Alternative iron feedstocks for EAF steelmaking:value in use

摘要

Historically,the feed mateials for the electric arc furnace (EAF),have been either steel or iron based scrap.As the electric furnace has evolved into the production of higher quality products,the need for cleaner,residual free feed-stocks has become a concern.The production of direct reduced iron (DRI) dates back thousands of years.DRI production takes place at temperatures below the melting point of the iron product and that of the iron ore.Early production techniques consisted of batch processes where a source of carbon (generally wood or coal) were buried along with iron ore.This mixture was stoked with air but only in such quantities necessary to burn some of the carbon source sub-stoichiometrically.The resulting CO gas reacted with the iron ore,removing oxygen and leaving behind a metallic iron product.Due to the nature of the reduction process,the product was extremely porous in nature and was aptly named "sponge iron". Early DRI processes were small in size and were capable of producing only small quantities of sponge iron.While these were sufficient for the needs at the time,these processes are not effective for producing DRI for tonnage steelmaking operations.