By:Chirag Sharma Amit Sankhe
STEEL INDUSTRY
What is Steel ?
In the beginning, there was iron...
Then came cast iron...
...and finally steel
General Issues about Steel
Steel has been called the worlds most useful and inexpensive metal. In recent decades, steel manufacturers have been forced to take a much closer look at what their processes have been doing to the fragile environment around them.
What is Steel used for - I
The structure of the Pyramid of the Louvre, canned food, oil platforms, catalytic converters, paper clips, mounts for electronic chips...are all made of steel.
1. In the construction of bridges or buildings... 2. In the automobile sector...
What is Steel used for-II
3. For everyday uses: cans,pots,containers,etc...
4.
At the heart of food preservation...
5. In communications. 6. In energy.
7. In health...
How Steel is made
Raw
Material:
Carbon in the form of coke Iron ore (Fe2O3) Limestone (CaCO3) Air
Coke
Solid residue product from the destructive distillation of coal. About 80 to 95% C. Made by heating black coal in small ovens at 300 C for 24 hours in a coke plant.
The
Consists of oxides in nature of iron and oxygen Primarily magnetite (Fe3O4) or hematite (Fe2O3) The blast furnace basically separates the iron from the oxygen in a reduction process Mined primarily in Australia, Brazil and Canada.
iron ore
The
limestone
Acts as a flux converts impurities in the ore into a fuseable slag
Air
Preheated by fuel gas from the coke ovens to about 1000 C. Delivered to the blast furnace at 6,000 m3/min Passes through furnace and burns the coke to produce heat required and also generates the carbon monoxide.
Typical
blast furnace:
1.6 tons of iron ore 0.18 tons of limestone 0.6 tons of coke 2 -3 tons of preheated air
The Blast Furnace:
Stands 300 feet tall Designed to run continuously for 4 -5 years before being relined. Heat generated by burning coke in the preheated air. Coke acts as reducing agent and changes to carbon monoxide (the reducing agent) which removes the oxygen from the iron oxide.
The Blast Furnace:
The bottom zone reaches temperature of 1800 C this is where iron is tapped off. The top zone where coke is burned and moisture driven off. At bottom slag coagulates and is removed.
The
Blast Furnace:
Products from the blast furnace: Iron stored in steel shelled ladles Pig iron (brittle w/ 4% carbon)
Reactions which takes place during the process
Oxygen in the air reacts with coke to give carbon dioxide: C(s) + O 2(g) CO2(g) The limestone breaks down to form carbon dioxide: CaCO3(s) CO2 (g) + CaO(s)
Carbon dioxide produced in 1 + 2 react with more coke to produce carbon monoxide:
CO2(g) + C(s) 2CO(g)
To make steel, iron ore is first mined from the ground. It is then smelted in blast furnaces where the impurities are removed and carbon is added. In fact, a very simple definition of steel is "iron alloyed with carbon, usually less than 1%."
Blast furnaces require many auxiliary facilities to support their operations. However, in simplest terms, the furnace itself is a huge steel shell almost cylindrical in shape and lined with heat-resistant brick.
Once started, or "blown-in," the furnace operates continuously until the refractory lining needs renewal or until demand for iron drops to the point where the furnace is closed down. The duration of furnace operations from start to finish is referred to as a "campaign" and may last several years.
Iron ore and other iron bearing materials, coke and limestone are charged into the furnace from the top and work their way down, becoming hotter as they sink in the body of the furnace which is called the stack.
In the top half of the furnace, gas from burning coke removes a great deal of oxygen from the iron ore. About halfway down, limestone begins to react with impurities in the ore and the coke to form a slag.
Ash from the coke is absorbed by the slag. Some silica in the ore is reduced to silicon and dissolves in the iron as does some carbon in the coke. At the bottom of the furnace where temperatures rise well over 3000 Fahrenheit, molten slag floats on a pool of molten iron which is four or five feet deep.
Because the slag floats on top of the iron it is possible to drain it off through a slag notch in the furnace. The molten iron is released from the hearth of the furnace through a tap hole. The tapping of iron and slag is the major factor permitting additional materials to be charged at the furnace top.
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