02

A. K. M. B. Rashid Modern Steelmaking

Processes
Professor, Department of MME
BUET, Dhaka

Topics to Discuss

1. Modern Steelmaking Processes

(a) Bottom-blown Converter Process
(b) Open-hearth Process
(c) Basic Oxygen Steelmaking
(d) Electric Furnace Steelmaking
(e) Secondary Steelmaking and Continuous Casting of Steel

2. Steelmaking in Bangladesh

1
Modern Steelmaking Processes

 The concept of modern steelmaking:

• melt and perform preliminary refining in steelmaking vessels e.g. converter,

• perform final and complete refining (composition adjustment, removal of gases,
control of S, removal of inclusions etc.) in a ladle, and
• pour into a tundish of a continuous caster to produce billets or directly at the top
of ingots to produce ingot castings.

 The basic idea of employing ladles and tundishes for either

(1) refining or composition adjustment, or for
(2) producing clean steels
is to use the steel melting units producing steels without much
bothering for final chemistry.

Bottom-blown Bessemer Converter

• Liquid pig iron is charged from the top and

air is blown from the bottom

• Oxygen of air reacts with Si and Mn to form

SiO2 and MnO and generates heat

• These oxides along with some FeO form an

acidic slag.

• C oxidises to CO, which oxidises again to

CO2 at the mouth of the converter during its
escape into the atmosphere

2
Basic Principles of Bessemer Process Advantages
• Produced satisfactory steel with irons having
• Oxidation of major impurities (Si, Mn, C)
low P and high Si and Mn in converters lined
before the major oxidation of Fe.
with acidic refractories
• Sufficient heat generated by the chemical
oxidation of impurities, permitting the simple Disadvantages
blowing of cold air
• Could not process irons having high P and
• Very fast process (refining took ~20 minutes) low Si and Mn
• Oxygen level in steels was high
• Ideally suited for mass production of steel
at a relatively low cost.

3
Solution of deoxidation problem

• Deoxidation of liquid steel using ferromanganese Disadvantages of acid/basic

(Fe-Mn) after tapping into ladle, lowered the O2 level. Bessemer process

• This also increased the Mn level in the liquid, which • incapable of producing low N2 steel
contributed towards preventing hot shortness
arising from high level of sulphur. • precise control of the final composition and temperature
were difficult

Thomas process / Basic Bessemer process • quality of steel made was often not satisfactory

• Tackled P problem by using basic oxide (burnt dolomite
or magnesite) lining
• Basic oxide (e.g., CaO) was also added during the blow
to form a basic slag of high CaO content.
• process was neither capable of accommodating different
types of charges, nor could it produce various grades of
steel as per specification

• P was removed as calcium phosphate, allowing steel

production with acceptable P levels even from hot metal
containing medium-to-high phosphorous.

Open-Hearth Process

Advantages
1. temperature of the bath is independent of reactions
• elimination of impurities could be made to take place gradually
• both the temperature and composition of the bath were under
much better control than in the Bessemer process.

2. a greater variety of raw materials could be used (particularly scrap)

and a greater variety of products could be made than by the
Bessemer process.

3. increased yield of finished steel because of lower iron loss

4. P can be removed before C (not possible in Bessemer process),

so iron with low-P content can be used.
A – molten iron D – valve to control gas/air flow
B – iron oxide bed E – exit to checker
C – checker-brick works
Major disadvantage
• slow process kinetics, requiring a minimum of 6-8 hours/heat.

4
 Basic Oxygen Steelmaking
 Before WW2, this was not possible in bottom-blown
Bessemer converter process due to

1. High cost of pure oxygen

2. Rapid wear and deterioration of tuyeres bottom of the converter
owing to localised high temperatures, and
3. Lack of effective blow control in a very rapid system.

 Bottom-blown basic lined basic oxygen vessels

 Top blowing of high purity oxygen using a
water-cooled vertical pipe or lance onto the
surface of the bath in a basic lined converter
didn’t work because of reason 2 mentioned above.
 Top-blown basic oxygen process (BOP) or the LD
process became extremely popular all over the world
for refining irons with high Mn and low P.

Major Disadvantages of BOS Process

To tackle these issues, bottom-blown oxygen furnaces
• limitations in handling high phosphorous hot metal
(using shrouded tuyeres), and combined top- and
• inhomogeneity in bath temperature and composition bottom-blown converter processes were developed

Electric Furnace Steelmaking

• Availability of low cost scrap and the

lower capital cost of an EAF compared
to integrated steel production lead to the
growth of the mini-mill or scrap based
EAF steelmaking.

• Mini-mills started producing lower quality

long products such as reinforcing bars
and simple construction materials.

• With the advent of thin slab casting, a

second generation of EAF plants has
developed which produce flat products.

• development of the EAF was possible

after the expansion of the electric power
industry and improvement in carbon
electrodes

5
 EAF is like an OH furnace Developments in EAF Technology
• it has a shallow bath, a roof, a front door,
• three-phase alternating current (AC) systems
a rear tap hole, etc.
vs. single electrode direct current (DC) systems
• the essential difference is that heat is produced
• coreless induction furnace
by electric arcing and not by any fuel.
• Use of ultra-high-power furnaces, long arc
 But EAF can make even better-quality steel practices using foamy slags, the increased use
than that made by OH, owing to of oxygen and secondary refining

• precise process control, and

• the ability to make ‘tailor-made’ slag
during the refining period.

 As a result, special and alloy steels are almost

exclusively produced by this process.

Secondary steelmaking and Continuous Casting

Earlier Use of Ladle

• Deoxidation by adding ferromanganese, ferrosilicon, etc.

• Minor alloying additions.

Present Use of Ladle

• The ladle is used as a reactor (rather than as a containing vessel)
• A variety of secondary processing of liquid is carried out.
• These include: degassing, desulphurisation, reheating, alloy
additions, etc. as well as deoxidation.
• All these unit operations are grouped into the broad category of
secondary steelmaking.

6
 Ingot casting
Steelmaking in Bangladesh
Chittagong Steel Mills Limited
• Commissioned in 1966-67
• 4 open-hearth furnaces of 60 ton capacity each
• Estimated production of 140,000 ton,
later increased to 250,000 ton,
which was never achieved
• Raw materials: Imported solid PI and scrap
• Has a pit section with ingot solidification facility
• Major facilities: blooming mill, bar mill, sheet mill,
thin plate mill, galvanizing shop, heavy plate mill
• Closed in 1998-99
Continuous casting
Steelmaking in Private Sector
BSRM
• Commissioned the largest steel plant (Meghna Engineering
Works, now known as Steel Melting Works (SMW) in 1996
• Two more units commissioned in 2008 and 2015.
• Total steel production 800,000 tons/year
Kabir Steel Re-Rolling Mills (KSRM) Ltd. (1984)
Rahim Steel Mills Co. (Pvt.) Ltd. (1986)
Abul Khair Group (2009)
• Operates the only EAF steelmaking process in the country
• Total steel production 1200,000 tons/year
7
 Major steelmaking routes

• IF route (65%)
• EAF route (35%)

Major raw materials

• Scrap
(ship scrap, imported bundle scrap)
• Sponge iron (DRI)
• Pig iron / Spiegel
Steelmaking routes followed in Bangladesh • Ferro-alloys

Ship scrap categories and their destination

Share of each
sub-category in Steel Rerolling
Primary Category Sub-Category Reuse Casting
the primary mills mills
category

% % % % %
Rerollable scrap Rerollable scrap 100 20 80 0
Reusable scrap Reusable scrap 100 0 0 100
Meltable scrap 50 100 0 0
Rollable scrap and Bar and shape steel 45 0 20 80
others Solid pillar 3 20 0 80
Cast iron 2 0 0 0 100

8
 The global steel industry is going through a slowdown, but the picture in
Bangladesh is the opposite, with the sector registering 15 percent growth
last year riding on large infrastructure projects.

 At present, per capita steel rebar (reinforcement bar) consumption in

Bangladesh is 25 kg and the figure are tipped to rise to 50 kg by 2022.

 Steelmakers said the growth would continue because of the government's

increasing spending on bridges and other major projects that will require
the key construction material.

9
Any Question ?

10