The Haber process, also called the Haber–Bosch process, is the main industrial procedure for the production of ammonia. It converts atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3) by a reaction with hydrogen (H2) using a finely divided iron metal catalyst:
Iron is a chemical element; it has the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most abundant element in the Earth's crust, being mainly deposited by meteorites in its metallic state.
Coke is a grey, hard, and porous coal-based fuel with a high carbon content. It is made by heating coal or oil in the absence of air. Coke is an important industrial product, used mainly in iron ore smelting, but also as a fuel in stoves and forges.
Steelmaking is the process of producing steel from iron ore and/or scrap. In steelmaking, impurities such as nitrogen, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, and excess carbon are removed from the sourced iron, and alloying elements such as manganese, nickel, chromium, carbon, and vanadium are added to produce different grades of steel.
Syngas, or synthesis gas, is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, in various ratios. The gas often contains some carbon dioxide and methane. It is principally used for producing ammonia or methanol. Syngas is combustible and can be used as a fuel. Historically, it has been used as a replacement for gasoline, when gasoline supply has been limited; for example, wood gas was used to power cars in Europe during WWII.
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. Blast refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure.
Industrial processes are procedures involving chemical, physical, electrical, or mechanical steps to aid in the manufacturing of an item or items, usually carried out on a very large scale. Industrial processes are the key components of heavy industry.
Ferromanganese is an alloy of iron and manganese, with other elements such as silicon, carbon, sulfur, nitrogen and phosphorus. The primary use of ferromanganese is as a type of processed manganese source to add to different types of steel, such as stainless steel. Global production of low-carbon ferromanganese reached 1.5 megatons in 2010.
Iron(II,III) oxide, or black iron oxide, is the chemical compound with formula Fe3O4. It occurs in nature as the mineral magnetite. It is one of a number of iron oxides, the others being iron(II) oxide (FeO), which is rare, and iron(III) oxide (Fe2O3) which also occurs naturally as the mineral hematite. It contains both Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions and is sometimes formulated as FeO ∙ Fe2O3. This iron oxide is encountered in the laboratory as a black powder. It exhibits permanent magnetism and is ferrimagnetic, but is sometimes incorrectly described as ferromagnetic. Its most extensive use is as a black pigment (see: Mars Black). For this purpose, it is synthesized rather than being extracted from the naturally occurring mineral as the particle size and shape can be varied by the method of production.
Ferroalloy refers to various alloys of iron with a high proportion of one or more other elements such as manganese (Mn), aluminium (Al), or silicon (Si). They are used in the production of steels and alloys. The alloys impart distinctive qualities to steel and cast iron or serve important functions during production and are, therefore, closely associated with the iron and steel industry, the leading consumer of ferroalloys. The leading producers of ferroalloys in 2014 were China, South Africa, India, Russia and Kazakhstan, which accounted for 84% of the world production. World production of ferroalloys was estimated as 52.8 million tonnes in 2015.
Decarburization is the process of decreasing carbon content, which is the opposite of carburization.
An Ellingham diagram is a graph showing the temperature dependence of the stability of compounds. This analysis is usually used to evaluate the ease of reduction of metal oxides and sulfides. These diagrams were first constructed by Harold Ellingham in 1944. In metallurgy, the Ellingham diagram is used to predict the equilibrium temperature between a metal, its oxide, and oxygen — and by extension, reactions of a metal with sulfur, nitrogen, and other non-metals. The diagrams are useful in predicting the conditions under which an ore will be reduced to its metal. The analysis is thermodynamic in nature and ignores reaction kinetics. Thus, processes that are predicted to be favourable by the Ellingham diagram can still be slow.
Electrometallurgy is a method in metallurgy that uses electrical energy to produce metals by electrolysis. It is usually the last stage in metal production and is therefore preceded by pyrometallurgical or hydrometallurgical operations. The electrolysis can be done on a molten metal oxide which is used for example to produce aluminium from aluminium oxide via the Hall-Hérault process. Electrolysis can be used as a final refining stage in pyrometallurgical metal production (electrorefining) and it is also used for reduction of a metal from an aqueous metal salt solution produced by hydrometallurgy (electrowinning).
Deoxidization is a method used in metallurgy to remove the rest of oxygen content from previously reduced iron ore during steel manufacturing. In contrast, antioxidants are used for stabilization, such as in the storage of food. Deoxidation is important in the steelmaking process as oxygen is often detrimental to the quality of steel produced. Deoxidization is mainly achieved by adding a separate chemical species to neutralize the effects of oxygen or by directly removing the oxygen.
The Corex Process is a smelting reduction process created by Primetals as a more environmentally friendly alternative to the blast furnace. Presently, the majority of steel production is through the blast furnace which has to rely on coking coal. That is coal which has been cooked in order to remove impurities so that it is superior to coal. The blast furnace requires a sinter plant in order to prepare the iron ore for reduction. Unlike the blast furnace, smelting reduction processes are typical smaller and use coal and oxygen directly to reduce iron ore into a usable product. Smelting reduction processes come in two basic varieties, two-stage or single-stage. In a single-stage system the iron ore is both reduced and melted in the same container. In a two-stage process, like Corex, the ore is reduced in one shaft and melted and purified in another. Plants using the Corex process have been put use in areas such as South Africa, India, and China. First COREX process was installed in 1988 at South Africa.
Adrien C. B. Chenot was a French engineer best known for his inventions in metallurgy as well as his research on manufactured gases. He is notably the inventor of one of the first modern methods of direct reduction of iron ore, based on the use of coal reacting with the ore in retorts. He exhibited the first samples of pre-reduced iron ore at the Lisbon Universal Exhibition of 1849, and was awarded the "Grandes Medailles d'Or" at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1855.
In the iron and steel industry, direct reduction is a set of processes for obtaining iron from iron ore, by reducing iron oxides without melting the metal. The resulting product is pre-reduced iron ore.
Direct reduction is the fraction of iron oxide reduction that occurs in a blast furnace due to the presence of coke carbon, while the remainder - indirect reduction - consists mainly of carbon monoxide from coke combustion.
The Krupp–Renn process was a direct reduction steelmaking process used from the 1930s to the 1970s. It used a rotary furnace and was one of the few technically and commercially successful direct reduction processes in the world, acting as an alternative to blast furnaces due to their coke consumption. The Krupp-Renn process consumed mainly hard coal and had the unique characteristic of partially melting the charge. This method is beneficial for processing low-quality or non-melting ores, as their waste material forms a protective layer that can be easily separated from the iron. It generates Luppen, nodules of pre-reduced iron ore, which can be easily melted down.
Magnetic roasting technology refers to the process of heating materials or ores under specific atmospheric conditions to induce chemical reactions. This process selectively converts weakly magnetic iron minerals such as hematite (Fe2O3), siderite (FeCO3), and limonite (Fe2O3·nH2O) into strongly magnetic magnetite (Fe3O4) or maghemite (γ-Fe2O3), while the magnetic properties of gangue minerals remain almost unchanged.
