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Metallurgical coal or coking coal [1] is a grade of coal that can be used to produce good-quality coke. Coke is an essential fuel and reactant in the blast furnace process for primary steelmaking. [2] [3] [4] The demand for metallurgical coal is highly coupled to the demand for steel. Primary steelmaking companies often have a division that ...
In 1945, the US produced 67% of the world's pig iron, and 72% of the steel. By comparison, 2014 percentages were 2.4% of the pig iron, and 5.3% of the steel production. Although US iron and steel output continued to grow overall through the 1950s and 1960s, the world steel industry grew much faster, and the US share of world production shrank.
Interior of a coke oven (1976, Wales). In the early days of the ferrous metallurgy, charcoal was used exclusively in the production of ores. [4] Raw fossil coals (lignite and black coal) or uncharred wood are unsuitable for iron metallurgy, as their impurity content prevents them from reaching a temperature high enough to produce good cast iron.
This process greatly improved the quantity and quality of steel production. It added three hours firing time and required large quantities of coke. In making crucible steel, the blister steel bars were broken into pieces and melted in small crucibles, each containing 20 kg or so. This produced higher quality metal, but increased the cost.
Raw coke. Coke is a grey, hard, and porous coal-based fuel with a high carbon content. It is made by heating coal or petroleum 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.
Steel is an alloy composed of between 0.2 and 2.0 percent carbon, with the balance being iron. From prehistory through the creation of the blast furnace, iron was produced from iron ore as wrought iron, 99.82–100 percent Fe, and the process of making steel involved adding carbon to iron, usually in a serendipitous manner, in the forge, or via the cementation process.
Graph of US iron and steel production, 1900–2014, data from USGS. The US iron and steel industry has paralleled the industry in other countries in technological developments. In the 1800s, the US switched from charcoal to coke in ore smelting, adopted the Bessemer process, and saw the rise of very large integrated steel mills.
The Corex Process is a smelting reduction process created by Primetals Technologies as a more environmentally friendly alternative to the blast furnace. [1] Presently, the majority of steel production is through the blast furnace which has to rely on coking coal [2] and requires a sinter plant in order to prepare the iron ore for reduction. [3]