The search for an economical and environmentally friendly ironmaking process

The scope of the present work is limited to coal-based processes. For environmental and economical considerations, it is desirable to use iron ore concentrates directly without agglomeration and coal directly without coking for ironmaking. The energy efficiency of blast furnace ironmaking, which is improving constantly, is the moving target to overtake. Laboratory data on kinetics and mechanisms of iron oxide reduction in ore/coal mixtures will be reported. These data include the reduction of green pellets of ore /coal mixtures in air atmosphere in a muffle furnace. The advantages of high temperature and tall bed will be discussed. The idea of integration of a rotary hearth furnace with a heat source of very high temperatures such as a smelting reduction vessel mainly for melting and slag-metal reactions will be presented.