Tanya Weaver Mon 9 Dec 2024
Collected at: https://eandt.theiet.org/2024/12/09/iron-making-gets-3600-fold-productivity-boost-new-explosive-method
Chinese researchers have developed a new method for making iron that they claim is not only faster and cheaper, but also better for the environment.
In the steel manufacturing industry, the blast furnace is the primary method of producing iron. However, it is extremely environmentally intensive – not only due to the heat the furnace generates, but also the carbon emitted during the process.
However, for the past 10 years Chinese researchers have been developing a new method known as flash iron-making.
According to the project lead Professor Zhang Wenhai, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the method “can complete the iron-making process in just three to six seconds compared to the five to six hours required by traditional blast furnaces”.
Talking to the South China Morning Post, he said the method involves injecting finely ground iron ore powder into an extremely hot furnace, triggering an “explosive chemical reaction”.
The result is a display of bright red, glowing liquid iron droplets that rain down and collect at the bottom of the furnace, forming a stream of high-purity iron that can be directly used for casting or ‘one-step steelmaking’.
In a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Nonferrous Metals, the researchers state that this method equates to a 3,600-fold or more increase in the speed of iron-making.
In China, the iron production industry is reliant on ore from places including Australia, Brazil and Africa. Not only is there an import cost involved, but the furnaces also require a great deal of coke, which is derived from coal.
According to calculations by Zhang, the new flash iron-making technology could improve the energy use efficiency of China’s steel industry by more than one-third.
This is significant as China is the world’s largest steel producer. According to the Global Energy Monitor, China remains by far the world’s largest steel producer at over a billion tons per year, accounting for over half the world’s production.
One of the major technical hurdles for flash iron-making is the ore-spraying lance, which must effectively disperse iron ore in a high-temperature, highly reducible tower space with a large specific surface area to initiate the necessary chemical reaction.
Zhang’s team has developed a vortex lance with the capability to inject 450 tonnes of iron ore particles per hour. A reactor equipped with three such lances produces 7.11 million tonnes of iron annually.
According to the paper “the completed laboratory and pilot tests have proven the feasibility of the process” and the lance “has already entered commercial production”.
According to the article in the South China Morning Post, this process could soon be in use as it states that according to government statistics the success rate for new technologies that undergo pilot testing in China exceeds 80%.
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