Blast furnace ironmaking process using pre-reduced iron ore

It may be possible to improve the productivity and flexibility of the blast furnace operation and also to substitute energy sources in the hot metal production processes by combining the partial reduction process using low carbon content energy sources such as natural gas with the blast furnace process. Therefore, the energy balance to produce partially reduced ore and the reducing agent rate and productivity in the blast furnace when the partially reduced ore was used were examined. It was found that this method not only reduces energy consumption in the existing blast furnace ironmaking process, but also reduces the energy consumption related to carbon dioxide emission in the total hot metal production processes, including the partial reduction process.