MM 624: Advanced Concepts in Steelmaking

(Spring 2023)
Contact
Instructor: Deepoo Kumar | deepook@iitb.ac.in | Office: MEMS, 3rd floor, Room No. 326
Teaching Assistant: Not available yet!
Welcome to the course on Advanced Concepts in Steelmaking. This is a postgraduate level course
with six credits: 3 contact hours per week. I shall be teaching first half of the course. Second half will
be taught by Prof. Manish Pande.

Syllabus for the first half:

Week# Syllabus
1. Theme: introduction to the subject
Introduction, Revisiting thermodynamics and thermochemistry
FactSage introduction
Concept of activity
2. Theme: thermodynamic understanding of steel and slag system
Physicochemical properties of steel and slag
Brief description of slag models and structures
Phase diagrams and activity of species in slag
Equilibrium data of liquid steel-slag reactions
3. Theme: kinetics
Interfacial behavior (liquid-liquid and liquid-gas)
Rate phenomena in steelmaking
4. Theme: Introduction to primary steelmaking
Hot metal pretreatment
BOF operation and equipment
Nozzle design for oxygen lance
5. Theme: Connecting operation and theory
Fundamental studies on BOF
Recent work
Production of stainless steel
6. Theme: Stainless steel production
Thermodynamics
AOD operation and challenges
7. Theme: Alternate Steelmaking
EAF operation; comparison with BOF
EOF operation
Induction furnace

Grading scheme for the first half of the course:

Assessment Maximum
Assignments (03) 12
Quiz (01) 10, week: 5
Term paper* 8
Midsemester exam. 20

* 1 mark for topic and abstract by week-2, 3 marks for the progress report (2 pages) by week-4, 4
marks for the final report by week-7.
Some suggestions for term paper topics: Term paper topics could be of industrial importance;
connection to fundamental knowledge is appreciated. The work should involve calculations related to
thermodynamics and/or kinetics or industrial practices. Topics can also be related to fundamental
concepts or issues. Some examples are as follows:
Hot metal pretreatment: Fluxes for hot metal pretreatment, case studies from the plant
BOF operation: usage of sub-lance, Auxiliaries for BOF e.g. gases, water, refractory. Reducing CO 2
emissions associated in primary steelmaking. Use of CO2 for bottom stirring.
EAF operation: Slag foaming practice, mass balance for EAF operation, balancing chemical and
electrical energies in EAF.
AOD: AOD operating practices, Modeling of AOD process. Gas flow rate calculations.
Fundamental topics: Effect of surface tension on interfacial instabilities, Measurement of oxide
activities in slag systems, Solution models for liquid steel and liquid slag
Please note that you cannot use the seminar topic as the term paper topic for this course.

General policies for the course:

 Students are expected to attend all of the lectures and participate in the discussion.
 All assignments must be submitted before the deadline. Request of postponement will not be
entertained in general. Assignments will be due on every other Mondays. We will have a
discussion session on alternate Fridays during regular class hours.
 Plagiarism is not acceptable for any course assessments. It includes copying content from
others/internet for assignments/quiz/term-paper/midsem. You are encouraged to discuss
assignment problems with your classmates. However, these discussions must be declared on your
assignment submission. Any incident related to plagiarism shall be reported to the academic
office for further disciplinary actions.