MM3020: Iron making and

steelmaking (2012-13-II)
Instructor In charge: Dr. Ajay Kumar Shukla
Department of Metallurgical and Materials
Engineering
IIT Madras, India
 Learning Objectives
 To apply the principles of physical chemistry and transport
phenomena (heat, mass and momentum) to the process steps in Iron
and Steelmaking as practiced in integrated steel plants.

 Be able to understand basic layout of blast furnace, steelmaking shop

and continuous casting process.

 To develop computational and mathematical abilities to be applied for

process design and control. It may be C++, MATLAB, Excel-Solver,
FlowBal, FactSage or any other language of interest.

 Be able to model, optimize and control various reactors involved in

steel plant supply chain.

 Be able to function in an integrated steel plant/corporate center and

R&D ventures
 Text books:
• Ironmaking and Steelmaking: Theory vs. Practice: Ahindra Ghosh and Amit
Chatterjee
• Principles of Blast Furnace Ironmaking: A.K. Biswas
• Fundamentals of Steelmaking Metallurgy: Brahma Deo, Rob Boom
• Fundamentals of Steelmaking: E.T. Turkdogan
• Physical Chemistry of melts in Metallurgy: F.D. Richardson
 Marks distribution (All exam problems will be computational in nature)
• Quiz 1: 10%
• Quiz 2: 10%
• Assignments: 20%
• Term project: 10%
• Final Exam: 50%
 Assignments
One every week. Students may use computer coding/techniques to solve them. It
is advised to solve the assignment problems by their own if want to perform well in
exams.
 Attendance
• There is no weightage for the attendance.
• Since the course involves a lot of computational work and fundamental
understanding about various principles which would be difficult to
understand for those who miss the classes. It would be in the interest of the
all the students to attend all the classes if they want to score enough to pass
the course.
 What is steel ?
 Steel is a metallic material. Metals are classified in two categories:
Ferrous vs Non-Ferrous

 Steel is Fe+C+……….

 It is subsequently catagorized as plain carbon steel and alloy steel

 Plain carbon steel: Low carbon (C< 0.3%, Medium carbon (0.3-0.6%),
High Carbon(0.6-1.0%)

 Plain carbon steel contains C, Si, Mn, S, P, N, O ,H… as dissolved

elements.

 Alloy steels contains other elements in addition to them depending

upon requirements like Ni, Cr, Nb, Co, Ti ,B, Mo,W etc.

 Steel exhibits a wide range of mechanical properties depending upon

its composition and heating-cooling cycles (Heat-treatment)

 Knowledge of Fe-C phase diagram, CCT, TTT is required to predict the

desired processing in order to obtain desired microstructure for
specific mechanical properties
Fe-C, TTT an CCT diagram
Courtesy: msm.co.uk
 Applications of steel
 Steel is the most widely used material in the world in Automative,
Construction, Engineering, Packaging and Offshore application

 Usage comparison (yearly)

Steel: 1400 MT, Aluminum : 40 MT, Copper: 16 MT, Zinc: 10.6 MT, Lead
7 MT, Nickel: 1.7 MT, Magnesium: 0.8 MT, Titanium: 0.15 MT

 Low carbon steel application: Flat rolled products like Automobiles,

Seamless tubes

 Medium carbon steel application: Shafts, coupling, crank shafts

 High carbon steels: springs, high tension wires

 Suggested readings: www.steeluniversity.org, www.worldsteel.org

 Worldwide steel production and India's
position
 In 2011 total steel production of entire world was 1490 MT. India
produced 72 MT (5% contribution).

 Per capita steel consumption is the index of prosperity of any country.

World per capita steel consumption is 215 kg. India has approx. 50 kg
per capita consumption.

 India has projected to produce 140 MT by end of 2016-17.

 China with same population as India is producing 683 MT (highest in

world).

 India has to go up to 1000 MT with current population in order to be

ranked in developed nations.

 Therefore Steel industry is a booming industry for next 30-40 years in

India.

 More information on world statistics of steel production please go

through : www.worldsteel.org and website of planning commission
india
Iron and Steelmaking process routes
 What is needed to know:
 Layout of the entire plant and design aspects of the
processes
 Physicochemical aspects of the process:
• Type of reactions
• Thermodynamics and equilibrium systems of
importance
• Kinetics, heat and mass transfer
 Phase diagrams (esp. for slag systems)
 Raw materials properties
 Process control models: Static vs Dynamic vs Data
driven
 Optimization of a process or entire steel plant supply
chain (with objective of minimum cost/maximum
profit)
 Automation control hierarchy of large scale steel
plant
 Blast furnace ironmaking
• Carbothermic reduction of iron ore (Hametite) in
blast furnace is a well known process. Overall
process is written as:
• Ironore oxide mineral + gangue + Reducer (C) + flux + hot blast
oxygen enriched air = Pig iron (liquid) + Slag (liquid) + waste
gas (CO,CO2,N2)
• Iron ore contains Fe2O3, along with gangue materials such as
SiO2, Al2O3.
• Charge materials are: Iron ore + limestone (flux) + Coke
• Output is
pig iron (1300 C), 4.5% C, 0.4-0.6% Si, 0.1-0.2% P, 0.040-0.050%
S, 0.1-0.5% Mn
Slag: CaO/SiO2 = 1.1; CaO = 30-40%; Al2O3 = 10-23%; FeO
<1%; MgO <8%
Waste Gas: CO = 20-25%, CO2 = 20-25%, rest N2
Blast furnace layout with auxillary
equipments
Reaction zones in a blast furnace
a) Gas temperature along stack
b) Reduction zones along stack
c) Carbon reduction degree (O/Fe) with stack height
 Chemical reactions in a blast
furnace
 Zone 1 (<950 C),upper zone of stack, reduction of Fe2O3,Fe3O3 takes
place:
3Fe2O3(s) + CO  2Fe3O4(s) + CO2
Fe3O4(s)+CO  3FeO(s) + CO2

 Zone 2 (950-1000 C), chemical reserve zone, FeO is in equilibrium with

gaseous phase:
FeO(s) + CO = Fe(s) + CO2

 Zone 3: (950<T<1050 C), the reduction of FeO by rising CO gas takes

place:
FeO(s)+COFe + CO2

 Zone 4: (>1000-1050C), direct reduction of FeO to carbon takes place.

 Reaction in raceway zone: C+ O2  CO2
followed by CO2 + C 2CO (Boudward reaction)
Overall C + O2 = 2CO
Boudward reaction is thermodynamically feasible at T >1050 (below
zone 4). It supports the conversion of CO2 to CO in raceway and bosh
region where T>1050 C.