Developments in Iron Making and.pdf

DEVELOPMENTS IN IRONMAKING AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR POWER GENERATION 1999 Gasification Technologies Conference San Francisco , California October 17-20, 1999 Geoff Wingrove Brian Keenan Global Marketing Manager Director Power Generation Machinery BOC Gases BOC Gases Don Satchell Clara van Aswegen Section Director, Gases Technology Zone Marketing Manager BOC Gases BOC Gases Developments in Iron Making and Opportunities for Power Generation Page 2 of 19 October 20, 1999 Developments in Iron Making and Opportunities for Power Generation Page 3 of 19 October 20, 1999 1. INTRODUCTION Current production of steel is around 760mt/y worldwide, recovering gradually from the Asian flu, should grow beyond 800mt/y within the next few years. At a price of $300/t for crude steel product, primary steel production is a $250bn/y business. Steel is still very much a strategic raw material that is fundamental to developed and developing economies and virtually every country in the world has steel production facilities in some form. Steel is also one of the most recycled commodity raw materials, with around 40% of production based, one way or another, on re-processing of scrap. Iron is basically an intermediate product that is used predominantly as feedstock for steelmaking, although to a lesser extent (65mt/y), it is also used as an industrial product in its own right, for castings etc. The ironmaking blast furnace is the dominant unit operation for iron production and has been around for centuries, and modern production facilities have evolved into highly efficient process plants through a series of incremental process improvements. However, in recent years, new ironmaking processes, many of which are based on gasification technology, have been developed to challenge the dominance of the blast furnace. All these processes depend upon the efficient production and utilization of CO/H2 reducing gas mixtures. As part of the BOC Group strategy to explore opportunities beyond