Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
10.3 Energy cost of pig iron production, 1750-2000. Based
on Smil (1994) and data in de Beer, Worrell, and Blok
(1998).
from hematite (fig. 10.3). These efficiency gains came
mainly from reduced coke consumption, increased blast
temperatures, and larger furnaces. For the blast furnaces
this long-lasting trend reached a plateau during the
1970s. The Kyushu Oita Works furnace (5070 m
3
),
completed in 1976, remains the record holder. Its high-
est daily production of just over 12,000 t and average en-
ergy consumption of 14.5 GJ/t of hot metal translates
into a power rating of 2 GW and power density of 11.9
MW/m
2
of hearth area (about 172 m
2
). The Western
hemisphere's largest furnace, Inland Steel's No. 7 in In-
diana Harbor (3483 m
3
), has energy consumption of 14
GJ/t of pig iron and power density of 11.3 MW/m
2
of
hearth area (McManus 1981).
Modern steelmaking began with Henry Bessemer's
converter, patented in 1855. It was soon supplanted by
Siemens-Martin open-hearth furnaces (OHFs), patented
during the late 1860s and rapidly diffused after 1879
once Thomas-Gilchrist basic converting could remove
phosphorus from the metal. OHFs dominated global
10.4 Rise and fall of successive steelmaking techniques in the
United States: Bessemer, open hearth furnace, basic oxygen
furnace, and electric arc furnace. From Smil (2005a).
steelmaking until the 1960s, when they were replaced in
all but a few countries by basic oxygen furnaces (BOFs)
and electric arc furnaces (EAFs). By the year 2000 a
mere 4% of the world's steel came from OHFs, mostly
in the Ukraine and Russia (IISI 2005). The BOF's ex-
perimental foundations were laid down by Robert Durrer
before WW II, and the technique, commonly known as
the Linz-Donawitz process, was first commercialized in
Austria in 1953. Japan was the first large producer to em-
brace BOFs, but in the United States their progress was
initially slow (fig. 10.4). By the year 2000 almost 60% of
the world's steel came from BOFs. The entire process is
slightly exothermic, with an overall gain of about 200
MJ/t of crude steel and rates of 50-60 m
3
O
2
/t of
crude steel.
