Alternative ironmaking technologies

摘要

The blast furnace ironmaking process had, until recently, been the unchallenged method of making hot metal on a large scale. However, with the world witnessing a gradual shift from integrated steel plants using the Blast Furnace-BOF route to relatively smaller plants (i.e. mini-mills based essentially on electric arc furnaces), alternative means of producing iron units have come into vogue to complement the blast furnace. New methods like DR (direct reduction) and SR (smelting reduction) have been developed to provide the feedstock necessary for EAF steelmaking, which earlier used scrap (a commodity now in short supply) as the only feed stock. These DR and SR- processes developed within the last decade or so are, in fact, one generation ahead of the classical blast furnace in terms of versatility as well as environmental friendliness. These factors are receiving increasing attention in recent times and, therefore, the production of direct reduced iron (DRI) and SR hot metal can be expected to increase in the years ahead. It has already been recognised that both DR and SR are raw materials as well as location specific. Therefore, it is important to assess the applicability of DR and SR technologies in the Indian context keeping certain unique characteristics of Indian iron ore and coal in view.