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Lecture 2

The document outlines the chief raw materials and processes involved in steelmaking, including sources of metallic iron, oxidizing agents, fluxes, sources of heat, deoxidizers, and alloying additions. It compares modern steel production methods, highlighting the advantages of the Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) over the Open Hearth process, and contrasts BOF with Electric Arc Furnaces (EAF) in terms of flexibility and productivity. Additionally, it discusses the importance of scrap preparation and the impact of residuals on steel properties.

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Sojeeb Ahmed
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2 views

Lecture 2

The document outlines the chief raw materials and processes involved in steelmaking, including sources of metallic iron, oxidizing agents, fluxes, sources of heat, deoxidizers, and alloying additions. It compares modern steel production methods, highlighting the advantages of the Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) over the Open Hearth process, and contrasts BOF with Electric Arc Furnaces (EAF) in terms of flexibility and productivity. Additionally, it discusses the importance of scrap preparation and the impact of residuals on steel properties.

Uploaded by

Sojeeb Ahmed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The chief raw materials for steelmaking are as

follows:
➢ Sources of metallic iron
➢ Oxidizing agents
➢ Fluxes
➢ Sources of heat
➢ Deoxidisers and alloying additions
➢ Furnace refractories
1. Sources of metallic iron
2 sources of metallic iron for steel making:

▪ Primary: molten pig iron(hot metal) or solid


pig iron and solid sponge iron or DRI(direct
reduced iron)

▪ Secondary: steel scrap. Steel plant itself


generates scrap about 30-45% of its ingot
production.
Scrap proportion in charge: the proportion of
scrap in the charge varies from process to
process depending upon the available input
energy.

Process Scrap consumption


Bessemer Upto 8%
Open hearth Upto 75%
Electric Upto 100%
Oxygen steelmaking Upto 45%
Scrap preparation: steel scrap may be contaminated
with non-ferrous metals like Sn, Cu, Ni etc.

Not possible to oxidise these during refining, so they


remain as residuals in steel. Recycled again and again
these residuals build up. Which affect the steel
properties adversely.

Scrap is classified according to its physical & chemical


condition. Physical classification based on size of scrap.
Chemical classification segregation of scrap in terms of
alloy contents and making the same type of alloy steel
2. Oxidising Agents
Oxidising agents: iron oxide, air and oxygen gas
Iron oxide : In the form of lumpy hematite ore and mill
scale. Mill scale is the oxide of iron produced during hot
fabrication of steel. Iron oxide improves the yield of the
process but it needs thermal energy to dissociate itself
for making oxygen available.
Air is used in Bessemer process but nitrogen present in
air gets dissolved in steel and makes brittle
Oxygen gas has become a useful oxidising agent in BOF
processes. The purity of oxygen should at least be
99.5%
3. Fluxes
Flux is added during smelting and refining
➢ to bring down the softening point of the gangue
materials, so reduce the viscosity of slag and
➢ to decrease the activity of some components to
make it stable in the slag phase

Lime/limestone is added to make the slag basic


enough to retain P & S.

Fluorspar & bauxite are added to decrease the


viscosity of refining slags.
4. Sources of Heat
➢ Bessemer & BOF’s are autogeneous since enough
heat is generated by the exothermic oxidation of
impurities. Need hot metal to run the process but
heat generated more than necessary so that
scrap/iron ore is required to keep the temperature
within limit. These processes cannot be run with
cold charges alone.
➢ As against this, open hearth and electric arc
processes provide a source of heat to melt the
solid charges to maintain temperature inside the
furnace. These take upto 100% cold charges
The sources of heat are:
Chemical: solid- pulverised fuel
liquid- oils, tar
gas- producer,water,natural, etc gases
Burn with excess air and the furnace atmosphere
would always be oxidising
Electrical: induction heating
resistance heating
arc heating
Electric furnaces have no atmosphere and hence
oxidising and reducing conditions can be maintained
with the help of suitable slags
5. Deoxidisers & Alloying Additions
➢ Elements like Al, Si, Mn, etc are added primarily as
common oxidisers
➢ Elements like Zr, B, Ti, etc. are added for
deoxidation in special cases and
➢ Elements like Cr, W, Mo, V ,Ni, Nb, etc. are added
generally as alloying additions
➢ Carbon is added to recarburise steel or as a
deoxidiser under vacuum
➢ Excess addition of Al, Si, Mn, Ti can also remain as
alloying additions
6. Furnace refractories
➢ Steel making furnace is lined by suitable refractory
materials. The lining is erroded during steel-making and
hence the lining material is also required as a recurring
consumable raw material.
➢ The lining is made either by laying bricks or by shaping
the required contour in situ using a refractory mix
➢ The materials used for lining acid furnaces and acid
roofs of basic furnaces are essentially silica-sand,
ganister, etc.
➢ Since the bulk steel production comes from basic
process, dolomite & dolomite enriched with magnesite
are used as lining materials for basic furnaces.
Overview of Modern
Steelmaking
METHODS PRESENTLY USED FOR STEEL
PRODUCTION
• Today, the production of plain carbon steels
follows two major routes—the integrated BF
(blast furnace)–BOF (basic oxygen furnace, which
is the new name for the LD process) and

• the scrap/DRI (direct reduced iron or sponge


iron)—EAF route.

• Alloy steels are generally made in EAFs and


electric induction furnaces.
Open hearth vs BOF

➢ Due to simplicity and flexibility, BOF produces


high-quality steels, BOF steelmaking rapidly
began to replace the then existing open hearth
furnaces.

➢ quicker, i.e. steel of the required carbon content


could be made in less than 60 minutes instead of
6–8 hours required in open hearth furnaces.
BOF vs EAF
• No external heat was necessary, because the heat
generated by the oxidation of carbon and the other
impurities in hot metal (mainly silicon and
phosphorus) made the BOF process autogeneous.

• Due to its high productivity , a continuous supply of


molten iron from blast furnaces is needed since the
BOF process cycle cannot be interrupted and the
converter kept idle for long intervals.

• This imposes some restrictions on the overall


flexibility of the process.
BOF vs EAF cont
▪ In contrast, the EAF route where electrical energy
and gaseous/solid oxygen sources (like iron ore)
fulfill the requirements of oxidising the impurities in
hot metal, can be started/stopped as required to
match variants like steel demand, availability of
input materials, etc.
▪ EAFs can be economical in heat sizes ranging from
30t to 200t while BOFs are normally between 100t to
300t.
• The EAFs originally depended on the availability of
scrap and were restricted to the production of long
products owing to the heat cycle time and the heat
size.

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