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Big Picture A - in A Nutshell Activity

Steel production requires large amounts of metallurgical coal. There are two main processes: coke making and iron making. (1) In coke making, coking coal is heated to high temperatures to drive off impurities and leave nearly pure carbon as coke. (2) In iron making, iron ore, coke, and limestone are fed into a blast furnace where coke provides carbon to reduce iron oxides into liquid iron, which is then processed further. Modern steelmaking also uses basic oxygen furnaces, electric arc furnaces, pulverized coal injection, and recycling to produce steel more efficiently while reducing environmental impacts.

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Johndell H Castrodes
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62 views2 pages

Big Picture A - in A Nutshell Activity

Steel production requires large amounts of metallurgical coal. There are two main processes: coke making and iron making. (1) In coke making, coking coal is heated to high temperatures to drive off impurities and leave nearly pure carbon as coke. (2) In iron making, iron ore, coke, and limestone are fed into a blast furnace where coke provides carbon to reduce iron oxides into liquid iron, which is then processed further. Modern steelmaking also uses basic oxygen furnaces, electric arc furnaces, pulverized coal injection, and recycling to produce steel more efficiently while reducing environmental impacts.

Uploaded by

Johndell H Castrodes
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Joshua Samm H.

Castrodes

IV - BS Chemical Engineering

In a Nutshell Activity

I. Steel is one of the essential metals (alloys) playing an important role for the growth
and development of modern technological society. It has various uses in our day to day
life. Therefore, we are to produce it in various industrials processes that can produce a
huge amount to meet the increasing demand of it. However, it takes a lot of processes
before steel is produced or form. As a future material scientist/engineer, can you think
of a better way on how steel can be produced? Given the limited discussion about steel
making/manufacturing in the previous section, include in your discussion the modern
way/s on how steel is formed.

As of 2018, there is a minimum of 1.8 billion tons of world crude steel production
present. Since global steel production requires the use of coal materials which is 70% of the
steel being produced were made of it. It is because metallurgical coal or coking coal is an
essential ingredient in the steel making process. Steel, as an alloy primarily based iron, only
occurs to this type of alloy wherein iron oxides in the earth’s crust, then, ores were being
converted or reduced, using the carbon. Simply means, coking coal is the only primary
source of it.

Starting with the raw materials, there is only two stages or process being done; coke
making and iron making. The coal making process starts with a coking coal as it being
converted to coke by driving off impurities, which the coking coal must have low Sulphur
and phosphorous content, to leave almost pure carbon at the end. The coking coal will be
soften, liquefy and then re-solidify into hard but porous lumps as heat was introduced with
the absence of air. This process is called pyrolysis wherein coking coal must be heated to
around 1000 to 1100 degrees Celsius. Then, these cokes undergo coking process in a coke
battery which takes over long periods between 12 to 36 hours in it. Once they are done, it
will be pulled out then poured with either water or air to cool before transferring directly
as to be used for iron making.

Next, the iron making process takes place or integrated smelting. A blast furnace is
fed with the iron ore, coke and small quantities of fluxes like minerals (limestones = to
collect impurities). Heated air about 1200 degrees Celsius being blown into the furnace
through nozzles which causes the coke to burn, then, it produces carbon monoxide which
reacts with the iron ore at the same time to melt the iron itself. Finally, the tap holes at the
bottom of the furnace were opened and molten iron and impurities were drained off.

Integrated smelting is done which followed by basic oxygen surface and electric arc
furnaces. Some are using other steel production methods like pulverized coal injection
(PCI) or Recycling which will be later discussed. First, basic oxygen furnace is the most
commonly applied process for steel making. Inside the furnace, iron is combined with
different types of steel craps which is around 30% and minimal amounts of flux. It then
introduced in a vessel that blows 99% pure oxygen causing a temperature stroked up to
1700 degrees Celsius which is called a lance. The impurities were oxidized, the scraps were
melted, and a 90% reduced carbon content which results into a liquid steel. Some products
proceeds with a secondary steel making processes where in addition of boron, chromium
and molybdenum were done to meet and ensure the steel’s properties specifications.
Furnaces will produce about 74% of the steel which the electric arc furnaces are
introduced to suffice the remaining 25%.

Electric arc furnace process or mini-mill does not involve iron-making since it
reuses existing steel to avoid the need of raw materials and continuing the same process.
With that, furnace is charged with steel crap and can be added with direct reduced iron
(DRI) or pig iron for the chemical balance. This process operates an electrical charge
between two electrodes that produces heat. The heat rises up to a temperature of 1600
degrees Celsius which melts the scrap and impurities then draining off slag trough the tap
hole. Simply, electric arc furnaces do not involves coal as a raw material.

Other steel production methods like the pulverized coal injection (PCI) technology
consists of injecting coal directly into the blast furnace to make the carbon for iron making
process. It has wider range of coal that includes steam coal which has lower carbon content
than coking coal. It gives number advantages like reducing the overall costs and prolonging
the life existence of the coke batteries. The last one is recycling where in steel is 100%
being treated to the recycle process. It will be used into the basic oxygen furnace that caters
30% recycled steel or craps and around 90 to 100 % are used for the electric arc furnaces
and repeating its process.

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