reutilized within the steel plant.

60 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

 DESIGN OF INDUSTRIAL PROCESS FOR BOF SLAG DEPHOSPHORIZATION
The common industrial practise of BOF slag treatment for Fe recovery consists of granulating the solidified slag followed by
applying magnetic separation. Based on the simulation results in the earlier sections, two new processing routes are being
proposed for BOF slag de-phosphorization by employing chemical treatment and magnetic separation.
To understand the material handling of the existing route and the proposed BOF slag de-phosphorization processing routes, a
steel plant with 3 BOF converters each of capacity 160T, producing a total of 4.5 mtpa of liquid steel is considered. The slag
generation rate is taken to be 150 kg per ton of liquid steel produced which amounts to slag generation of 0.675 million tons
annually. The converters are considered to operate for 330 days per year and hence the slag generation rate is 85 tons per
hour.

Existing process for BOF slag treatment

In the existing process followed by all major integrated steel producers, the tapped BOF slag is cooled and solidified in slag
pits. The solidified slag is crushed to particles of size 300 mm using the well-known ‘balling’ process. In the balling process,
heavy iron balls are dropped from certain height on to the solidified slag to crush it. The particles are further reduced to 100
mm size using jaw crushers. Magnetic separation is done to recover the steel entrained in the slag during the tapping process.
It is also claimed that a certain amount of phosphorus is recovered through the non-magnetic phase. However, the efficiency
of the process is quite low as can be observed from Table III. The process flow along with the material balance is described
in Figure 5. Yield loss of 10% is considered for the balling and jaw crushing operations. The non-magnetic and magnetic
fraction separated in the process is 68% and 32% respectively.

Tapped BOF slag

0.675 million tons

Balling pit
0.675 million tons

Balling 10% loss assumption

Slag (-300 mm)
0.675 million tons

Jaw crushing 10% loss assumption

Slag (-100 mm)
0.546 million tons
68% 32%

Non-magnetic slag (-100 mm) Magnetic slag (-100 mm)

0.371 million tons 0.174 million tons

Figure 5. Typical BOF slag de-phosphorization process followed by Indian steel industries

NEW PROCESSING ROUTES USING CHEMICAL TREATMENT AND MAGNETIC SEPARATION

Proposed Route 1: Using Induction Furnace

For industrial implementation of the BOF slag de-phosphorization process using melt modification, heat treatment and
magnetic separation technique, two major tasks need to be accomplished namely selective phase separation, slag granulation
and their size reduction.

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 61

In this route, induction furnace is considered for the heat treatment process. Using Induction furnace the accumulated dumped
solid slag can also be treated for P removal in addition to treating the tapped molten slag. The inherent heating mechanism in
the induction furnace helps in mixing of melt modifier with the molten charged slag.
The slag tapped from BOF converter is charged into the induction furnace. The required amount of melt modifier (11 wt% of
BOF slag input) is added to the induction furnace prior to charging the slag. The temperature of the modified slag is raised to
1250 ºC and is held at this temperature for 1 hour. Then the molten slag is granulated to particles of size 1 mm in the slag
granulation plant. The 1 mm particles are further reduced to 48 µm size by grinding. Water is added to the granulated BOF
slag particles at the rate of 20 ml per gram to make slurry which is required for applying wet magnetic separation. Magnetic
field intensity of 350 mT is applied for the separation of magnetic and non-magnetic fractions. The separated slurry is
allowed to settle and dried in an oven to remove moisture.
The process flow along with the mass balance is shown in Figure 6. The composition of the input slag considered is given in
Table II. The efficiency of the slag granulation plant, grinding plant and magnetic separation units are considered to be 95%,
100% and 100% respectively. Based on the simulation results, the non-magnetic and magnetic fraction separated in the
process comes out to be 58% and 42% respectively.

BOF slag SiO2 melt modifier

0.675 million tons 0.074 million tons

Induction furnace
0.749 million tons

Slag granulation (95% efficiency)

0.749 million tons

Grinding (100% efficiency)

0.711 million tons
58% 42%

Non-magnetic phase Magnetic phase

0.413 million tons 0.297 million tons

Figure 6. New processing route 1 using induction furnace

Proposed Route 2: Using Heat Treatment Vessel (HTV)

In the proposed route 2, a perfectly insulated vessel is conceived for the heat treatment of the modified slag. This vessel is
referred to as a Heat Treatment Vessel (HTV).When the modified BOF slag is held in the HTV, it is assumed that there will
be no heat loss throughout the holding time. At first, the tapped BOF slag from the converter and 11 wt% of SiO2 (melt
modifier) are charged simultaneously to the HTV to ensure good mixing. The temperature of the slag while charging into the
HTV should be such that the final temperature (slag + modifier mix) comes out to be 1250 ºC. The ‘slag + modifier’ mix is
then held in the HTV at this temperature for 1 hour.
The molten heat treated slag is then cooled and solidified in a slag pit. The solidified slag is crushed using the ‘balling’
process to a size of 300 mm, after which it is taken for magnetic separation. In this process, the steel that is entrained into the
slag is mainly separated as magnetic phase. The non-magnetic tailing is taken for jaw crushing where the particle size is
reduced to 100 mm. Magnetic separation process is done on the jaw crushed particles. The left over tailings are further
crushed to particles of size 5 mm using cone crusher. The cone crushed particles are further taken for magnetic separation
wherein the phosphorus rich phase is obtained in the non-magnetic tailings after the removal of the magnetic portion.
The process flow along with the material balance for this route is shown in Figure 7. The balling process, jaw crusher and
cone crushing process are assumed to have efficiencies of 90%, 95% and 95% respectively. The weight fraction of non-
magnetic and magnetic phase obtained in the process is 62% and 38% respectively.

62 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

The technical comparison of all the three processing routes for BOF slag de-phosphorization has been shown in Table IV.
Though the existing process of BOF slag treatment, followed by most of the integrated steel plants, results in the maximum
yield of non-magnetic phase, the P distribution is nearly equal in both the separated magnetic and non-magnetic phases. This
limits the reutilization of the magnetic phase within the steel plant. The P concentration of the non-magnetic phase is also not
sufficient enough for its economical use in fertilizer industry.

BOF slag SiO2 melt modifier

0.675 million tons 0.074 million tons

Heat treatment vessel

0.749 million tons

Balling pit
0.749 million tons

10% loss assumption Balling

Magnetic phase (+300 mm) Jaw crusher

0.0749 million tons 0.599 million tons

5% loss assumption

Cone crusher Magnetic phase (+100 mm)

0.449 million tons 0.119 million tons

5% loss assumption

Non-magnetic phase (+5 mm) Magnetic phase (+5 mm)

0.383 million tons 0.0435 million tons

Figure 7. New processing route 2 using heat treatment vessel

Table IV. Technical comparison of different BOF slag de-phosphorization routes

Process requirements/parameters Existing process New process route 1 New process route 2
Chemical modification No Yes Yes
Heat treatment No Yes Yes
Induction furnace No Yes No
Slag granulation No Yes No
Balling process Yes No Yes
Jaw crushing Yes No Yes
Cone crushing No No Yes
wt.% of non-magnetic phase 68 58 62
wt.% of magnetic phase 32 42 38

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 63

Whereas the melt chemistry modification incorporated in the newly proposed processing routes helps in complete segregation
of the P containing C3P phase to the non-magnetic phase. Hence, the magnetic phase separated is completely free of P, which
enables its complete recycling within steel plant. The non-magnetic phase separated will have better P concentration than
what is being obtained via the existing process. Thus both the newly proposed processing routes are better than the existing
process. However, on account of better separation efficiency (62 wt.% separation of non-magnetic phase) compared to route
1, the former route is most likely to yield the best results.

ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF THE PROPOSED BOF SLAG DE-PHOSPHORIZATION PROCESS

For economic evaluation of different options, following things are considered:
• Typical Indian slag chemistry
• Currently prevailing market price of all the inputs (SiO2, power, water etc.) and the outputs (magnetic and non-
magnetic fraction separated)
• Price for the magnetic part (Fe rich) has been considered as market price of iron ore, considering similar iron content
adjusted with SiO2 and Al2O3
• Price for non-magnetic part has been considered based on market price of phosphorite (ore for phosphate fertilizers)
adjusted for P2O5 content
From the tentative estimation, it has been observed that none of the options is economical considering current scenario due to
following reasons:
• Concentration of P2O5 is very low in comparison with phosphorite ore. Phosphorite price is only significant when
P2O5 is beyond 25%. Price for lean ore (<25%) is 7-10 US$/ton whereas price for rich ore (~ 50%) is almost 40-45
US$/ton.
• Average market price of Indian Iron ore having <55 wt.% Fe is 12-15 US$/ton. However, Fe rich slag will also have
~ 9 % Al2O3 and SiO2. So, the adjusted value of Fe rich slag will be very insignificant considering the value in use
of using ore with high SiO2 and Al2O3.
• Further to that, additional processing cost of slag will be more than 12 US$/ton due to high energy consumption for
induction furnace as well as for crushing/grinding and high-power cost in India.
• Dumping cost in India is still < 5 US$/ton, whereas same is as high as 50 US$/ton in North America.
• In addition to the above reasons, there will be significant investment, in the range of 15 Mill US$ towards setting up
of induction furnaces, slag atomisation and grinding facilities.

420
326
210 250
180 165
100 100 100

Existing
Category 1 Category 1
Existing Existing
Category 1
New Process route 1 New Process route 1 New Process route 1
New Process route 2 New Process route 2 New Process route 2

(a) CAPEX (b) OPEX (c) Benefit

Figure 8. Calculated normalized Capex, Opex and benefit compared for the three processes considered.
The normalized Capex, Opex and benefit for the three processes in question are shown in Figure 8. The new process route 1
requires more Capex and Opex than other routes as it incorporates induction furnace and slag atomization units which are
costly and consume more power. The new process route 2 is economically better than the route 1 as the capital expenditure
incurred for route 1 is very high.
Conventionally, the usage of low cost high phosphorus iron ore is not practised due to the associated high cost of
dephosphorization of steel. However, as the iron ore reserves are depleting and most of the prospective reserves in Africa,
China, etc. have high phosphorous iron ore, steel plants, in the near future, will be left with no choice but to use them. With
the evolution of technology, usage of high phosphorus iron ore can become normal practice. Their usage in iron and steel
making processes will result in generation of slag with higher content of P2O5. Additionally, dumping cost of slag will also
increase as the land availability becomes scarce. These factors can play a deciding role in determining the viability of the
proposed slag processing routes in the near future. The proposed processing routes can become economical in future if (a)

64 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

P2O5 concentration in slag becomes high with the usage of high phosphorus ore and (b) dumping cost becomes significantly
higher than the current level.

CONCLUSION
It is possible to extract values out of the most widely generated waste product of steel industry ‘BOF slag’, by processing it
using a combination of chemical modification and magnetic separation. The optimum process parameters for chemistry
modification of BOF slag using SiO2 was determined from process simulations using FactSageTM. For 11 wt.% SiO2 addition
and a heat treatment temperature of 1250 ºC, almost all C3P phase formed in the BOF slag dissolves in the C2S phase which
could be recovered in the non-magnetic fraction when magnetic separation is applied to the granulated slag. The P2O5
segregation is nearly equal between the non-magnetic and magnetic fraction in the unmodified slag. Two new industrial
processes for the BOF slag de-phosphorization have been conceived, one using induction furnace and the other using heat
treatment vessel. With phosphorus composition remaining same in the separated non-magnetic phase, the process route using
heat treatment vessel has better efficiency resulting in 62 wt.% separation of non-magnetic phase whereas it is 58% in the
process route which uses induction furnace. The economic evaluation of the proposed BOF slag de-phosphorization routes
suggests that although none of the processes are profitable under the present scenario, these processes may become
economically viable in future when the use of high phosphorus iron ore becomes a reality.

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