Abstract
Abstract Analysis of two-stage iron and steel production by means of a blast furnace and an oxygen converter reveals its advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage is that carburization and decarburization of the metal are opposing processes and generate large quantities of waste with relatively high iron content. The organization of reduction and smelting of such waste—for the example of converter sludge—shows that direct reduction of iron by solid carbon, without carburization, is possible. Ore–coal pellets are produced experimentally. Their subsequent reduction and smelting yields metal ingots with the composition of steel.