APPCB

PUBLICATION 129

INFORMATION
BULLETIN

SEPTEMBER, 2006

CLEANER PRODUCTION AND CODE OF PRACTICE

IN SPONGE IRON SECTOR
BACKGROUND
Sponge iron also called Direct Reduced Iron (DRI), is mostly used for steel
making through conventional melting and treatment process in Electric Arc
Furnace or Induction Furnace. It is used widely as substitute to steel scrap. Due to
shortage of steel scrap in the country coupled with the extremely volatile
international pricing of steel scrap, more and more DRI is now used for steel
making in India. Raw materials like iron ore, coal and dolomite are available at
competitive prices in the country. As of today about 20 per cent of the
sponge iron produced worldwide is made in India.
There were 23 plants in 2000-2001, with a production capacity of 6.97
million tonnes (MMT). Today there are 206 sponge iron plants in the
country with a capacity of a staggering 19 MMT. It was estimated in
the near future that the country will have 431 sponge iron plants with a
production capacity of 44 Million Tonnes. This is a very serious number
from the environment and health perspective.
The major problem with the Indian sponge iron industry is basically
from coal-based sponge iron manufacturing. "Coal-based sponge iron
production is extremely polluting. A typical 100 TPD sponge iron plant
consumes 160-175 tonnes of iron ore, 120- 150 tonnes of coal, 3.5-5
tonnes of dolomite and 120-160 tonnes of water, everyday. In return
they emit 180-200 tonnes of carbon dioxide, 1-2 tonnes of dust (if they
are equipped with required pollution control equipment, otherwise dust
emissions can be as high as 10 tonnes per day), 25-30 tonnes of char,
10-15 of dust from pollution control equipment and 2.5-3.5 tonnes of
kiln accretion every day. The total pollution load from a 100 TPD plant
can be as high as 230-250 tonnes per day.
There are 22 sponge iron industries in A.P. located in Mahaboobnagar(10),
Nalgonda(4), Krishna(2), Khammam(1), Vizianagaram(2), Chittoor(1), Kurnool(1)
and Ananthapur(1) Districts. There is a mushrooming growth of Sponge Iron
Industry especially in Mahaboobnagar District after 2002. All the plants in AP are
Coal based.
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ANDHRA PRADESH POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, CLEANER PRODUCTION CELL

SEMINAR ON SPONGE IRON INDUSTRY:

A One day seminar on cleaner production and code of practice in sponge iron
sector in Andhra Pradesh was conducted by APPCB on 18th August 2006 at
A.P. Pollution Control Board, Head Office, Hyderabad. During the seminar the
Cleaner Production options, waste minimization techniques for the benefit of
Sponge Iron sector and to suggest recommendation for growth of industry in
harmony with environment were deliberated. This seminar was graced by Dr.
B. Sen Gupta, Member Secretary, CPCB. Delegates from sponge iron industry
sector, various committee members of APPCB and technical & scientific staff of
APPCB have attended this Seminar. Sri Rajeshwar Tiwari, I.A.S.,
Member
Secretary, APPCB has addressed the gathering.
WHAT IS SPONGE IRON
The process of sponge iron making aims to remove oxygen from iron ore. When
that occurs, the departing oxygen causes micro pores in the ore body making it
porous. The final product, when observed under a microscope, resembles a
honeycomb structure looking spongy in texture and hence, this product is called
Sponge Iron.
TECHNOLOGY
Sponge iron is produced by reduction of iron ore in the solid phase using either
solid (non coking coal) or gas (Reformed natural gas or coal gasification) as
reductant. Besides supplying the reducing agents, namely carbon monoxide and
hydrogen, the energy requirement for the reduction reaction is also supplied by a
part of the reductant as fuel.
Sponge iron plants are based on two major commercially established
technologies, namely coal based rotary kilns and gas based shaft furnace
reactors. The coal based rotary kilns produced DRI lumps / pellets being more
stable can be stored for longer time. The gas based shaft furnace produces DRI
that needs to be used immediately or converted to blocks of Hot Briquette Iron
(HBI) that can be packed and stored for longer time.
Coal Based Technologies: Iron ore (Hematite) and non-coking coal are the
prime raw materials for the production of sponge iron. The feed material
consisting of pre-determined quantities of iron ore, coal & lime stone is fed
continuously to the rotary kiln at the feed end. Due to its inclination and the
continuous rotation of the kiln, the charge moves from feed end to discharge end.
The temperatures required by the process are maintained and controlled by predetermined quantity of combustion air injected in to the kiln through air tubes
along the length of the kiln. The discharge end of the kiln requires high
temperatures of 950C to 1050C to be maintained. For this purpose additional
fuels such as oil, gas or fine grained coal along with air are blown through the
central burner/ coal throwing pipe at the discharge end of the kiln. The flow of the
gases is counter current to the material flow. The kiln is usually operated with
slight positive pressure to prevent intrusion of the unregulated air. During the
passage of the material through the kiln, iron ore lumps / pellets and coal get dried
and preheated to the reduction temperature in the initial stages and progressively
iron ore is reduced by carbon monoxide generated from the coal under control
combustion conditions. When the charge reaches the discharge end of the kiln the
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ANDHRA PRADESH POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, CLEANER PRODUCTION CELL

reduction of the iron ore will almost be completed. The chemical reactions which
take place in the kiln are
C + O2
CO2 + C
3Fe2O3 + CO
Fe3O4 + CO
FeO + CO

CO2
2CO
2Fe3O4 + CO2
3FeO + CO2
Fe + CO2

The process flow sheet of coal based technology is shown below.The metallised
product and excess, unburnt coal normally called char is discharged from the
cooler. In the cooler the product is cooled to around 100C by indirect water
spraying before discharging to the open air. The cooler discharge material is taken
to product separation system where it is screened and magnetically separated
into sponge iron (magnetic) and char (non magnetic). The hot gases from the kiln
pass through dust settling chamber, where heavier particles of dust settles down
located below the ABC (After Burner Chamber), where the unburnt carbon
monoxide and carbon particles if any are burnt. The gases with finer fraction of
dust (P.M. 30 gm/Nm3) pass directly through waste gases cleaning system or
through waste gas heat recovery boiler and cleaning system as the case may be.
Sponge Iron Manufacturing Process

Gas Based Technologies:

The gas based technologies are capable of using either natural gas associated
with oil or reducing gas derived from coal. The usage of natural gas for production
of HBI is only limited to the western region of India due to availability of gas.

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ANDHRA PRADESH POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, CLEANER PRODUCTION CELL

Available Module Sizes in India

Coal based plants are available in module sizes in the range of 50 TPD (15000
TPA), 100 TPD (30,000 TPA), 300/350 TPD (100,000/120,000 TPA) and 500 TPD
(150,000 TPA).
POLLUTION IMPACTS:
Sponge iron units are highly air polluting industries. They also generate huge
amount of solid waste as char from the process and fine dust retained in the air
pollution control devices.
The hot flue gas which flows in counter current direction of the materials inside the
rotary kiln finally passes through ABC (After Burning Chamber) where residual
carbon or CO is burnt by the excess air available at high temperature at about
1000OC. The heavier dust particles settle in dust settling chamber placed below
ABC and the flue gas containing high quantity of fine dust particles (P.M. 30
gm/Nm3) is released to the atmosphere at a temperature of 900OC in the form of
dense fume through a chimney. If no pollution control device is installed, it
becomes a major source of air pollution, which is responsible for dust pollution in
the surrounding area. Most of the fugitive dust and source emission from sponge
iron process are invisible micro fine respirable particulate matter which causes
varieties of human ailments like respiratory ailments leading to loss in work
efficiency. Air Pollution is one of the biggest hazards from Sponge Iron plants
where fine coal dust and fugitive emissions will play a vital role in damaging plants
and health of the inhabitants if properly not controlled.
Air Pollution Point Sources
 Kiln Flue Gases after ABC ( Control equipment ESPs / Bag Filters/ Wet
Scrubbers)
 Emergency Stack / Safety Cap above the ABC to maintain positive
pressure inside kiln and avoid CO related explosions
 Cooler Discharge
 Product House
 Iron Ore and Coal Crushing
Fugitive emissions sources
 Raw material handling yard ( Unloading, stacking, reclaiming operations)
 Product discharge system (Cooler discharge conveyers transfer points,
junction house, screens, magnetic separators, storage silo, truck loading
and parking operations- Control equipment of water sprinklers, bag filters,
covered product house, covered conveyor belt).
 The source of fugitive emissions and their control measures are given
below:

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ANDHRA PRADESH POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, CLEANER PRODUCTION CELL

SI.No
Sources of fugitive dust emission
1
Raw material handling & preparation area

2
3
4
5
6
7

9
10
11
12

13

14

15

Control measures prescribed

Automised
water
spraying
system. Work zone should be
concreted
Pulse jet Bag Filter & automised
water spraying nozzles
Pulse jet Bag Filter & automised
water spraying nozzles
Enclosures and Pulse jet Bag
Filter
Pulse jet Bag Filter

Crushing and screening of coal (Coal

circuit)
Crushing and screening of iron ore (Iron
ore circuit)
All material transfer points and conveyor
belt
Discharge points of Raw material storage
bins
Raw material feeding point into kiln
Pulse jet Bag Filter
Coal injection point into kiln
Pulse jet Bag Filter with recycling
of coal fines back into the coal
injection system
Leakage from slip rings of the rotary kiln
Realignment of the kiln and
changing of seal/ packing
materials
during
shutdown
period
Cooler discharge circuit
Pulse jet Bag Filter
Intermediate bins in between cooler Pulse jet Bag Filter
discharge area and product separation unit
Product separation unit
Pulse jet Bag Filter
Wind blown dust from solid waste dump Provision of boundary wall
yard
around the dump yard, covering
by earth and automised water
spraying on the dump area by
rotating nozzles
Handling of fine dust retained in the Air locking valves, enclosures,
hoppers of the bag filters and ESP
pneumatic conveyor system /
pug mill/ mechanical dust
handling system
Transport roads
Construction of Black topped/
concrete internal roads and
approach roads. Installation of
rotating type water sprinkling
nozzles along the roads.
Transport of materials/ solid waste
Vehicles should be covered

Even after installation all pollution control devices in the plant, the ambient air
quality with regard to SPM and RSPM, do not meet the standard many times due
to the following reasons:
1.
2.

Bad house keeping,

Internal and approach roads not black topped/ concreted, work zone not
concreted. Loose dust periodically not removed from roads, which
become airborne.

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ANDHRA PRADESH POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, CLEANER PRODUCTION CELL

3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Unloading of raw materials, loading of chars and fined carelessly.

Trucks not covered and there is spillage of materials on the road during
transportation.
Fine loose dust form the work zone and raw material and solid waste
dump yards become wind borne during stormy weather.
Leakage of flue gas through kiln cap in between power failure and start
up of D.G.
Bad maintenance and malfunctioning of ESP/ Bag Filters/ dust handling
systems.
Inadequate water sprinkling.
ESP/ BF dust handling system not mechanized. Dust collection points
under the hoppers properly not enclosed.
Most of the sponge iron industries do not have dedicated team for
proper house keeping and attending to pollution problems.

Solid Waste Generation

 Char & Dolo Char
 Flue Dust,
 GCT /GCP Plant sludge,
 Fly Ash and
 Kiln accretions
CHAR & DOLA CHAR STORAGE SHED:
The Production of Char & Dola Char will be 40% of the total production of
Sponge Iron and this is easily salable to Brick Kilns, and power generation
units.
Maintain less stones and not to allow the material exposed to water.
Cost of the shed is Rs.30 lakhs.
Pay back period one to two years
Quantity of dust collected per day is 40 tons and sold at Rs.200/- per ton.
CLEANER PRODUCTION OPTIONS FOR SPONGE IRON INDUSTRY
Selection of Quality Raw Materials: The quality of raw materials selected will
effect quality of the product at the same time will determine the amount of
pollution load generated and wastes generation. Hence the higher grade of raw
materials (Iron ore, Coal and Dolomite) may be selected for better yields of
Sponge Iron production.
Waste Heat Recovery: Pre-heating system can be provided for raw material feed
for units having production capacity of 50 TPD and 100 TPD to recover the waste
heat from kiln flue gases. One such unit has already been in operation at Bellary,
Karnataka.
The following are the benefits of preheating system:
1. The cost of production as compared without pre-heater is low.
2. As the preheating system is provided which will ensure reduction of coal
consumption in the preheating zone of the kiln and for the material may
consume less time to reach in the reduction zone, this may enhance
production.

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ANDHRA PRADESH POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, CLEANER PRODUCTION CELL

3. The unburnt carbon particles, volatiles, dust and left over carbon monoxide
will be burnt in presence of excess air in the pre-heater, their by reducing
the emission levels substantially.
4. The consumption of water will be substantially reduced in the GCT due to
low flue gas temperature.
Co-Generation: Sponge Iron plants of 2X100 TPD / 3X100 TPD and more
capacities with FBC boiler will give consistency in power generation which can be
used for production of steel as a downstream facility to make the project
economically viable. This will not only help in gaining carbon credits for more
financial gains but also ensures continuous power supply for plant operation.
Automisation / Optimisation of Process: Entire process may be automated
through Programmed Logic Control (PLC) to eliminate human errors causing
pollution and affecting the quality of the product. The opening and closing of the
cap of bypass stack shall be electronically recorded with time and duration.
Interlocking facility should be provided between ESP operation and raw material
feeding.
Solid Waste Management: The various types of solid waste generated in the
process can be used as a raw material for making use as detailed below
1. Coal fines collected in the coal crushing dedusting system can be mixed
with char fines and made into briquettes which can be used as a fuel in any
system.
2. Maximum utilization of solid waste like Char and Dolchar, for brick making,
cement making should be taken up.
3. Fly ash collected from the waste gas cleaning system (ABC, GCT & ESP)
can be used for making fly ash bricks.
4. Bag filter dust collected in the product circuit can also be used as activated
carbon in edible oil refineries.
5. Kiln accretions and slag may be used in filling the low lying areas,
abandoned mines and for road making.
Energy Audit and Energy Conservation:
In Sponge Iron industries, induction motors consume around 90% of the electricity
used. Even a small increment in the efficiency of these motors can result in
substantial savings which can be possible by adopting
1. System Power Factor should be increased by connecting proper capacitors
2. Variable frequency drives to be installed
3. Shedding of non-essential loads. Eg:- Lighting, Idle running of the motors
(screen, crusher and product circuits) and pumps (water circuit).
Training: The managements need training / awareness on different aspects of
operational and maintenance of the entire plant for sustainable development of
sponge iron sector. This will ensure competent technical manpower to properly
manage the pollution control systems, process and quality of production of the
Sponge Iron.
APPCB GUIDELINES FOR SETTING UP OF SPONGE IRON UNITS
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ANDHRA PRADESH POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, CLEANER PRODUCTION CELL

Based on the recommendations of the Technical Committee, APPCB has

formulated the following guidelines for establishing the sponge iron plants:
 No habitation shall exist within 1 km from the periphery of the unit.
 In case of recreational areas the distance shall be 2 km from the periphery.
 No other Sponge iron plants shall be located within 1km.
 The distance between the boundary of the site and the boundary of the
 National Highway and State Highway shall be - 500 m
 Major District roads - 100 m, other roads - 25 m.
 The distance between the boundary of the site and the boundary of
the gardens / horticulture / orchards / agricultural lands - 1 km.
 The built-up area of the plant shall not be more than 50% of total area.
 Greenbelt of 10 m width all around the plant premises shall be developed.
In the case of sensitive areas the greenbelt shall be 25 mts width in the
prevailing wind direction. The greenbelt development shall be done with
Locally Suitable Evergreen plants.
 The SPM emission concentration in stack shall not be more than 100
mg/NM3. The control equipments ESP or bag filters will have 25% addition
stand by stages for ESP or bag cells for bag filter.
 The height of the stack attached to the Rotary Kiln shall be minimum 75 m
from the ground level for 100 T/day and 100 m for 200 T/day capacities.
 All sources of fugitive emissions i.e., loading and unloading operations,
stock yard, transfer points of conveyors and retreat points shall be
controlled fully i.e., with total enclosures and all transfer emissions shall be
connected with Extractor inlet point and shall pass through a high efficiency
Bag filter before discharging into the atmosphere.
 All internal roads shall be paved with Bitumen or Concrete.
 Separate energy meter for air pollution control equipment shall be provided.
 Iron ore and coal stocks shall be with totally covered shed.
ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS AND CODE OF PRACTICE FOR POLLUTION
PREVENTION FOR SPONGE IRON PLANTS AS PROPOSED BY CPCB.
CPCB has proposed environmental standard and Code of Practice for Pollution
Prevention for Sponge Iron Plants comprising of Stack Emission Standards, Stack
Emission Standards from de-dusting units and Fugitive Emission Standards Code
of Practice for Pollution Prevention for (i) Raw Material handling and Preparation
(ii) Cooler Discharge and Product Separation Unit, Effluent Discharge Standards,
Noise Levels Standards and Solid Waste Management. These will be notified
shortly.
RECOMMENDATIONS OF SEMINAR:
The following were the recommendations of the seminar apart from the points
mentioned at the Cleaner Production options.
 Iron ore benefication plants may be encouraged to be set up at mines itself
with crushing facility suitable for sponge iron industry and fines pelletisation
facilities.
 Washing of iron ore and pelletisation of -5mm size ore may be taken up at
the plant site till the establishment of pithead ore benefication plants.
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ANDHRA PRADESH POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, CLEANER PRODUCTION CELL

 Habitation may come up within the one km radius after commissioning of

the plants and there is possibility of public complaints, in spite of adhering
to the siting guidelines at the time of taking CFE (NOC of APPCB).
Exclusive IDAs / IEs may be developed for sponge iron industry
considering the various factors like availability of waste lands, away from
habitation and other environmental considerations and proximity to the raw
materials and market. Concept of Eco Industrial Estates may be taken up in
establishing the IDAs and IEs.
 All the sponge iron plants must aim at obtaining ISO-14001 certification
which reflects on self regulation, better EMP and adoption of Cleaner
Production & waste minimization technologies.
For further information and assistance contact :
Mr. S. Surya Prasad, B. Raghavendra Rao
Mr. K. Ravi Kumar, Smt. Geeta Sapare.
Cleaner Production Cell, A.P.Pollution Control Board,
Paryavaran Bhavan, A-3, Industrial Estate, Sanathnagar, Hyderabad 500 018.

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ANDHRA PRADESH POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, CLEANER PRODUCTION CELL