Continuous reductive smelting of steel

Traditionally, iron and steel production is based on a two-stage system consisting of a blast furnace and a converter, which is characterized not only by high productivity but also by copious generation of gaseous emissions and solid wastes. Reductive smelting in a blast furnace with unavoidable carburization of the metal—the formation of molten iron—calls for the organization of oxidative conversion of iron to steel. The direct reduction of iron and the accompanying metals in the batch by solid carbon, with dosing and regulation of the carbon inputs, permits the organization of reductive smelting without excessive carbon concentrations in the metal. That eliminates the need for oxidative smelting of the steel. Reductive smelting of coal-bearing batch has been undertaken and, for the first time anywhere, alloy-steel samples have been produced directly from batch, without the intermediate production of hot metal.