PRODUCTION OF IRON

Presentation
NAME : MASCOT KAPETA
REG NUMBER : R188880P
LEVEL : 1 . 2
Introduction

 Iron is one of the most common elements on earth. Nearly every construction of man
contains at least a little iron. It is also one of the oldest metals and was first fashioned into
useful and ornamental objects at least 3,500 years ago.
 Pure iron is a soft, greyish-white metal. Although iron is a common element, pure iron is
almost never found in nature. Most iron is found in minerals formed by the combination
of iron with other elements. Iron oxides are the most common. Those minerals near the
surface of the earth that have the highest iron content are known as iron ores and are
mined commercially.
 Iron ore is converted into various types of iron through several processes. The most
common process is the use of a blast furnace to produce pig iron which is about 92-94%
iron and 3-5% carbon with smaller amounts of other elements.
Extraction of Iron

 The production of iron from its ore involves an oxidation-reduction reaction carried out in
a blast furnace. Iron ore is usually a mixture of iron and vast quantities of impurities such
as sand and clay referred to as gangue.
 The iron found in iron ores are found in the form of iron oxides. Oxygen is removed from
the iron oxide by carbon monoxide.
 The process occurs within a Steel blast furnace lined with refractive(fire) bricks at
temperatures from 800oC up to 1900oC .
 The Chamber is kept hot by jets of hot air at over 800oC, giving it the name “Blast”
furnace.
 The manufacture of iron has two stages the preparation of raw materials, and the reduction
of iron oxide to iron.
a) PREPARATION OF RAW
MATERIALS
Preparation of raw materials

 Iron is one of the most abundant elements on Earth and its ores commonly contain
oxygen, silicon, manganese, phosphorus and sulfur. The major minerals present in ores
include haematite (Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4).
 Coke, a porous solid, provides carbon for the reduction reactions and is also the main fuel
used in the furnace. It is made on site by heating coal to 1200 K in the absence of air for
up to 20 hours.
 Lime is normally added as limestone. The heat in the blast furnace decomposes the
limestone to lime, which then reacts with the impurities in the iron ore.
Iron Ore Lime

COKE
b) The Reduction of Iron oxide to
Iron (The Blast Furnace)
Figure 1.1 The blast furnace
Step 1 : Burning of Lime

 From figure 1.1 , Iron ore, limestone(CaCO3) and coke are fed from the top of the blast furnace,
where the temperature is around 800oC.

 The lime stone burns at 800oC yielding calcium oxide (CaO) and Carbon Dioxide (CO2).

CaCO3(s) - > CaO(s) + CO2 (g)

 The Calcium oxide causes impurities which are present with the ore to fall as a precipitate near
to the bottom producing a layer of “slag”.
Step 2:Production of Carbon Monoxide

 The carbon dioxide yielded from the Burning of Lime passes over the coke.
 Coke is a coal like substance produced from the heating of Tar and Petrochemicals
without air and contains a high percentage of carbon.
 The Carbon atoms of coke remove a single oxygen from each molecule of CO2 producing
carbon monoxide according to the reaction equation :
CO2 (g) + C(s)  2 CO(g)
Step 3 : Reduction of Iron

 The Carbon monoxide yielded from the reaction of Carbon dioxide and lime removes the
oxygen from Iron oxide.
 Each Carbon monoxide molecule is capable of binding a single oxygen are used to
completely remove all oxygen from the iron oxide.

Fe2O3 (s) + 3 CO (g)  2Fe(s) + 3CO2

 The molten iron sinks to the bottom lowest level of the furnace, where it can be tapped
off.
 The iron produced by this process is called pig iron and is 95% pure.
Extraction of Iron: overview
 Production of iron from it’s ore uses Carbon monoxide to reduce Iron oxide to iron atoms.
 1.Lime burns

CaCO3 (s)  CaO (s) + CO2 (g)

 2. CO2 reduced by coke to CO

CO2 (g) + C (s) - > 2CO (g)

 3. Iron oxide reduced by CO

Fe2O3 (s) + 3CO (g) -> 2Fe (s) + 3CO2 (g)
Uses of Iron

 Iron is enigma – rusts easily. Most is used to manufacture steel. Steel is iron that has most
of the impurities removed. Steel also has a consistent composition of carbon throughout
(0.5 percent to 1.5 percent).
 Iron catalysts are used in the Haber process for producing ammonia, and in the Fischer–
Tropsch process for converting syngas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide) into liquid fuels.
 The biological role of Iron is that it is found in haemoglobin. Haemoglobin carries oxygen
from our lungs to the cells, where it is needed for tissue respiration.
TYPES OF STEEL
Uses of Steel