A PROJECT REPORT ON

“BLAST FURNACE IRON MAKING OPERATION PRACTICES”

DURING PROJECT BASED INDUSTRIAL TRAINING IN RINL-VIZAG STEEL PLANT

Submitted By:
1. Aasir Rashid Bhat
2. Faizan Mir
3. Junaid Ahmad
4. Sabit Amin
5. Saqib Khaliq
6. Sayib Khaliq
7. Shah Fuhaid

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SRINAGAR, J&K

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:
Mr. Y.N. Prasad
AGM(O), BF
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project entitled “BLAST FURNACE IRON MAKING OPERATION
PRACTICES”, being submitted by :
1. Aasir Rashid Bhat
2. Faizan Mir
3. Junaid Ahmad
4. Sabit Amin
5. Saqib Khaliq
6. Sayib Khaliq
7. Shah Fuhaid

Students of B.Tech (3rd year), Metallurgy and Materials Engineering 3rd year National
Institute of Technology Srinagar, during the academic year 2016-2017 and it has been
worthy of acceptance.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We are thankful to Vizag Steel Plant for providing us this opportunity to visit the plant and help us in
understanding the practical aspects of steel making.

In particular we would like to thank:

Mr. Y.N Prasad

Mr. Prabakara Rao

Lastly we would like to thank all the employees of VSP for their kind cooperation ,without whom this
project would not have been possible.
INTRODUCTION:
Steel comprises one of the most important inputs in all sectors of economy. Steel industry is both a
basic and a core industry. The economy of any nation depends on a strong base of iron and steel
industry in the nation. Iron and steel making, as India has known craft for a long time, the growth of
steel industry in India can be conveniently studied by dividing the period into pre and post
independent era. By 1950, the total installed capacity for ingot steel production was 1.5 million tons
per year. The capacity increased by 11 times to about 16 million tons by nineties. Presently in India
steel products are being produced from 4 different sources , namely integrated (interlinked) steel
plant, Mini steel plants Re-rolling mills, Alloy and special steel plant. In Integrated steel plants,
naturally occurring raw materials are processed into finished products in various stages. These plants
are highly capital intensive. It needs approximately Rs. 25000 crores for the establishment of steel
plant producing 1 million tons per year. VSP’s product mix comprises Wire rods, Bars, Angles,
Channels/Beams, Rounds and Billets. About nearly 60 type of products are produced in the steel
plant. The Plant also produces Pig iron, Granulated Slag and Coal chemicals. Coils and Rods are
mainly for reinforced concrete work for housing, construction, of dams, buildings, factories,
manufacture of agricultural implements an fabrication of light engineering components.

VSP-the state of the art technology

The steel plant has many technological features, which are unique amongst the steel plant in the
country. The company is a pioneer in introducing many new technologies in the country. The
production of TMT re-bars by temp core process is a shining example in this respect.

The soviet design organization, GIPROMEZ designed the coke oven and coal chemical plant, sinter
plant and blast furnace. MECON of Ranchi designed the seven-meter tall coke oven batteries with
dry quenching. The remaining facilities have been designed by DASTUS & Co., who is the principal
consultant for VSP.

VSP won many accolads and won the prestigious silver trophy for turnaround category from SCOPE
for the year 2000-01, National Energy conservations Award-2002, Green Tech Environment
Excellence award , silver award in steel sector are few to name among many. The Vishakapatnam
steel plant strikes every one with a tremendous sense of awe, wonder and amazement as it
presents a wide array of excellence in all its facets in scenic beauty , in technology , in man power , in
management and above all in product quality.

Quality holds the keys to pride , productivity and profit ability. The economics of recent times has
spawned the need to have the right resources to improve quality and reduce cost and at VSP, the
quality is the responsibility of one and all. It is a matter of pride that VSP is the only integrated steel
plant in the country to be certified for ISO 9001-2000,ISO 14001:2004 and OSHAS 1800:1999.

MAJOR PRODUCTION UNITS

1 . RAW MATERIAL HANDLING PLANT (RMHP)

2. COKE OVEN AND COAL CHEMICAL PLANT (CO&CCP)

3. SINTER PLANT (SP)

4. BLAST FURNACE (BF)

5. STEEL MELTING SHO (SMS)

6. CONTINUOUS CASTING DEPARTMENT (CCD)

7. LIGHT AND MEDIUM MERCHANT MILL (LMMM)

8. WIRE ROD MILL (WRM)

RAW MATERIAL HANDLING PLANT

Raw Material Handling plant is meant for transporting materials from Raw material yard/Base mix
yard to various process units of the plant. The Major Raw materials required for Iron and Steel
making are are Iron ore lump, Iron Ore fines, Sized iron ore, Flux limestone / dolomite, manganese,
Quartzite coking coal, Non-coking coal ( for Boiler operation & For Pulverized coal injection )and
coke. Lump iron ores, iron ore fines and flux such as limestone and dolomite received by railway
rake are unloaded in wagon tippler and stored in open storage yard with help of various stockyard
machines.

COKE OVENS AND COAL CHEMICAL PLANT

Coal is converted into coke by heating the prepared coal blend charge in the coke ovens in the
absence of air at a temperature of 1000oC-1050oC for a period of 16/19 hours. The volatile matter
of coal liberated during carbonization is collected in gas collecting mains in the form of raw coke
oven gas passing through stand pipes and direct contact cooling with ammonia liquor spray. The
gas cooled from 800oC to 80oC is drawn to Coal Chemical Plant by Exhauster. The residual coke is
pushed out of the oven by pusher car through a guide into coke bucket. The red-hot coke is taken
to coke dry cooling plant for cooling.

The main by-product in the process of coke making is crude coke oven gas and this has a lot of
valuable chemicals. Coal Chemical Plant recovers Ammonia (NH3), Tar and Benzol from CO-Gas. The
primary by-products from Crude CO Gas are Ammonium Sulphate (NH4)2SO4, Crude Tar, Crude
Benzol and cleaned coke oven gas. The cooled coke from CDCP (Coke Dry Cooling Plant) is
separated into 3 fractions, BF Coke i.e. +25-70 mm, which is sent to Blast Furnaces, Coke Breeze i.e.
+0-15 mm, which is sent to Sinter making and nut coke i.e., +15-25 mm, which is also used in the
Blast Furnaces.

SINTER PLANT
Sintering is an agglomeration process of fine mineral particles into a porous mass by incipient
fusion caused by heat produced by combustion within the mass itself. Iron ore fines, coke breeze,
limestone and dolomite along with recycled metallurgical wastes are converted into agglomerated
mass at the Sinter Plant, which forms 70-80% of iron bearing charge in the Blast Furnace. The
vertical speed of sintering depends on the suction that is created under the grate. At VSP, two
exhausters are provided for each machine to create a suction of 1500 mm water column under the

Grate.
Facilities

 Two Sintering machines of Dwight Lloyd type each having 312 M2 total grate area.
 One Sintering machine of Dwight Lloyd type having 408 M2total grate area.

BLAST FURNACE
Iron is made in the Blast Furnaces by smelting iron bearing materials with the help of coke and air.
The solid charge materials like sinter, sized iron ore, coke etc. are charged in the vertical shaft of the
Blast Furnace at top and hot air blast is blown through the tuyeres located at the bottom. The
oxygen from the hot air combines with the carbon of the coke and generates heat and carbon
monoxide. The gases, while ascending upwards react with the descending charge materials.
Eventually, the charge melts, hot metal and slag are produced and tapped out. The cooled gas is
also used as fuel in the plant. The Paul-Wurth, bell less top system is installed for furnace charging.

Facilities

 One Blast Furnace of 3820 cum. useful volume (after

modernization).
 One Blast Furnace of 3200 cum. useful volume.
 One Blast Furnace of 3813 cum. useful volume.

STEEL MELT SHOP AND CONTINUOUS CASTING SHOP

Steel is made in steel melting shop in the refractory lined vessels called LD Converters by
blowing oxygen through the hot metal bath. While iron making is a reduction process, steel
making is an oxidation process. The oxygen reacts with impurities like carbon, silicon,
phosphorous, sulphur etc. present in hot metal to produce steel. No external fuel is required
as the silicon & carbon releases huge amount of heat energy. Also the carbon reaction
releases large quantities of gas rich in carbon monoxide along with huge amount of dust. The
gases released from the converter are collected, cooled, cleaned and recovered for use as
fuel in the steel plant. The entire molten steel at VSP is continuously cast at the radial type
continuous casting machines resulting in significant energy conservation and better quality
steel. 100% Continuous casting on such a large scale has been conceived for the first time in
India.
Facilities
SMS-1:

 Three LD converters (One converter of 133 cum. volume and Two converters modernized
 with increase in volume to 150 cum. each along with DOG House facility).
 6 nos. of 4 - Strand Continuous Bloom Casting machines.

SMS-2:

 Three LD Converters of 150 cum. volume each.

 1 no. of 6- Strand Continuous Billet- cum- Round caster.
 2 nos. of 6- Strand Continuous Billet casters.
 1 no. of 5-strand Continuous Billet-cum-Round caster.
 Hot Metal Desulphurization Plant (HMDP).
 DOG House.
 RH Degasser.

LIGHT AND MEDIUM MERCHANT MILL

The cast blooms from continuous casting department are heated and rolled in the two high speed
and fully automated rolling mills namely Light & Medium Merchant Mill (LMMM) and Medium
Merchant & Structural Mill (MMSM). The billets produced in LMMM are further rolled in Bar Mill /
Wire Rod Mill (WRM). The finished products include wire rods & long products like reinforcement
bars, rounds, squares, flats, angles, channels, billets etc.

Blooms from Continuous Casting Division are rolled into billets, some of which are sold and
rest are sent to Bar Mill/WRM. The continuous two-line Bar Mill comprises of 8 Stand Double
Strand roughing train, 2 nos. of 4 Stand Single Strand intermediate train & 2 nos. of 4 Stand
Single Strand finishing train. Loopers are provided in between the finishing stands for tension
free rolling in order to obtain good surface quality and tolerances. Housings are of closed top
type. Roll necks are mounted in anti friction bearings.
Facilities
Breakdown Mill

 7 Stand Break-Down Mill.

Bar Mill

 8 Stand Roughing Mill (2 Strand rolling).

 2X4 Stand Intermediate Mill (Single Strand rolling).
 2X4 Stand Finishing Mill (Single Strand rolling).

WIRE ROD MILL

WRM-1

The Mill is high speed 4 strand No-Twist continuous mill designed to produce 8,50,000 Tons
of wire rod coils per year. Rolled billets of 125 mm x 125 mm square cross section, length
ranging from 9.8 m to 10.4 m and weighing approximately 1250 kgs are used. The mill is
designed to roll steel stock of 0.9% max. carbon content.
WRM-2

The Mill is designed to produce 6,00,000 tons per year of rounds in coil form. The Mill is
designed to roll low, medium and high carbon steel, case hardening steel, cold heading
quality steel, electrode steel, spring steel, bearing steel and free cutting steel. The mill shall
use continuous cast billets of 150 mm X 150 mm square cross section, 12 m length and
weighing 2100 kgs approximately, are used as input material.

Facilities
WRM-1

 7 Stand Roughing Mill (4 Strand rolling).

 6 Stand Intermediate Mill (4 Strand rolling).
 4X2 Stand Pre-finishing Mill (Single Strand rolling).
 4X10 Stand Finishing Mill (MORGAN BLOCK-Single Strand rolling).

WRM-2

 6 - Stand Single strand Fast Roughing Mill.

 2 - Strand insulated Roller Table.
 6 Stand Intermediate Mill - I.
 4 Stand Intermediate Mill - II.
 2 x 2 pre-finishing train.
 2 x 8 - Stand No-Twist blocks.
 2 x 4 - Stand Reducing and Sizing Mill (RSM).

Burden Handling Section (BHS)

Introduction

The main purpose of BHS is to manage reception of raw materials from various sources and plants
(RMHP-iron ore, Sinter Plant-sinter, Coke Oven-Coke, etc) and supply it batch wise to Blast Furnace
continuously .

As we know the process in blast furnace is a continuous reaction not a batch process. Hence,
continuous feeding of the furnace with charge material is necessary. If burden sent is insufficient, it
would result in increase of pressure in the upper region of the shaft. Such irregularities may lead to
severe malfunctions or accidents. So to avoid such situations Burden Handling Section (BHS) came
into being. It receives all the required raw materials for the furnace reaction from all the available
sources and plants. It maintains a stock of all those materials and later sends them to the furnace as
per requirements. Capacity of these stock houses is sufficient enough for continuous operation of a
blast furnace for next 20 to 30 hours. It allows maintaining a continuous process at the furnace
even in case of breaks in supply of materials. Only those materials whose quality is ascertained and
is as per the requirement is stored in the stock house. Thus Burden handling System is designed to
perform a number of technological operations essential for proper running of BF process.

Following raw materials are stored in the stock house-

 Iron Ore (iron bearing)- Received from Raw Material Handling Plant
(RMPH)
 Sinter (iron bearing)- Received from Sinter Plant
 Coke (fuel)- Received from Coke Oven
 LD Slag (additive)- Received from Steel Melt Shop (SMS)
 Limestone (additive)
 Quartzite (additive)
 Manganese Oxide- MnO (additive)
Function Departments:
1. Operational- Control storage, technological operations and sending of
raw materials to furnace.
2. Mechanical- Day to day maintenance and repairing of mechanical
equipment.
3. Electrical- Day to day maintenance of power supplies to various
machines and process.
Stocking of burden (Method of storage of raw materials)

In the stock house raw materials are stored in bunkers. Basically there are 20
bunkers (In some stock houses there are 17 bunkers), classified as follows:
 6 sinter bunkers (SB1,SB2,SB3,SB4,SB5,SB6)
 6 coke bunkers (4 surface coke CB 1,CB2,CB3,CB4,
2 center coke CcB1, CcB2)
 1 nut coke bunker (NCB1)
 2 ore bunkers (OB1, OB2)
 5 additive bunkers (AB1, AB2, AB3, AB4, AB5)
Raw materials are received via conveyers (series of interlinked conveyers)
from respective plants. Then they are filled in stock bins with the help of
trippers.

Trippers

These are mechanical structures. The conveyer carrying burden splits into two vertical closed
structures. The materials after passing through trippers pass through series of screens and are
collected in bins.

Conveyers

в1 Conveyer

There are three main conveyers that feed the bins

 SC- Sinter Conveyer
 OAC- Ore/Additive Conveyer
 CC- Coke Conveyer
As a benefit from the above placement of bunkers and conveyers, OAC i.e. ore conveyer can be
used to carry sinter or coke in case of breakdown of other conveyers. Hence it is referred to as
substitute conveyer.

Only those materials whose quality has been ascertained and found corresponding to requirements
are received to BF stock house. Quality compliant consideration and rejection procedure is laid
down at the BHS. Quality check set-up is taken care of by responsible departments. The set-up
ensures constant monitoring of chemical composition, size and other characteristics of sinter, coke
and other materials when they come to the stock house. The off-grade material is stored in
separate bin and is not used in further operation.
Amount of materials within the bins can be assessed by means of level indicators installed at all
bins. They provide information on the level of materials step-wise i.e. when upper, medium and
lower fixed positions are reached. Normally level is maintained between medium to upper level.

Dust Controlling

As large amount of raw materials are brought and dumped into the bins at the stock house, there is
emission of large quantities of dust particles into the environments. So to clean the dust laden air,
Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) is installed. To maintain a healthy environment the dust content in
air should be less than 100 mg/m3. It comprises of large parallel metallic plates of the same charge,
surrounded by a large closed shell. In the house, there are two large fans which create suction and
collect all the dust particles and send them to the closed shell via large pipes. Under the influence
of electric field inside the shell the dust particles
acquire negative charge and the large parallel plates act as anode and hence the dust particles get
attached to the plates. There are large hammers connected to rapping motors, which continuously
beat the parallel plates. This action leads to dust particles falling and they are collected in large
containers and later disposed off by the dumpers.

Sending charge to the furnace

D1 Conveyer

The burden is sent to the furnace via Main Belt (MB) conveyer. The principle iron-bearing material
is sinter with 20% lump iron ore. Sinter composition required in BF includes additives like limestone,
dolomite, quartzite, manganese ore etc. which are added to the burden through BHS
additive bins. The required composition of the charge otherwise known as recipe is laid by the
operations department. It is prepared on the basis of calculation, available raw materials,
technological requirement and capacity.
Additives are added to the charge to maintain a particular basicity of products formed.
To increase the basicity
o LD Slag
o Limestone
To decrease the basicity
o Quartzite
o Manganese Oxide (MnO)
Hence, according to need the amount of each additive is regulated. The coke received at the stock
house is produced from a mixture of local and imported coke subjected to dry quenching.

Some of the size requirements are as follows:

1. Sinter (Iron Bearing) should be +5 mm. Those below this size limit are
sent back to the sinter plant.
2. Coke should be of +25 mm in size. Surface coke is of size 25 to 60 mm
and center coke of +60 mm size. The center coke is introduced at the
center of the shaft of the furnace for easy bed formation and better
results.

Screening

To regulate the size of the materials sieves are introduced between trippers and bins. Accordingly
sieving is done when burden is filled into the bins with the help of a series of screens.
When sieving is done, materials above the screen are collected in
“Hopper”.
Otherwise if sizing is not done, materials are collected in “Fill”.
Hence, according to requirement we can include or exclude hopper and fill
into the main belt carrying charge.
Efficiency of screening is ensured by
Proper condition and reliable securing of sieve elements.
Quality incoming of materials and uniform distribution i.e. bed
thickness.
Proportion between amount of material outgoing from upper and lower
sieves.
Another important method to be followed in BHS is blending of materials in
order to average their qualitative parameters. It is achieved through
sequential dumping of materials in batches from all bins. Sequential pattern in which bins are
charged with coke and sinter affects blending too.
It is to be noted that bins are operationally never emptied below the
lower level other than in case of furnace shutdown.
Stove

BF 1 Stoves
The hot blast air produced by passing the atmospheric air through preheated chambers known as
‘Stoves’, at a temperature 1000°C. The stove is first heated up by burning gas and combustion of
air within chamber the heat is absorbed into the brick wall, this mode is called Caledon-gas. Coke
Oven gas(C.O) and Blast Furnace(B.F) gas are used to produce heat . Cold air (about 100°C) coming
from Thermal Power Plant (TPP), is passed through pre-heated stove and absorbs heat to become
hot blast. Hot Blast comes out at a Temperature of about 1100°C. Cold air is then mixed in small
amounts to achieve the desired temperature (1000°C),and is then forced into the blast furnace via
tuyeres. Commonly there are three or four stoves. A stove has two modes, heating mode and blast
mode. At a time when one is on blast mode other can be boxed and sealed. While sealed, the stove
is prepared by heating and sealed, so that it is ready to go on-blast. Heating stops when “Flue
Temperature” i.e the temperature of flue gases coming out reaches 400 °C. The stove is then ready
for blast. Blast mode continues till the “Flue Temperature” drops below 110°C.

The following figure shows the stove overview:

The Figure shows the four stoves . Out of the four , only three are functional . Stove 1 is out of use.
Stove 4 is in blast mode and in use. Stove 2 and Stove 3 are in heating mode and will be used
subsequently .The Hot blast coming out from the Stove 4 is mixed with some amount of cold blast
to get the desired temperature (about 1000°C) and it is finally sent to the furnace.

There are three control modules for stoves combustion:

Dome temperature control- The O2 reading trims the air/ fuel ratio, until the dome temperature
nears its required value- Then the dome temperature controller output replaces the O2 trim signal
activated by the dome controller high target temperature. This allows increment of
air flow to the stove, while gas flow is constant. This helps in heat distribution in the stove while
cooling the stove dome. This on-gas phase continues until the stove has absorbed enough heat,
when it can boxed and put back on blast.
Gas flow control- Gas flow into the stoves is measured and controlled to
a local set point.
Air flow control- The gas flow reading is used as a set point for air flow
ration controller.
Gas Enrichment
The gas produced by the furnace is used as fuel in many areas of the steel works. Generally,
however its calorific value is very low and it requires the addition of natural gas or coke oven gas.
Gas flow rate is inferred by subtracting the natural gas and coke oven gas from the total mixed gas
flow rate. This calculated value is then used as ratio set point for the natural gas and coke oven gas
control blocks, keeping the proportion of each type of gas entering the stove constant and
achieving the desired calorific value of the total mixed gas.
Oxygen enrichment of cold blast: It is proven that slight increase in the oxygen gas content of cold
gas improves the efficiency of the furnace. The cold blast flow is measured and oxygen is injected
into the main, controlled by a ratio control block with the control blast flow as a rationed PV. And a
constant value of O2 is maintained.

Masses and compound shop

MCS produces refractory materials for use in the blast furnace . Refractory materials are used in
considerable amount for periodic closing of tap holes in blast furnace and runners in the PCM.
Repair of runners also requires refractory material.

Types of masses produced:

1. Mudgun mass

2. Runner mass

3. Water mass

MCS -- flow diagram

Mud gun mass chiefly consists of clay, coke breeze, bauxite and Oil (Wash oil, Binder, Liquid resin,
etc.). Clay and bauxite are received from outside and stored in bunkers via conveyers, while coke
and oils are received from the Coke Ovens and the Coal Chemical Plant.

Mud gun mass being cut into small units.

Runner mass comprises of Coke, Pitch and Clay. And water mass has fine coke, clay and pitch as
constituents.

The process of mass formation is carried out by Pan-Mixture and Kneader Machine. Pan-Mixture
comprises of two rollers running in counter-direction which helps in mixing of various components
thoroughly. The binder and other oils are used to increase the adhesion force between the particles
resulting in formation of clay-like mass. The product is pushed out, cut into regular sizes and packed
before they become too hard for use. The amount of binder oil and resin oil depends on the
atmospheric condition, which causes easy evaporation and hardening of mass. The Kneader
Machine works similarly; along with it there is also cutting and packing machine which gives
us final product.
Cast House
Introduction
Blast furnace (BF) is a tall vertical furnace which is used to produce hot metal (pig iron). Preheated
air is blown from the bottom at high pressure and temperature. It is because of this blast of air
which is blown, this furnace is known as ‘Blast Furnace’. In VSP there are three blast furnaces (BF 1,
BF 2, BF 3). BF 1 and BF 2 furnaces are of 3200 m3 each with four tap hole and 34 tuyeres. These
furnaces are equipped with double-bin bell less top with conveyer charging system, four stoves, Slag
Granulation Plant and air-lift system. The cast house is also equipped with Mud-gun and drilling
machine for each tap-hole. BF 3 furnace is of useful volume 3800 m3 and hearth diameter 13 m.
There are four tap holes and 34 tuyeres. The tuyeres stock is of double carded type. The furnace is
equipped with New Generation Parallel Hopper Bell Less Top of 63m3. BF cooling system consists of
cast iron & copper staves .The tapholes are equipped with Hydraulic Clay Gun, Drilling Machine &
Cover Manipulator. Annular Gap Scrubber does the dust cleaning. The furnace is equipped with
special probes for measurement like above burden probe, in burden probe, profilometer, radar stack
line etc. There is also Pulverized Coal
Injection with Dense phase system at a rate of 60t/h. There are three stoves with ceramic burners to
supply blast of 12500 C at 5.5 Bar.

Components of Blast Furnace

Main components of Blast Furnace are:
 Foundation
 Hearth
 Tuyeres
Bosh
Belly
Stack

Foundation
It is a massive steel structure reinforcing concrete mass, partially embedded below the ground level.
It should be strong enough to stand the loaded furnace weight, which may about 10000 tones. It is
about 1500 mm in diameter and 600-800 mm thick upon which lies the furnace bottom i.e. 400-500
mm thick fire bricks.
Hearth
Hearth acts as the container for hot metal and slag. It is constructed using fire bricks but now-a-days
carbon blocks are used. It comprises of three layers, viz. refractory layer, water cooled layer and
steel plate layer. The carbon wall is more than 1 m uniformly thick and stadium like structure. 0.3-
0.6 m above the hearth bottom level lays the iron tap hole of 12-15 cm diameter and above that at
1.2-1.6 m lays the slag notch. If not in use, these taps are closed with masses coming from the
Masses and Compound Shop (MCS). At the top of the hearth lies the tuyeres uniformly distributed
over the entire cross-section.
Tuyeres
Tuyeres are located just above hearth which is used to blow hot air blast into the furnace for the
combustion of fuel. Depending on the furnace size number of tuyeres is decided and is uniformly
distributed over the periphery.
Air from the stove house is supplied to a huge circular pipe encircling the
furnace at the bosh level called the bustle pipe. The uniform distribution of
tuyeres along the bustle pipe equalizes the pressure of the blast throughout the furnace.
Bosh
The region just above the tuyeres is outward sloping at an angle of 80° and
going up. The slope provides a smooth and uniform movement of the burden material. The top of
bosh is the maximum diameter of the furnace and a zone of intense heat. Bosh is built tight up in a
gas tight steel shell of thickness about 50 mm. The shell plate is cooled with water sprays or
enclosed water panels.
Belly
At the top of the bosh is the widest inside dimension of the refractory lining. Just above the bosh of
the same diameter there is a straight vertical section connected to the furnace called the ‘belly’.
Stack
This section is above the belly and has inward slope. Charge is deposited at the uppermost region of
the stack and is at an angle of 80°.

The two basic processes involved in working of Blast Furnace are

1. Charging
2. Tapping

1. CHARGING
Charging is the process of pouring of Iron bearing material and Coke into the furnace through two
bins. One charge is composed of one batch of Iron bearing material (sinter and additives) and one
batch of coke. The burden is sent to the furnace via D1 conveyer.
 The main constituents of charge are:
  Iron Bearing Material (Iron ore, Sinter),pellets,additives
 Coke
Iron Bearing Material:-
Iron ore can be hematite (Fe2O3), magnetite (Fe3O4) or taconite (a colloquial term used for
Minnesota ores which can refer to either hematite or magnetite). Iron ore is beneficiated to 65 -
72% Fe, and pelletized to form pellets 3/8 inch to 5/8 inch in diameter. In some operations,
concentrated fines may also be sintered, that is, agglomeration of iron ore fines, coke, silica,
metallurgical waste (VSP). Pellets are durable and ship well while sinter is not. Pelletizing plants are
therefore often built near the mine and pellets are transported to the blast furnace by rail or ship,
while sinter is usually produced at the steel mill.
Coke:-
Coke serves three functions:
• Supply chemical reactants for reducing iron ore to metallic iron.
• Act as a source of carbon in the pig iron and eventually in the steel.
• Provide a source of heat in the blast furnace (fuel).
Some new techniques used are ‘Pulverised Coal Injection (PCI)’ and Oxygen Enrichment which
increases the production and also decreases the overall cost of fuel consumption.

Additives:-
When metal is smelted, the metal is separated from its impurities by melting, with the impurities
forming a molten slag on top of the metal. Many of the impurities associated with iron ore are
difficult to melt, and so they will not form a proper slag easily, which retards the smelting process.
To make these impurities easier to melt, fluxes are added.
Limestone (CaCO3) or dolomite ((Ca, Mg) CO3) are two typical fluxes used in blast furnaces. When
a large amount of sulphur needs to be removed from the furnace charge, limestone is the
preferred flux. Limestone is also a better flux to use if slag from the blast furnace is to be used as a
raw material for cement manufacture. An important criterion for flux selection is availability and
cost, and dolomite is often more readily available and less expensive than limestone.

 Size requirements
 Sinter : +5mm
 Coke : +25mm (Surface Coke :20-60mm, Centre Coke: +60mm)
 Charging system used at VSP
Paul Wurth /Bell-less top charging system
Paul Wurth or Bell-less top charging (BLT) is of modern design with chute feeder and blower
charging throttle valve. The proposed BLT has high productivity, so it can carry out as multi-ring
or one-ring charging of materials into the furnace, spiral charging as well as point charging.
Charge regulating throttle valve ensures uniform distribution and allows manual control of the
burden into the furnace.
The furnace is divided into 11 rings into which the charge is distributed using chute which is
computer-programmed.
On large furnaces like in VSP, as a rule, two –hopper charging systems are applied that raises
productivity, maintainability and life-time of BLT. But as a drawback increases complexity,
expenses and dimension i.e. height.
Main parts of BLT:
Receiving hopper
Upper bank of valves
One or two material hoppers
Lower bank of valves
Bellow arrangement
Distributing device (DD) with a drive
Distributing chute
Pressure equalizing system
Hydraulic system
Lubrication system
Cooling system
Monitoring and cooling systems.

Charging Observations :
Time Char Coke Nut Sin Iron LS/L MnO Quartz/Si Pellet BR %sinte
ge Coke ter Ore D lica Brick s r
No.
⎿ 23.0 - 46. 16 - - - 6.0 2.9 67.65
0 6
9:30 SKB 23.0 - 44. 14 1.0/2 - - 10.0 2.9 64.71
nd
0 6
10:30 SKB 23.0 - 48. 20.0 - - - - 2.9 70.59
0 6
2. TAPPING
The molten metal formed during the blast furnace operation is tapped at regular intervals by
opening the ‘tap-hole’ in the bottom of furnace. The hot metal from the furnace is collected in
‘ladles’ and specially constructed railway containers, called ‘torpedo cars’. The torpedo cars
carry the molten iron to the steel melt shop. The tap holes are opened using drillers. The tap
hole is closed when the furnace is in dry condition i.e. air starts coming out of the tap hole. Tap
holes are closed by mud gun which uses mud gun mass from MCS. The hot metal and slag are
separated from a single tap hole using ‘Skimmer plate’ arrangement.

TAPPING OPERATION-BF1 Observations

BF1 has four tap-holes. These furnaces are equipped with double-bin bell less top with
conveyer charging system, four stoves, Slag Granulation Plant and air-lift system. The cast
house is also equipped with Mud-gun and drilling machine for each tap-hole.

Time:- 9:30-11:30
Amount of Metal Tapped:- 600T
Length of Tap Hole:- 2m
Diameter of Tap Hole:- 2’’
Mud Gun Mass used:- 250 litre/tap hole
Time Charges Stock Level Blower No.II
Blast
L R V P T Ste
3
(Nm (Kg/ ( ⁰C) am
/min) cm2) (T
/hr)
7 05 0.67 1.12 5769 3.05 955 12.6
8 11 0.52 0.93 5855 2.90 955 12.5
9 17 0.78 1.40 5531 2.50 955 11.6
10 22 0.65 1.26 5610 2.60 955 10.40
11 28 0.54 1.06 5674 2.70 955 11.90

12 35 0.68 1.09 5708 2.70 960 12.0

Top Gas ΔPr(Kg/cm3) Skin Temp.

S1+34.20 S2+37.8
Pr Temp. L U T 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1.6 20 24 207 21 1.1 0.2 1.4 213 185 277 227 159 143 - 177
5 1 7 4 5 5 0
1.5 21 23 209 23 1.0 0.3 1.4 210 210 303 243 161 141 - 192
0 3 1 6 5 5 0
1.1 18 19 196 21 1.1 0.3 1.4 211 211 274 279 164 108 - 154
0 4 7 2 0 0 0
1.2 16 16 161 16 1.1 0.3 1.4 182 182 238 211 159 106 - 150
0 2 5 0 0 0 0
1.3 14 16 149 16 1.1 0.2 1.4 232 177 232 191 161 127 - 169
0 2 9 2 1 9 0
1.5 13 15 105 12 1.1 0.2 1.4 134 184 285 206 177 160 - 193
0 1 2 7 2 8 0

Stoves Temp.

On Blast Stove#1 Stove#2 Stove#3 Stove#4

Dome Flue Dome Flue Dome Flue Dome Flu
e
3/2,4 - - 1375 157 1226 104 1365 298
4/2,3 - - 1381 220 1201 105 1370 187
4/2,3 - - 1372 299 1364 118 1336 116
2/3,4 - - 1361 224 1326 132 1272 106
2/3,4 - - 1347 123 1329 151 1351 150
3/2,4 - - 1257 106 1331 199 1353 226
Consumption x Gas/Air Mixed Co-gas Reducer F/C
103m3/hr Ratio Gas Flow(m3 Downti
Pr.(mm /hr) me Pr
wc)
Gas Air N2x103 Temp ⁰C Amp.
m3/hr Chute
rotn
100 110 1:11 550 9200 5500/28 2839/42 - -
00 40
100 110 1:11 550 9200 5600/27 2839/42 - -
00 43
100 110 1:11 550 9300 5754/28 3039/42 - -
29 43
100 110 1:11 550 8900 5468/27 3540/43 - -
55 43
100 110 1:11 550 9600 5000/23 3040/43 - -
00 47
100 110 1:11 550 9300 5637/26 3541/44 - -
54 46

Top Gas Analysis

%CO %CO2 %H CO/ %E Oxygen Com.Cons RAFT Ambient

2 CO2 nric Flow moisture/Total
h Moisture
(gm/cm)
24.6 19.2 3.3 1.27 1.2 5222 5222 2126 51.71
9 2 7 0
24.7 18.0 3.7 1.37 - - - 2048 54.43
5 2 1
24.7 18.2 3.0 1.35 - - - 2059 52.92
0 4 5
24.5 19.0 2.9 1.29 0.5 1899 - 2098 50.21
6 9 1
24.5 19.4 3.0 1.29 1.0 4156 - 2112 52.18
4 7 4
25.2 20.1 2.4 1.25 1.3 5210 6487 2134 54.53
3 8 2
Slag Granulation Plant
Blast Furnaces normally generate 250 to 350 Kg of liquid slag for every ton of hot metal produced.
This molten slag is at around 1400 – 1550 deg C temperature. Till seventies blast furnace (BF) slag
was considered a waste product and was being dumped at a convenient place away from the blast
furnace. During early seventies granulation of molten slag with high pressure water started near the
slag dumps. The processes of granulation of molten slag were developed during late seventies and
early eighties. The processes differ in the method of dewatering of the wet granulated slag. Today
granulation of molten BF slag is the well accepted technology and is being used in most of the blast
furnaces around the world. In India the credit of commissioning the first cast house slag granulation
plant goes to Visakhapatnam Steel Plant when the first blast furnace of the plant was commissioned
on 28th march 1990. Major slag granulation processes presently under operation are OCP
granulation system, Gipromez designed plants, Rasa system and INBA slag granulations plants of
Paul Wurth, modified INBA process or IDE process etc.
Concept of slag granulation
The process of slag granulation involves pouring the molten slag through a high pressure water spray
in a granulation head, located in close proximity to the blast furnace. Granulation process is the
controlled quenching of the slag in cold water which does not give time for crystalline growth to take
place. Large volume of water is required (10 parts of water to 1 part of molten slag being optimum).
During this process of quenching, the molten slag undergoes accelerated cooling under controlled
water flow condition and gets converted into glassy sand with 97 % of the solid granulated slag
particles less than 3 mm and an average size of around 1 mm. The impact point of the molten slag
and the high pressure water is dependent on the slag flow, its temperature and slope and shape of
the hot runner. (Fig 1)

Fig 1 Interaction of molten slag and high pressure water

It is necessary the exchange of heat between the molten slag and high pressure water to take place
in a very short time. The high pressure water jet breaks the molten slag stream into molten slat
lamellae which initially convert into filaments and then into droplets. Maximum heat transfer takes
place when the contact surface between the molten slag and the water for granulation is maximum
ie. When the molten slag has been converted into droplets and is fully enclosed with water. The time
of the solidification is dependent on the size of the slag droplets, the difference of temperature
between the molten slag and high pressure water and the contact environment between water and
the slag. Depending on the water temerature around the slag droplets, the transfer of heat takes
place due to the following mechanisms.
 Heat removal through steam release – This is applicable if the temperature of the granulation
water is equal to the boiling temperature of the water.
 Heat transfer to the granulation water as well as heat removal through steam release – Heat
transfer through this mechanism takes place during most of the time.
  Heat transfer to the granulation water without heat removal through steam release – This
happens if the temperature of the granulation water is low and allows immediate condensation
of the generated steam.
Generally boiling temperature is not reached when cold water is used for the granulation except in
local areas due to the transient high slag flow. Removal of heat without steam release is feasible in
case of use of cold water for the granulation and with good turbulence between slag and water for
optimum heat removal. However normally heat transfer take place through the granulated water as
well as through steam release.
Process of cast house slag granulation
The process of cast house slag granulation starts with separation of molten slag from liquid hot
metal. The molten liquid slag is led into the granulation chamber through a series of runners
protected by lining and sand. Direct contact between pressurized water stream and molten liquid
slag takes place in the granulation chamber. Due to rapid cooling and the impact of water pressure,
the molten slag is granulated into vitreous sand like particles which form a slurry mixture with water.
This slurry mixture of water and granulated slag is transported to the dewatering station.
The simplest dewatering method is through gravel layered filtering bed. This filter bed is periodically
back washed with water and air for removal of the choking by small particles of the slag. The most
popular dewatering equipment is the rotating dewatering drum of INBA process. The granulated slag
and water slurry is distributed evenly over the whole length of the drum. Axial vanes inside the drum
continuously lift the granulated slag and deposit it onto a conveyor belt located above the
distributor. The fine mesh on the exterior of the drum retains the granulated slag and allows the
water to filter through. The granulated slag layer at the bottom of the drum creates a self filtering
effect.
After dewatering the residual moisture of the granulated slag is around 8% to 10 %. The dewatered
water is cleaned, cooled and recycled. The dried slag is conveyed to the granulated slag storage for
dispatch to the customers. Water vapours generated during the slag granulation are emitted
through a stack normally made of stainless steel.
Factors affecting granulated slag quality
The following parameters affect the quality of the granulated slag
 Molten slag chemistry
 Molten slag temperature
 Glass content of the granulated slag
 Average distribution of the granulated slag particles
While the first two parameters relates to the blast furnace operation, the last two parameters are
related to the granulated water temperature, granulated water pressure and flow and the
granulation area available for heat transfer.
Emissions during the slag granulation process
Besides the emission of steam, gaseous sulphur compounds (mainly H2S and SO2) are generated and
emitted during the granulation process. BF slag contains around 1 % -2 % of sulphur in form of
calcium sulphide which reacts with water and oxygen as per the following equations.
CaS + H2O = H2S + CaO
2CaS + 3O2 = 2SO2+2CaO
These reactions occur mainly at temperature above 1100 deg C.
Benefits of slag granulation
The benefits of slag granulation is as follows
1. Converts waste material to a saleable product
2. Eliminates slag dumping and hence all the drawbacks associated with it.
3. Investment and operating costs are lower than the costs associated with the slag dumping.
4. Process is reliable
5. Reduces manpower when compared with slag dumping. The process can be fully automated.
6. Saves on land area needed for slag dumping. Compact design of granulation plant needs only a small
area.
7. Since it is installed adjacent to the cast house of the blast furnace, it helps the blast furnace
operation because of continuous flow of data from the granulation plant.

GCP (Gas Cleaning Plant)

Highly efficient gas cleaning systems are vital for the reliable operation and long compaign life of
high temperature hot blast systems and steam generation facilities and allow the operators to meet
the relevant pollution control standards. A gas cleaning plant should be designed to the highest
levels of cleaning efficiency, safety and reliability and providing the best possible environmental
protection. The objective of GCP (gas cleaning plant) is to remove as much dust as possible in a dry
condition for reuse and recycling. The recycled dust must also be low in Zn and Pb to satisfy the
limits of the blast furnace zinc balance. The dust removal efficiency of any separator is dependent on
the particle size distribution, on the separation mechanism ( i.e, gravitational or centrifugal force)
and, to a lesser degree, on the inlet dust loading.

NEED OF GAS CLEANING PLANT

The process of liquid iron production in the blast furnace (BF) generates gas at the furnace top which
is an important by-product of the BF process. This top gas of the blast furnace is at the temperature
and pressure existing at the BF top and usually contaminated with dust and water particles. This top
gas is having substantial calorific value and is known as raw BF gas or contaminated BF gas.
The composition and quantity of this top gas depend on the nature of the technological process in
the blast furnace and the type and the quality of the raw materials used for the iron production in
the blast furnace. In order to further use the raw BF gas, it is necessary to clean it by using certain
process systems which reduces its content of the solid particles.
The top gas contains carbon mono oxide (CO) and is known as blast furnace gas after its cleaning. It
is used as fuel gas for heating blast air in the hot blast stoves as well as supplemental fuel in the steel
plant. For the BF gas to be used as fuel gas, it is necessary that the raw BF gas is cleaned and cooled
to reduce gas volumes and moisture content.

Main components of GCP are:

Scrubber
Adjustable Ventures
Two Cyclone Mist Separator (2600 mm)
One Cyclone Separator (4000 mm)
Throttle Assembly (3700 mm)

Scrubber
The purpose of scrubber is to cool the gasses released from the blast furnace and remove the dust
particles from them. The collected gas is re-circulated with water. The process is characterized by
evaporation i.e. the sprayed water evaporates and in turn makes the medium sized dust particles
heavy and they settle down. Gas is supplied to the scrubber from BF top via 2800 mm Raw (Dirty)
gas pipe with refractory lining.
The upper part of scrubber is spherical in shape and has two outlet gas pipes (1600 mm) which
supply gas to the venture tubes. Each gas pipe is provided with 300 mm atmospheric valves, pressed
tight to seal by loads. The lower part of the scrubber has a conical bunker.
The water circulation in the scrubber is done with the help of two water
collection rings. Each ring has 12 nozzles, directed upward and is of size 62.5 mm. They are evenly
distributed throughout the scrubber so that the whole inside area is covered with sprayed water.
Near the nozzle branch pipe there is a purging branch pipe cocks of 125 mm gates to purge the
nozzles. Now there are four overflow pipelines with 500 mm gate valves and the vertical part of each
pipe has a 400 mm throttle valve controlled from a float. This system keeps the water level inside
the scrubber under check. The float shaft mentioned above is connected to the throttle shaft by
means of a turn buckle. The movement of float in the chamber is checked by a screw in upper
position and a special support in the lower position.
The float assembly is installed near the throttle valve and connected to the
scrubber with the help of two pipes- one for the water and other for the gas.
Each pipe is provided with gate to cut-off the float chamber if necessary.
The accumulated dust in float chamber is done via drain cock provided at the bottom of each
chamber. The water is drained out of scrubber by means of 600 mm * 500 mm slime gate and 150
mm branch pipe with gate.

Adjustable Ventures
GCP has one automatic adjustable venture and one manual adjustable venture. The purpose is of
final cleaning of gas.
Each venture pipe has three nozzles and water is sprayed through them. Each venture is adjustable
and the throat area is adjusted with a sphere head. The sphere is controlled by electric dive or by
manual operation. It is
vertically mounted on the body and the shaft actuates through water seal of
clean water, which constantly is supplied to water seal chamber.
Water sprayed through nozzle and incoming gas proceeds to nozzle neck
where high speed of gas flow atomizes water drops into mist. This thoroughly mixes with fine dust
present in the gas. The fine dust and gas is categorized and collected along water in bottom of
cyclone mist eliminator after venture.
The slurry is collected in the water seal of scrubber.

Cyclone Mist Eliminator (CME)

It serves to separate the water drops which are carried out by BF gas during
the process of cooling and cleaning.
Two CME of diameter 2600 mm
Each CME has one nozzle with 25 mm outlet for flushing of slurry
pocket and one nozzle for washing of blades. Mist Eliminators drain is
directly connected to scrubber seal via 300 mm pipeline and overflow of
pocket washing is also connected to this line.
One CME of diameter 4000 mm
In this type there are three nozzle of 25 mm outlet for flushing slurry
pocket and one nozzle for cleaning of blades. It has a conical bunker
where water seal is maintained by simple overflow line. Pocket washing
overflow line joins to this seal by a separate line.
Important parameters:
1. Maintain the clean gas temperature between 40°c and 45°c.
2. Maintain differential pressure across the ventures between 1500 and
2500 mm.
3. Maintain water seal level at scrubber from 300 to 700 mm.
4. Monitor water pressure throughout the GCP.
5. Inspect individual components and parameters.

IRON LABORATORY AND STEEL LABORATORY

For the quality control and analysis of raw materials and products VSP has Iron
and Steel Laboratories. Hot metal and slag (from blast furnace), sinter (sinter
plant), coke (from coke ovens), steel and LD slag and flux are subjected to
analysis in these laboratories.
 The sample is received to lab using Pneumatic Transfer System.

Hot Metal sample with tungsten electrode

 The analysis of raw materials and products are conducted using two
instruments:
 Optical Emission Spectrometer (OES)
 X-Ray Flouro-Spectrometer (XRF)
OES :
Picture: OES

The main process in this instrument is generation of spark using high voltage
with the help of which electron is removed from the inner-shell and the
characteristic wavelength is emitted which is detected using detector at
characteristic angle. This instrument can only be used for metals(cooled hot
metal) because conduction of sample is necessary.
The main components of OCS are:
Tungsten (Primary Electrode)
Sample (Secondary Electrode)
Argon (Inert Environment)
OES Observations:
XRF:

XRF machine

The process in XRF is same as OCS . The only difference is that electron is
emitted using X-rays unlike in OCS where it was done using spark. XRF is used
for non-metals which is reduced to the size -10µm (oxides, iron-ore, Sinter).
The process can also be used for metals but that is more energy and time
consuming because of size reduction. Vacuum environment is maintained.

Sample in XRF

Pneumatic Transfer System