This book provides a fascinating study of the very important emerging field of direct reduction in which iron ore is ‘directly reduced’ in the solid-state, using either natural gas or non-coking coal, to produce a highly metallised material, referred to as sponge iron (or direct reduced iron). This intermediate product is subsequently melted in electric arc furnaces or induction furnaces (sometimes even in basic oxygen furnaces) to produce liquid steel. Such a process combination enables steel to be produced without using coking coal, which is an expensive input in the normal blast furnace—basic oxygen furnace route of steelmaking adopted in integrated steel plants. The book offers comprehensive coverage and critical assessment of various coal-based and gas-based direct reduction processes. Besides dealing with the application of the theoretical principles involved in the thermodynamics and kinetics of direct reduction, the book also contains some worked-out examples on sponge iron production. The concluding part of this seminal book summarises the present and future scenario of direct reduction, including the use of gas generated from coal in direct reduction processes. The book is primarily intended for the undergraduate and postgraduate students of metallurgical engineering. It is also a must-read for researchers, technologists and process metallurgists engaged in the rapidly developing field of direct reduction of iron oxides, which is of critical importance for India and other developing nations that are beginning to play a major role in global steelmaking.

Comprehensively deals with the production of sponge iron in the rotary kiln. It is divided into 17 chapters. The initial chapters give a brief on the fundamental theories and basic principles of sponge iron production, commercially used DR (direct reduction) processes and physico-chemical principles of sponge iron production. The book then goes on elucidating the testing procedures of raw materials needed for the direct reduction processes.

With a boom in the steel industry all over the world today, the demand of sponge iron has considerably increased as a feed (raw) material to steel making. The increase in the demand of sponge iron is also due to the fact that it is used for replacing coke making required for blast furnace processing. The primary objective of this book is to provide the basis, principles, fundamentals and theory of sponge iron production. This book, earlier titled as Sponge Iron Production in Rotary Kiln, is revised as per the feedback from students, faculty members and professionals. It, now, covers broad spectrum of alternative routes of iron making, therefore, the book is renamed as Alternative Routes to Iron Making. In this revised edition of the book, three new chapters have been added to fulfil the requirement of a textbook for various universities. NEW TO THIS EDITION • New chapters on: o Utilization of Sponge Iron o Environmental Pollution and Control in Sponge Iron Industries o Smelting Reduction Process • Inclusion of principle of fluidisation in fluidised bed processes • Description of Hyl III process with recent development of the process Primarily intended for undergraduate and postgraduate students of metal-lurgical engineering, this book is equally beneficial for researchers, and professionals engaged in DR processes and steel industries.