Overview of Steels, Iron & Steel Technologies, Steel

Plants and Steel Industry

Prof. BB Agrawal
MSE, IIT Kanpur
Course: MSE 678A
2019-20: I
bbag@iitk.ac.in

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Let’s learn about Steel?

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 Applications of Steel
• The most important material for engineering and
construction purposes
• Used in every aspect of our lives:
– From Car to Rails,
– From surgical tools to Battle tanks, and
– From a tiny sewing needle to magnificent ocean liner etc.

• It can be recycled over and over again without loss of

properties:
– World’s most recycled material

• More than 3500 grades of steel: different physical,

mechanical, chemical properties:
– Steels for construction sector,
– Steels for auto-motives sector,
– Steels for pipelines sector,
– Steels for white goods sector etc. 3
 Developments in Science of Iron & Steel Technologies

• During last 50 years, revolutionary advances have been

made in fundamental understanding of science,
engineering disciplines, In Metallurgical & Materials
Sciences, development of sophisticated diagnostic
equipment like Scanning and Transmission Microscope
etc.

• This has led to quantum improvement in contemporary

processes like Blast Furnace, evolution of secondary
refining process, continuous casting, and development
of new steels.

• About 75% of modern steels have been developed in last

20 years:
– Stronger and lighter steel
– Eiffel tower today: 1/3 of the original weight
– Modern cars: stronger and 35 percent lighter 4
 Iron products
Iron Products

Wrought iron Cast iron Steel

1% 4% > 95%
Mostly for ornamental For intricate shapes Almost everything
purposes

Steels: An alloy of Iron

Plain carbon steels Alloy steels

 100 years back
 Still constitute only 10-15 %
of total steel.
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 Major Classification of Steels

Steel

Plain Carbon Steels Alloy Steels

 ~ 90% of world steel production  Alloying elements like Ni, Cr, Mo, Co etc.
in large percentage.
 ~10 % of world steel production
Low Carbon steel  Mostly made in mini steel plant Scrap/
Medium carbon High Carbon
(~0-0.2%) DRI based EAFs
(0.2-0.6%) (0.6-1.5%)

+ only minor alloying elements like Mn, Si etc.

Low Alloy Steels Medium Alloy Steels High Alloy Steels

<5 % alloying elements) (5-10 % alloying elements) (>10-30 % alloying elements)

Mild steel: a type of Low Carbon Steel having C = 0.05-0.20%, Si = < 0.50%, Mn = < 0.50
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Steel Classification/ Effect of alloying elements: A good topic for Term Paper
 World Crude Steel Production

2000
1789
1800 1627
1600 1433
1400
Production, MT

1200
1000 850
717 770
800
595
600
400
200
0
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2017 2018
Year

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 Country-wise crude steel production
1000
928
900
831.7
800
Crude steel production, MT

700
600
512.3
500 2008
400 2017
2018
300
200
104.7 101.5 91.9
104
100
118.8 106 87 81.6 68.5 71.5 73
57.8
0
China Japan India USA Russia
Country

India has become the second largest steel producer of the 8

world after China in 2018 ! www.worldsteel.org
 Crude Steel Production in India

350
300 E
300
Crude steel production, MT

250

200

150
101.5 106
100
57.8
50
1.25
0
1947 2008 2017 2018 2030
Year

Growth rate is expected to be around 6-7% per year in near future 9

www.worldsteel.org
 Top Steel Producing Countries: 2017

Country Rank Production, MT

China 1 837.1
Japan 2 104.7
India 3 101.5
USA 4 81.6
Russia 5 71.5
South Korea 6 71.0
Germany 7 43.3
Turkey 8 37.5
Brazil 9 34.4
Taiwan 10 22.4

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www.worldsteel.org
 Per Capita Steel Consumption: 2017

Country Apparent Steel Consumption (in Kg)

2008 2017

World Average 198.1 228.4

China 346.2 544.5

Japan 647.2 550.0

India 47.00 75.3

Russia 285.80 308.3

USA 364.2 338.0

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www.worldsteel.org
 Major Steel Producing Companies in the World:
2017
Company Rank Production, MT

Arcelor Mittal 1 97.03

China Baowu Group 2 65.39

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal 3 47.36

Corporation, Japan

HBIS Group, China 4 45.56

POSCO 5 42.19

Tata Group 10 25.11

JSW 19 16.06

SAIL 25 14.80

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www.worldsteel.org
 Major Steel Producing Companies in India: April 2018
Company Capacity as on 1st Expected Addition
April 2018, mt in 2018-19, mt
SAIL (Bhilai, Bokaro, Rourkela, Durgapur, 18 2.8 (BSP) Functional
Burnpur
RINL, Vizag 6.3 1
TATA Steel (India) 12.7 -
ESSAR Steel 9.6 -
JSW-Vijayanagar 12 -
JSW-Siscol 1 -
JSW-Dolvi 5 -
JSPL 6.1 2.5
Bhushan Steel Ltd. 5.5 -
Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd. 2.3

NMDC - 3
Others ~48 -
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Total ~126 ~10.0
 Global Scenario Employment
• Steel industry worth about US$900 billion a
year is seen as a gauge of world economic
health.
• About 30% of steel is traded annually.
• Steel usage is projected to increase to 1.5
times of present usage (~1800 mt) by 2050.
• 6 million people work for steel industry
– 2.0 million within the mills
– 1.5 million people for support services and contract.
– 2.5 million people for secondary employment in steel
industry (re-rolling, stamping, service centres, trading
etc.) 14
www.worldsteel.org
 Indian Steel Scenario
• Steel reactor contributes to nearly 2% of the country’s GDP.
• Current crude steel production is ~ 106 mt.
• Steel sector employs over 6 lakh people.
• Indian steel industry is expected to grow around 5-6 % in
next 10 years.
• Indian production is expected to grow up to 300 MT by 2030.
• India is the largest producer of DRI in the world producing
around 1/3rd of world 90 mt/Year.
• Largest producer of coal based DR product in the world.

Bright prospects of growth of Indian Steel Industry

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 Business of Indian Steel Industry

• 106 mt steel in the year 2018

• Average price of Rs 60,000 per tonne
• Total Revenue generation = Rs 60000 X 106 million
= Rs 6360000 millions
= Rs 6360 billion
= ~ U$ 90 billion (1U$ = Rs 70)
Compare it with IT & ITes business in India = U$ 181
billion in 2018-19.

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 Alloy & Special Steels
• Different elements are added in plain carbon steel to get
different physical, chemical, mechanical and
environmental properties (hardness, corrosion resistance,
strength, fatigue, creep, machinability, malleability etc.
– e.g. Cr and Ni are added to make stainless steel: No atmospheric
corrosion.
• Alloying elements: Cr, Ni, Mb,V, Mn, Si, Pb etc.

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 Major Alloy Steels
Alloy Steels
Stainless steel
Tool steel
Electrical steel
Spring steel
Bearing steel
Free cutting steel
Forging quality steel
Micro-alloyed steel

 Alloy steel production in India = 7% of total steel production

 Each alloy-steel is tailor-made to the need of the customer
(also known as Engineered steel)
 Could be a possible topic for term Paper [composition, properties, usage etc.]
 Alloy Steels Production in India (MT)

14 13
12

10
Production MT

8 7
6.1 6.5
6
6

0
FY 15 FY 16 FY 17 FY 18 FY 25 E
Year

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 Alloy Steels

• Alloy steel is to growth of key industry like

automobile, oil & gas, power, engineering products,
defence etc.
• For example.
– Production of auto vehicles (Passengers, 2 or 3 wheelers,
commercial vehicles: ~25 million in FY2017-18 to ~ 76 million
units by FY 2025-26 (E).
• Most of alloy steels are made in electric furnaces
(EAF+IF) with major share through EAF.

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 Major Alloy Steels Producers in India

Steelmaker Location
ASP, SAIL Durgapur, West Bengal
VSP, SAIL Bhadravati, Karnataka
SSP, SAIL Salem, Tamil Nadu
Usha Martin Jamshedpur, Jharkhand
Mukund Thane, Maharashtra
Jindal Steels Hissar, Haryana
Uttam Galva Steel Khopoli, Maharashtra
Kalyani Carpenter Special Steels Pune, Maharashtra

Viraj Profile Ltd. Thane, Maharashtra

Midhani (Defence) Hyderabad

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 Prospects of Steel Industry in India as per
National Steel Policy 2017 of Govt. of India

• Production projection
• Sector-wide steel consumption
• Benchmarking: Task ahead.

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 Forecast of iron and steel demand and production by
2030-31 (All values in MT unless stated)
Sr. No. Parameters Projections
1 Total crude steel capacity 300
2 Total crude steel demand/production 255
3 Total finished steel demand/production 230
4 Sponge iron demand/production 80
5 Pig iron demand/ production 17
6 Per Capita Finished Steel Consumption in Kgs 158

Source: Ministry of Steel, INSDAG, MECON

Projections of Pig Iron & Sponge Iron represent the mean value based on the
premise that 60-65 % of steel production in 2030-31 shall be coming through BF-
BOF route and rest through EAF/IF route.
Assumptions:
• i. GDP growth rate assumed at 7.5%4 y-o-y
• ii. Elasticity of steel demand with GDP = 0.8 till FY 20 and 1.0 from FY 20 onwards
• iii. Steelmaking capacity to reach 300 MT by 2030-31
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 Sector-wise steel consumption in India in MT (unless stated)
S Current Current
N
Item demand in demand in
. 2015-16 2030-31

1 Construction & Infrastructure 50.5 138

(Projects - Steel, Oil, Highways, Bridges, Airports, Ports, Urban
Infrastructure, Water Transportation, Pre-fabricated Buildings, Power
Projects including Transmission, Oil & Gas Pipelines Real Estate –
Residential & Industrial)
2 Engineering & Fabrication 18 50
(Capital Goods, Consumer Durable, Electrical Goods, General
Engineering, Tube Making, Cold Reducing, Wire Drawings, Industrial
Bodies & Pressure Vessels, General Fabrication, Defence Equipment)
3 Automotive 8.2 28

4 Other Transport 2.4 8

(Rail lines, Wagons Coaches, Ship Building, Coastal)
5 Packaging & Others 2.4 6
(not included above) (Petroleum, non-petroleum, LPG Gas Cylinders)

Total Finished Steel Consumption in MT 81.5 230

Per Capita Finished Steel Consumption in Kgs 61 158

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Source: Ministry of Steel, MECON
 Forecast of major raw material requirement by 2030-31, mt/yr
S. No. Raw Materials Projections (2030-31)

1 Iron ore requirement 457

2 Coking coal requirement 161

3 Non-coking coal requirement for PCI 31

4 Non-coking coal requirement for DRI 105

5 Natural Gas (in MMSCMD5) 20

6 Manganese ore requirement 11

7 Chromite ore requirement 05

8 Limestone & Dolomite requirement 86

9 Ferro-alloys 4

10 Refractories 3

11 Scrap 16

3 DRI made through coal based route : 70% {Balance through gas based route}
Source: Ministry of Steel, MECON
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Projections represent the mean value based on the premise that 60-65 % of steel production in 2030-31 shall be
coming through BF-BOF route and rest through EAF/IF route.
 Assumptions: for National Steel Policy
• BF-BOF route: 60-65%; EAF/IF route: 35-40% (2030-31)
• % Scrap in Charge mix of BOF : 15
• DR-EAF charge mix considered : 63% DRI, 35% Hot Metal & 2 %
Scrap
• DR-IF charge mix considered : 80% DRI & 20% Scrap
• Charge mix in BF considered : 60% Sinter, 25% Pellet & 15% Lump
ore
• Charge mix in gas based DR plant considered : 30% Lump ore &
70% Pellet
• Charge mix in Coal based DR plant [ 50% kilns running on pellet &
50% on lump ore]
• DRI made through coal based route : 70% {Balance through gas
based route}
• Skip Coke required in BF : 450 kg/thm
• Avg. PCI Injection in BF considered : 150 kg/thm
• Iron Ore required /tonne of Hot metal in BF : 1.65 t
• Iron ore required /tonne of solid charge in DR plant : 1.55 t 26
 Targets for techno-economic performance
(Benchmarking)
Parameters Units International Current Target for
Best Practices Value, India 2030-
2031,
India
Coke Rate Kg/thm 275-350 400-600 300-350

CDI Rate Kg/thm 200-225 50-200 180-200

BF Tonnes/m3 2.5-3.5 1.3-2.2 2.5-3.0

Productivity /day

Specific Gcal/tcs 4.5-5.0 6.2-6.7 5.0-5.5

Energy
Consumption

Source: Ministry of Steel

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Tremendous scope of R&D in Iron & Steel Sector!
Engineering Layout & Process Flow
sheet of BF-BOF Based Integrated
Steel Plant

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 Engineering Layout & Process Flowsheet of BF-
BOF Based Integrated Steel Plant

Steel Plants

Integrated steel Plants Mini Steel Plants

Integrated Steel Plants

 Start with natural raw materials like iron ore & coking coal.
 They usually follow BF-BOF route.

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 Integrated Steel Plant [ISP]
 It consists of many technological production process
steps like:
– Raw materials handling
– Sintermaking
– Cokemaking
– Ironmaking in Blast Furnace
– Steelmaking in Basic Oxygen furnace [BOF]
– Secondary Steelmaking - Ladle, VOD etc
– Casting [Ingot or Continuous casting]
– Rolling Mills: Hot Rolling & Cold Rolling etc.
 Relatively large in size: 1-10 mt of steel per year
 A typical 3 mt ISP needs land of 4-8 km2
 Capital cost for setting up of an ISP: ~ 4000-5000
crores per million tonne 30
 Mini Steel Plants
 They use EAF for steelmaking using scrap & now
DRI also.
 Many of them have captive DRI plants also.
 Popularly known as DRI + EAF route.
 Smaller in capacity: 0.5 mt to 2-4 mt/year.
 A typical 1 MTPA would cover an area upto 2 km2
 No need to have coke making plant, sinter plant:
hence less pollution
 Down-Stream process stages, such as secondary
steelmaking, continuous casting and rolling are
common as in the Integrated Steel Plants.
 Mini Mills usually make alloy steels or plain
carbon steel for long products.
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 Configuration of Steel Plant

I) BF - BOF
SSM + CC + Rolling (III)

II) DRI - EAF

I+III = Conventional integrated steel plant

II+III = Mini steel plant (also called DRI-EAF based integrated
steel plant)

• Companies like JSW and Essar have installed Smelting

Reduction process called COREX to supplement hot metal
production using non coking coal.
• Definition of Integrated Steel Plant & Mini Mills are
undergoing changes: No more sacrosanct. 32
BOF Vs EAF

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Steelmaking in Steel Plants

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A typical Integrated Steel Plants

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 Product-mix from Plants

• Every steel plant cannot make all possible

products.
• Some are designed to produce long products like
TMTs, Rails, Structurals etc.,
• While others are designed for Flat Products like
Hot rolled coils/ sheets, Plates, cold rolled sheets
etc.
• Some plants produce both Long and Flat
products like SAIL or Tata Steel.
• There could be some common products among
two or more steel plants, like TMT bars by Tata
Steel, SAIL-DSP, SAIL-BSP, RINL etc.
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Engineering facilities of an Integrated Steel Plant

 Mines
 Within the boundary limit of ISPs
1. Iron Zone
a) Ore handling plant
b) Sintering plant
c) Cokemaking and coal chemicals plant
d) Blast furnaces (and HM mixer)
e) Pig casting machine
f) Slag granulation plant.

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Engineering facilities of an Integrated Steel Plant [contd.]

2. Steel Zone

a) Steel melting shop/BOF

b) Secondary steelmaking facilities like LF,
RH-degasser, VOD, VAD etc.
c) Continuous Casting shop
d) Storage yard for CC products
(slabs/blooms/billets).

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Engineering facilities of an Integrated Steel Plant [contd.]
3. Mills Zone (also called finishing zone)
a) Re-heating furnaces
b) Rolling mills (different in different steel plants
producing different products)
c) Hot Rolling
i. Hot strip mill
ii. Light & Heavy structural Mill
iii. Rail & structural mills (Bhilai)
iv. Plate mill
v. Merchant mill
vi. Wire rod mill

d) Cold rolling mills

 Pickling lines
 Tandem mills
 Annealing lines
 Galvanizing plant
 Shear & slitting lines
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Engineering facilities of an Integrated Steel Plant: [contd.]

4. Auxiliary Shops
a) Oxygen plants
b) Power plants
c) Steel foundry shop for captive manufacturing of shapes,
assemblies etc.
d) Machine shops for Roll Turning, grinding
e) Refractory plant, lime calcination plant
f) Central maintenance: Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, etc.
g) Traffic control
5. Production, Planning & Control (PPC)
6. Research & Control Lab
7. Energy Management
8. Environment Management
9. Safety Department
10.Training Department
11. Computer & Automation Department.
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 References

 A First Course in Iron and Steelmaking, Dipak Mazumar

 Ironmaking and Steelmaking: Theory & Practice, A Ghosh & Amit

Chatterjee

 The Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel, Ironmaking Volume, 11th

Edition, 1999, [ A-184410 at IITK Lib]

 The Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel, Steelmaking & Refining

Volume, 11th Edition, 1999, A-179894 at IITK Lib]

 The Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel, Casting Volume, 11th Edition,
1999, at IITK Lib]

 World Steel Association: www.worldsteel.org

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Thank you

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 Coal
gassification/NG

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