Energy efficiency of alternative coke-free metallurgical technologies

Energy analysis is undertaken for the blast-furnace process, for liquid-phase processes (Corex, Hismelt, Romelt), for solid-phase pellet reduction (Midrex, HYL III, LP-V in a shaft furnace), for steel production in systems consisting of a blast furnace and a converter, a Midrex unit and an arc furnace, or a Romelt unit and an arc furnace, and for scrap processing in an arc furnace or in an LP-V shaft furnace. Three blast-furnace processes with sinter and coke are adopted as the basis of comparison, as in: the standard blast-furnace process used in Russia; the improved blast-furnace process with coal-dust injection; and the production of vanadium hot metal from vanadium-bearing titanomagnetite ore (with a subsequent duplex process, ferrovanadium production, and its use in the arc furnace).