Production of a new generation of briquettes and their use in blast-furnace smelting

An industrial line producing briquettes from metallurgical sludge and dust by the stiff-vacuum extrusion technology developed by J.C. Steele & Sons (U.S.) began operation in April 2011 at the metallurgical plant of Suraj Products Ltd. in Rourkel, India. The technology was first used at the Bethlehem Steel Corp. plant in 1993. The cement-bonded extrusion briquettes (brex) obtained by this method are a new-generation component of the blast-furnace charge, and their metallurgical properties allow them to be successfully used for blast-furnace smelting. The use of a charge composed of 80 % brex on a small blast furnace has made it possible to eliminate the use of raw fluxes and reduced coke consumption by 150 kg/ton pig iron.