Process flow sheets

Production of iron and steel

Production of iron and steel

• Yellishetty, M., Ranjith, P.G. and Tharumarajah, A., 2010. Iron ore and steel production trends and material flows in the world: Is this really sustainable?. Resources, conservation and recycling, 54(12), pp.1084-1094.
Production of iron and steel

• Yellishetty, M., Ranjith, P.G. and Tharumarajah, A., 2010. Iron ore and steel production trends and material flows in the world: Is this really sustainable?. Resources, conservation and recycling, 54(12), pp.1084-1094.
Steel Production Technologies
Types of facilities:
• Integrated facilities: Process iron ore.
• Secondary facilities: Use mainly recycled steel scrap.

Integrated facility processes:

• Involve coke production, blast furnaces, and basic oxygen furnaces (BOFs) or occasionally open hearth
furnaces (OHFs).
• Convert pig iron from blast furnaces to raw steel, which is further processed into finished products.
Secondary steelmaking: Electric arc furnaces (EAFs).
Basic oxygen furnace technology

• Charge material : molten pig iron (usually around 70-80% of the charge) from the blast furnace and scrap steel
(about 20-30%). Lime or dolomite (flux materials) are also added

• Industrial oxygen then combines with the carbon in the iron generating CO2 in an exothermic reaction that melts
the charge while lowering the carbon content.

• The lime and dolomite react with the

oxides of silicon, phosphorus, and other
impurities to form a slag layer

Wolf-Zoellner, P., Medved, A.R., Lehner, M., Kieberger, N. and Rechberger, K., 2021. In Situ catalytic methanation of real steelworks gases. Energies, 14(23), p.8131.
Electric arc furnace technology
• 100% recycled steel scrap,

• Electrical energy imparted to the charge through carbon electrodes and then refined and alloyed to produce the desired

grade of steel.
Production of Lead
Production of Lead

occurrence : Lead exist in either sulphide or oxide form

• Mineral : Galena (PbS), Cerrusite (PbCO3), and

anglesite (PbSO4)

• Galena associated with ZnS, FeS, CuS, PbCO3

• Zawar mines (Rajastan)

Production of Lead

Treatment of Ore and Production of Metal

• Associated with sulphides

• Differential flotation, which can concentrate the percentage of lead in the ore

• Theoretical percentage of lead in lead sulphide ore is around 86.8

• The concentrate is roasted to the oxide which is subsequently reduced by carbon to yield metallic lead.

• During roasting, the temperature must be carefully controlled because above 800C, PbS tend to fuse

• Dwight-Lyoyd sintering machine is used for roasting

• Blast furnace operation ; Sulphur content reduced from 16-18 percent to 1-2 percent
Production of Lead

Treatment of Ore and Production of Metal (cont..)

• In the Pyro metallurgical extraction of copper, the roasting operation (heating in the presence of oxygen)) is left incomplete to

enable the formation of a matte (Copper matte is an intermediate, sulfur-rich product ), which is converted to metal to remove

iron and to oxidize sulphur before copper can be recovered

• During roasting, iron impurities in the ore are oxidized and removed, while sulfur is partially oxidized. This selective oxidation

helps in preparing the copper for the final reduction step, where it’s fully separated from impurities

• In case of lead, the presence of iron is of no consequence as lead and iron are completely immiscible. don’t mix or form an alloy.

This immiscibility allows iron to remain separate from the lead during processing.

• If iron sulfide (FeS) is present in lead ore, it first oxidizes during the roasting stage to form iron oxide.

• Later, in the blast furnace where lead is reduced, the remaining iron does not alloy with the lead, maintaining their separation.
Production of Lead : Sintering

Dwight – Lyod sintering machine operated at around 800C

• The metal is finally produced in a lead blast furnace where sintered lead is reduced by the carbon.

• Size of lead blast furnace is rather small as compared with blast furnaces used for iron production.
Production of Lead : Blast furnace operation

• Charge material for blast furnace : Sintered lead obtained from sintering machine, coke (10%), limestone (5-10
percent), Scrap iron (1%), quartz, and limestone.
• Lime stone and limestone : to obtain a slag containing the gangue material.
• Composition of slag : SiO2 : 18-35%, Fe : 30-38 %, CaO :10-20 %, and Pb: 2-4 %
• Scrap iron : helps in reducing any residual PbS left unroasted, combine with silica present to form 2FeO.SiO2,
Which lower the melting point of the slag, it keeps the lead losses
Smelting process produces four distinct layers of products

• First layer : Slag

• Second layer : Matte containing copper

• Third layer : Speiss FeAS4 + impurities [by-product contains iron arsenide (FeAs]

• Fourth layer : Lead, also called base bullion

Treatment of Base Bullion

• The lead-rich layer produced in the blast furnace, namely, the base bullion, is rich in several other
valuable elements. Each of these elements is recovered during a series of steps
Drossing

• Drossing is a combination of liquation and oxidation process, usually carried out in a reverberatory furnace.

• The base bullion is first subjected to drossing at round 350C.

• At this temperature, many metals get oxidized and are skimmed off.

• Temperature is raised to 500-550, and sulphur is added to eliminate the copper in the form of copper
sulphide
Parke’s process for desilverization of lead
• In Parke’s process, zinc is added to molten metal for desilverization of lead
• Mutual solubility of zinc and lead is low, and that silver dissolves more readily in zinc than in lead.
• The silver adsorbed by the zinc layer is subsequently recovered by distilling off the zinc.

Dezincing

• Residual zinc leftover after parke’s process, can be separated by subjecting to cupellation, where zinc is removed

by oxidation.

• Zinc can also be separated either by the application of a vaccum or by preferential chlorination with chlorine.

Debismuthizing

• Bismuth present in base bullion can be separated by the addition of calcium, and magnesium alloy

which forms an insoluble intermetallic compound with bismuth

• Conventional process : Sintering followed by blast furnace reduction
• One step smelting process appears attractive.
• PbS is oxidized to yield lead according to the reaction