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Iron is the fourth most abundant element and makes up more than five percent of the earths
crust. Iron exists naturally in iron ore (sometimes called ironstone).
Iron has a strong affinity for oxygen, iron ore is an oxide of iron; it also contains varying
quantities of other elements such as silicon, sulfur, manganese, and phosphorus.
It is by mass the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's outer and inner
core.
Steel is a term given to alloys containing a high proportion of iron with some carbon.
Steel is by far the most important metal, in tonnage terms, in the modern world
A typical steel would have a density of about 7.7 g cm-3 and a melting point of about 1650o
C.
Steels are alloys of iron and carbon, widely used in construction and other applications
because of their high tensile strengths and low costs
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I. Iron is the second most common metal in Earth's crust but because it reacts so readily with
oxygen it's never mined in its pure form.
Like aluminum, most iron "locked" inside Earth exists in the form of oxides (compounds of
iron and oxygen). Iron oxides exist in seven main ores (raw, rocky minerals mined from
Earth):
Types of iron
1. Pig iron
Basic raw iron is called pig iron because it's produced in the form of chunky molded blocks
known as pigs. Pig iron is made by heating an iron ore (rich in iron oxide) in a blast furnace:
an enormous industrial fireplace, shaped like a cylinder, into which huge drafts of hot air are
introduced in regular "blasts". Pig iron is much harder than 100 percent pure iron, but still
too weak for most everyday purposes.
2. Cast iron
Cast iron is simply liquid iron that has been cast: poured into a mold and allowed to cool and
harden to form a finished structural shape, such as a pipe, a gear, or a big girder for an iron
bridge. Pig iron is actually a very basic form of cast iron, but it's molded only very crudely
because it's typically melted down to make steel.
3. Wrought iron
Cast iron assumes its finished shape the moment the liquid iron alloy cools down in the mold.
Wrought iron is a very different material made by mixing liquid iron with some slag. The
result is an iron alloy with a much lower carbon content. Wrought iron is softer than cast
iron and much less tough, so you can heat it up to shape it relatively easily, and it's also much
less prone to rusting.
Raw Materials
Iron ore
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-mainly iron oxides and include magnetite, hematite, limonite, and many other rocks.
Coke
-Substance made by heating coal until it becomes almost pure carbon.
Sinter
- made of lesser grade, finely divided iron ore which, is roasted with coke and lime to
remove a large amount of the impurities in the ore.
Limestone
-occurs naturally and is a source of calcium carbonate
Before iron ore can be used in a blast furnace, it must be extracted from the ground and
partially refined to remove most of the impurities.
After processing, the ore is blended with other ore and goes to the blast
furnace. A blast furnace is a tower-shaped structure, made of steel, and lined
with refractory, or heat-resistant bricks. The mixture of raw material, or
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charge, enters at the top of the blast furnace. At the bottom of the furnace, very
hot air is blown, or blasted, in through nozzles called tuye'res. The coke burns
in the presence of the hot air. The oxygen in the air reacts with the carbon in
the coke to form carbon monoxide. The carbon monoxide then reacts with the
iron ore to form carbon dioxide and pure iron.
The melted iron sinks to the bottom of the furnace. The limestone combines with the
rock and other impurities in the ore to form a slag which is lighter than the iron and
floats on top. As the volume of the charge is reduced, more is continually added at the
top of the furnace. The iron and slag are drawn off separately from the bottom of the
furnace. The melted iron might go to a further alloying process, or might be cast into
ingots called pigs. The slag is carried away for disposal.
The hot gases produced in the chemical reactions are drawn off at the top and routed
to a gas cleaning plant where they are cleaned, or scrubbed, and sent back into the
furnace; the remaining carbon monoxide, in particular, is useful to the chemical
reactions going on within the furnace.
II. Steel
KINDS OF STEEL
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According to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), steels can be broadly categorized into four
groups based on their chemical compositions:
1. Carbon Steels
Carbon steels contain trace amounts of alloying elements and account for 90% of total steel
production. Carbon steels can be further categorized into three groups depending on their carbon
content:
Low Carbon Steels/Mild Steels contain up to 0.3% carbon
Medium Carbon Steels contain 0.3 0.6% carbon
High Carbon Steels contain more than 0.6% carbon
2. Alloy Steels
3. Stainless Steels
Stainless steels generally contain between 10-20% chromium as the main alloying element and are
valued for high corrosion resistance. With over 11% chromium, steel is about 200 times more
resistant to corrosion than mild steel. These steels can be divided into three groups based on their
crystalline structure:
Austenitic: Austenitic steels are non-magnetic and non heat-treatable, and generally contain 18%
chromium, 8% nickel and less than 0.8% carbon. Austenitic steels form the largest portion of the
global stainless steel market and are often used in food processing equipment, kitchen utensils and
piping.
Ferritic: Ferritic steels contain trace amounts of nickel, 12-17% chromium, less than 0.1% carbon,
along with other alloying elements, such as molybdenum, aluminum or titanium. These magnetic
steels cannot be hardened with heat treatment, but can be strengthened by cold working.
Martensitic: Martensitic steels contain 11-17% chromium, less than 0.4% nickel and up to 1.2%
carbon. These magnetic and heat-treatable steels are used in knives, cutting tools, as well as dental
and surgical equipment.
4. Tool Steels
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Tool steels contain tungsten, molybdenum, cobalt and vanadium in varying quantities to increase
heat resistance and durability, making them ideal for cutting and drilling equipment.
Steel products can also be divided by their shapes and related applications:
Long/Tubular Products include bars and rods, rails, wires, angles, pipes, and shapes and sections.
These products are commonly used in the automotive and construction sectors.
Flat Products include plates, sheets, coils and strips. These materials are mainly used in automotive
parts, appliances, packaging, shipbuilding, and construction.
Other Products include valves, fittings, and flanges and are mainly used as piping materials.
Raw Materials
Iron ore
-Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron and less than 2% carbon.
Iron ore is, therefore, essential for the production of steel, which in turn
is essential in maintaining a strong industrial base. 98% of mined iron
ore is used to make steel.
Limestone
-occurs naturally and is a source of calcium carbonate
Recycled steel
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Manufacturing Process of Steel
1.Coke Making
-Coke is a material with high carbon content and porosity. It has high resistance to
breakage and low reactivity with gases, particularly CO2. Coke production is an important
part of the integrated iron and steel plants using BF-BOF route, acting as a reducing agent,
as a source of thermal energy, and providing physical support for the burden in blast
furnace. In modern blast furnaces 460 - 480 kg of total reductant /t-hot metal is needed,
and global average is 500 kg/t-hot metal.
2. Sinter Plant
- The purpose of the sinter plant is to process fine grained raw materials into a coarse grained iron
ore sinter, ready to be charged to the blast furnace. Sintering of fine particles into a porous clinker
sinter is necessary to improve the permeability of the burden, making reduction easier. A high
quality sinter has high reducability, which reduces the intensity of blast furnace operations and
reduces coke demand.
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4. Basic Oxygen Furnace
Basic Oygen Furncace (BOF) is a pear shaped vessel where the pig iron from blast furnace,
and ferrous scrap, is refined into steel by injecting a jet high-purity oxygen through the hot
metal. More specifically, in a BOF:
the carbon content of pig iron, which is typically 4-5%, is reduced to varying levels below 1%
depending on the product specifications;
unwanted impurities are removed;
concentration of desired is brought to product specifications.
5.Casting
-A wide variety of processes that can be part of finishing are grouped under casting and shaping
(rolling). Casting is a stage in finishing operations where the hot metal with the right properties is
turned into intermediate, marketable products. Casting can be done as a batch (producing ingots) or
continuous (producing slabs, blooms or billets) process. In most mills, casting is performed in
continuous casting machines and the significantly low share of ingot casting is mainly used for
speciality products.
6. Rolling Mills
-In rolling mills, intermediate steel products are given their final shape and dimension in a series of
shaping and finishing operations. Most of the slabs are heated in reheating furnaces and rolled into
final shape in hot or coldrolling or finishing mills. While some products (e.g. reinforcement bars,
steel plates) only require hot-rolling, some others may require both hot and coldrolling (steel for
cars and white-goods). Mechanical forces for cold rolling will create much more force and energy
needs, while hot rolling happens much faster with less forces; however, there are significant energy
costs to heat the metal to near eutectic temperatures (US EPA, 2010. p.25). In large integrated steel
plants, the hot strip rolling process is the third largest user of energy after iron and steel making.
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-Direct Reduced Iron (DRI), also known as Sponge Iron, offers an alternative steel production
route to BF-BOF and Scrap-EAF routes. In DRI, iron ore is reduced in its solid state unlike
BF process where a liquid metal is formed during reduction. DRI can then be transformed to
steel in electric arc furnaces. DRI production is common in Middle East, South America, India
and Mexico. DRI offers an attractive option due to its small scale low capital investment
requirements and its suitability to local raw material situations. Consequently production
has been expanding rapidly over the past three decades. However, the small scale of DRI
operations also act as a barrier for energy efficiency investments.
Recycling
-Steel products naturally contribute to resource conservation through their lightweight potential,
durability and recyclability. At the end of a products life, steels 100% recyclability ensures that the
resources invested in its production are not lost and can be infinitely reused. Due to its magnetic
properties, steel is easy to separate from waste streams, enabling high recovery rates and avoiding
landfills. Some steel products contain up to 100 percent recycled content.
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Steelmaking is nearing zero-waste, with current material efficiency rates at around 96%. This
means that 96% of raw materials used on-site are converted to products and by-products that are
used or recycled.
Slag is the main steelmaking by-product; it is mostly used in cement production, reducing CO2
emissions by around 50%.12 It can also be used in roads (substituting aggregates), as fertilizer
(slag rich in phosphate, silicate, magnesium, lime, manganese and iron), and in coastal marine
blocks to facilitate coral growth thereby improving the ocean environment.
Gases from iron- and steelmaking (for example, from the coke oven, BF or BOF) once cleaned, are
used internally to produce steam and electricity reducing the demand for externally-produced
electricity. Gases can be fully reused within the steel production site, and can provide up to 60% of
the sites power.13 Alternatively, gases can also be sold for power generation. They are flared only
if no other option is available.
You can't build a great building on a weak foundation. You must have a solid foundation if
you're going to have a strong superstructure.
-Gordon B. Hinckley
Bibliography:
http://ietd.iipnetwork.org/content/iron-and-steel
http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/h-carnegie-steel.htm
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Iron_industry.aspx
http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/7786e08048855c2a8b44db6a6515bb18/ironsteel_PPAH.p
df?MOD=AJPERES
http://www.worldsteel.org/publications/fact-
sheets/content/00/text_files/file0/document/fact_raw%20materials_2014.pdf
HTTP://WWW.WORLDSTEEL.ORG/STEEL-BY-TOPIC/RAW-MATERIALS.HTML
www.worldsteel.org
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Iron.html#ixzz3ZZgGthyb
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