Focus on iron making with environment conservation
Jamshedpur : On the second day of the International Conference on Science and Technology of Ironmaking and Steelmaking (STIS 2013) held at CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, a total of 59 papers were presented in different sessions.
Alternative Routes to Iron making (6 papers); Iron making Technology & operation (13 papers); Casting (9 papers); Beneficiation & Agglomeration (16 papers); Iron making Theory & Process Modelling (6 papers); Energy & Environment (5 papers) and Steel making Technology & Operation (4 papers).
Citing on the importance of Opencut coal mines over underground mines during the “Beneficiation & Agglomeration Session” Mr. Dick Dunstone, Director, Principal Consultant, Dunstone Coal Technology Pvt. Ltd.
Australia through his paper “Coal Processing- Impact on Coke Quality- Coal Supply from Mines” cited “Opencut coal mines have a significant advantage over underground operations as they cover a large strike length and have the capability of blending coal to improve quality parameters. Conversely in an underground mine, production is normally restricted to a single long wall face that is effectively a single limited coal resource”.
In the paper Near Net Shape Casting of Steels; The Way Forward? Dr. RIL Guthrie and Dr. MM Isac from Canada mentioned, “It is an alternative process better suited for larger steel producers whose commercialization is only now just beginning to take place in Germany under the name Belt Casting Technology (BCT)”.
In the session Steel making Technology & Operation several interesting papers relating to Kinetics of Oxygen Steel making; Treating high manganese Hot Metal in BOF Steel making; De-phosphorization in Steel making; Absolute Green Tupkary Technology; Application of Improved Quality Tap-Hole Sleeve to enhance BOF Productivity; Effect of calcined bauxite addition, etc were discussed.
The discussion on the session Alternative Routes to Iron making was very lively and encouraging. The paper by Prof. M Eissa and Md. Aza Ahmed regarding Utilization of mill scale waste to produce high purity iron drew maximum attention of the participants.
There were also other interesting discussion on Sponge Iron Production; Investigation of microwave heating in iron production; Selection of coal for rotary kiln; Reduction kinetics of iron ore pellets with coal and coal dust.
Dr. Amit Chatterjee, Former Consultant in Iron & Steel, Tata Steel gave a talk on “How Alternative is Alternative Iron making”. Dr. Chatterjee said, “Alternative iron making includes gas and coal based direct reduction to produce DRI followed by electric steel making, smelting reduction using alternative reductants often accompanied by the usage of large amounts of oxygen, and a host of other systems that do not require coking coal to make iron either as a solid or liquid form”.
Former Prof. A. Ghosh from Indian Institue of Technology (IIT), Kanpur from his paper “Some Fundamental Kinetics Studies in Iron Ore Reduction System” shared his 35 years of experience in iron making and steel making kinetics.
The programme for the day ended with cultural programme organized at the laboratory