[001 ] The invention is related to a method of manufacturing pig iron, also called hot metal and to a method of producing steel out of such pig iron.

[002] Steel can be currently produced through two mains manufacturing routes. Nowadays, most commonly used production route named “BF-BOF route” consists in producing hot metal in a blast furnace, by use of a reducing agent, mainly coke, to reduce iron oxides and then transform hot metal into steel into a converter process or Basic Oxygen furnace (BOF). This route, both in the production of coke from coal in a coking plant and in the production of the hot metal, releases significant quantities of CO2.

[003] The second main route involves so-called “direct reduction methods”. Among them are methods according to the brands MIDREX®, FINMET®, ENERGIRON®/HYL, COREX®, FINEX® etc., in which sponge iron is produced in the form of HDRI (hot direct reduced iron), CDRI (cold direct reduced iron), or HBI (hot briquetted iron) from the direct reduction of iron oxide carriers. Sponge iron in the form of HDRI, CDRI, and HBI undergoes further processing in electric furnaces to produce steel.

[004] One of the main options chosen by steelmakers to reduce CO2 emissions is therefore to switch from the BF-BOF route towards the DRI route. However, use of DRI products in classical electrical furnaces together with ferrous scraps has some limitations. Indeed, scraps contain a lot of impurities and resulting liquid steel will need to be further processed to produce high quality steel grades. Investment on new liquid steel treatment tools would thus be necessary.

[005] Another option consists in using smelting furnaces powered by electric energy to melt the DRI products to produce pig iron. This option has the advantage that pig iron is produced, as in the Blast Furnace, which allows oxides removal in molten slag and thus classical liquid steel treatment tools such a Basic Oxygen Furnace and refining ladles may be used. However, the pig iron obtained by this route has a carbon content which is relatively low compared to classical pig iron. This paradoxically reduces the environmental interest of this route because the higher the carbon rate, the more it will be possible to add recycled scrap metal in the BOF.

[006] The aim of the present invention is therefore to remedy the drawbacks of the pig iron and steelmaking manufacturing routes by providing a new route efficiently minimizing the environmental impact of such manufacturing.

[007] This problem is solved by a method for manufacturing pig iron as detailed in claim 1.

[008] Such method may also comprise the optional characteristics of claims 2 to 10 considered separately or in any possible technical combinations.

[009] The invention also deals with a method for manufacturing steel according to claim 11.

[0010] Such method may also comprise the optional characteristics of claims 12 to 13 considered separately or in any possible technical combinations.

[0011 ] The invention also deals with an electrical smelting furnace according to claim 14.

[0012] Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge clearly from the description of it that is given below by way of an indication and which is in no way restrictive, with reference to the appended figures in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a pig iron and steelmaking process according to the smelting I BOF route,

Figure 2 illustrates a smelting furnace

Figure 3 illustrates an embodiment of the method according to the invention

Elements in the figures are illustration and may not have been drawn to scale.

[0013] Figure 1 illustrates a steel production route according to the DRI route, from the reduction of iron to the casting of the steel into semi-products such as slabs, billets, blooms, or strips. Iron ore 10 is first reduced in a direct reduction plant 11. This direct reduction plant 11 may be designed to implement any kind of direct reduction technology such as MIDREX® technology or Energiron®. The direct reduction process may for example be a traditional natural-gas or a biogas-based process

[0014] In a preferred embodiment, the DRI product used in the method according to the invention is manufactured using a reducing gas based on biogas coming from combustion of biomass.

[0015] Biomass is renewable organic material that comes from plants and animals. Biomass sources include notably wood and wood processing wastes such as firewood, wood pellets, and wood chips, lumber and furniture mill sawdust and waste, and black liquor from pulp and paper mills, agricultural crops and waste materials such as corn, soybeans, sugar cane, switchgrass, woody plants, and algae, and crop and food processing residues, but also biogenic materials in municipal solid waste such as paper, cotton, and wool products, and food, yard, and wood wastes, animal manure and human sewage. In the sense of the invention, biomass may also encompass plastics residues, such as recycled waste plastics like Solid Refuse Fuels or SRF.

[0016] Whenever using natural gas or biogas as reducing gas, the carbon content of the DRI product can be set to a maximum of 3 % in weight and usually to a range of 2 to 3% in weight.

[0017] In another preferred embodiment, the DRI product used in the method according to the invention is manufactured through a so called H2-DRI process where the reducing gas comprises more than 50 % and preferably more than 60, 70, 80 or 90 % in volume of hydrogen or is even entirely made of hydrogen. The H2- DRI product will contain a far lower level of carbon than the natural gas or biogas DRI, so typically below 1 % in weight or even lower. In a preferred embodiment, the hydrogen used in the DRI reducing gas comes from the electrolysis of water, which is preferably powered in part or all by CO2 neutral electricity. CO2 neutral electricity includes notably electricity from renewable source which is defined as energy that is collected from renewable resources, which are naturally replenished on a human timescale, including sources like sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat. In some embodiments, the use of electricity coming from nuclear sources can be used as it is not emitting CO2 to be produced.

[0018] Whatever the DRI process used, the resulting Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) Product 12 is then charged into a smelting furnace 13 where the reduction of iron oxide is completed, and the product is melted to produce pig iron.

[0019] The DRI product can be transferred to the smelting furnace in various forms. Preferably, the directly reduced iron product (DRI product) is fed to the smelting furnace in a hot form as HDRI product (so-called Hot DRI), or in a cold form as CDRI product (so-called Cold DRI), or in hot briquette form as HBI product (so-called Hot Briquetted Iron) and/or in particulate form, preferably with an average particle diameter of at most 10.0 mm, more preferably with an average particle diameter of at most 5.0 mm.

[0020] It is preferably charged directly at the exit of the direct reduction plant 11 as a hot product with a temperature from 500°C to 700°C. This allows reducing the amount of energy needed to melt it. When hot charging is not possible, for example if the direct reduction plant 11 and the smelting furnace 13 are not on same location, or if the smelting furnace 13 is stopped for maintenance and thus DRI product must be stored, then the DRI product may be charged cold, or a preheating step may be performed.

[0021 ] The smelting furnace 13 uses electric energy provided by several electrodes to melt the DRI product 12 and produce pig iron. In a preferred embodiment, part or all of the electricity needed comes from CO2 neutral electricity. Further detailed description of the smelting furnace will be given later, based on figure 2.

[0022] The pig iron may then optionally be transferred to a desulphurization station 15 to perform a desulphurization step. This desulphurization step is needed for production of steel grades requiring a low Sulphur content, which is, for example set at a maximum of 0.03 weight percent of sulphur. Desulfurization in oxidizing conditions is not effective and is thus preferentially performed either on pig iron before oxygen refining, or in steel ladle after steel deoxidizing. For very low sulfur contents, for example below 0.004 weight percent of sulfur, deoxidizing and desulphurization are combined for overall higher performance. Low sulfur grades thus benefit from performing pig iron desulfurization before the conversion step.

[0023] Desulphurization of the pig iron can be done by adding reagents, notably based on calcium or magnesium compounds, such as sodium carbonate, lime, calcium carbide, and/or magnesium into the pig iron. It may be done for example by injection of those reagents in the pig iron previously transferred in a ladle. This ladle may be a simple one as illustrated one figure 1 but could also be a torpedo ladle. The desulphurized pig iron 16 has preferentially a content of Sulphur lower than 0.004 weight percent.

[0024] The desulphurized pig iron 16 can then transferred into a converter 17. The converter basically turns the molten metal into liquid steel by blowing oxygen through molten metal to decarburize it. It is commonly named Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF). Ferrous scraps 18, coming from recycling of steel, may also be charged into the converter 17 to take benefit of the heat released by the exothermic reactions resulting from the oxygen injection into the pig iron.

[0025] Liquid steel 19 thus formed can then be transferred, whenever needed, to one or more secondary metallurgy tools 20A, 20B such as Ladle furnaces, RH (Ruhrstahl-Heareus) vacuum vessel, Vacuum Tank degasser, alloying and stirring stations, etc.... to be treated to reach the required steel composition according to the steel grades to be produced. Liquid steel with the required composition 21 can then be transferred to a casting plant 22 where it can be turned into solid products, such as slabs, billets, blooms or strips.

[0026] As shown on figure 2, the smelting furnace 13 is composed of a vessel 20 able to contain hot metal. The vessel 20 may have a circular or a rectangular shape, for example. This vessel 20 may be closed by a roof provided with some apertures to receive electrodes 22 to be inserted into the vessel 20 and with other apertures to allow charging of the raw materials into the vessel 20.

[0027] The electrodes 22 provide the required electric energy to melt the charged raw materials and form pig iron. They are preferably Soderberg-type electrodes.

[0028] During the melting of the raw materials, two layers are formed, a pig iron 14 layer which is the densest and is thus located at the bottom of the vessel 20 and a slag layer 23 located above the pig iron 14. The slag layer 23 can be partially covered by piles of raw materials 24 waiting to be melted.

[0029] The vessel 20 is also provided with apertures named tap holes 25 located in its lower part and allowing to discharge the pig iron 14 while keeping most of the slag into the vessel 20. They may be located in the lateral walls of the vessel or in its bottom wall.

[0030] The smelting furnace 13 may be a SAF (Submerged-Arc Furnace) wherein the electrodes are immersed into the slag layer 23 or an OSBF (open-slag bath furnace) wherein the electrodes 22 are located above the slag layer 23. It is preferentially an OSBF as illustrated in the figures.

[0031 ] As explained above, the carbon content of the pig iron 14 produced through the DRI route will generally be lower than 3 % in weight. However, to fulfil the requirements of the subsequent steelmaking process at the converter, the pig iron should preferentially have a carbon content as close as possible to 4.5% in weight, which is the level of saturation. In a preferred embodiment, the pig iron carbon content is in the range of 4.0 to 4.5% in weight.

[0032] Indeed, carbon is necessary for the steelmaking process performed in the converter 17 through oxygen blowing. This is because the reaction of carbon with oxygen creates carbon monoxide gas, which provides intense and efficient stirring of the molten metal and thus improves the removal of impurities from the steel. This reaction is exothermic and therefore provides additional energy for ferrous scraps melting, allowing to incorporate a higher amount of such ferrous scraps coming from steel recycling. The more ferrous scraps used, the smaller the environmental footprint of the steelmaking process.

[0033] In the frame of the invention, a carbon containing material is added in the smelting furnace 13, directly in the pig iron layer 14. This addition can be done though an injection device.

[0034] By injecting carbon directly in the pig iron layer 14, it has been observed by the present inventors that the carburization process can reach a very high yield, above 80%. Indeed, the slag layer 23 has a high height, that can be above 50 cm and the density of carbon sources is usually lower than the slag density itself. This triggers physical limitations for carbon to go through the slag into the pig iron layer 14.

[0035] Moreover, the direct injection of carbon ensures an optimal energy efficiency of the smelting process as carburization requires a high amount of energy that can be optimally provided by electric heating in the smelting furnace rather than by an additional heating station.

[0036] Finally, increasing the carbon content of the pig iron in the smelter leads to a decrease of the liquidus temperature of the pig iron, allowing a lower tapping temperature.

[0037] In a preferred embodiment, the injection device is a tuyere 26 inserted in the bottom of the vessel 20. Such bottom tuyere opens in the pig iron layer 14 to allow direct addition.

[0038] The use of this bottom tuyere 26 avoids injecting the carbon-containing material from the top of the smelting furnace 13 where the available space may be scarce due to the presence of electrodes and charging devices for the DRI product. [0039] In a preferred embodiment, the carbon is injected together with a carrier-gas to avoid clogging the injection device. This gas is preferably inert and may be made of nitrogen, argon, helium or carbon monoxide or any mixtures of such gases.

[0040] The carbon containing material may come from different sources. It may be chosen, for example, among coke, anthracite, silicon carbide, calcium carbide, or a mixture of any of those sources, but can also advantageously come from renewable sources like biomass for part or all the carbon load. In particular, biochar can be used. Adding calcium carbide is particularly advantageous as the calcium atoms can provide a desulphurizing effect. Adding silicon carbide is also particularly advantageous as it allows increasing the silicon content of the pig iron.

[0041 ] The carbon containing material to be injected through the injection device preferably has a particle size below 3mm. In a preferred embodiment, said material has a particle size less than or equal to 75pm, remaining particles having a particle size less than or equal to 2 mm.

[0042] In another embodiment, the carbon containing material may also be made of composite briquettes of an iron source mixed with one or several of the previously mentioned carbon sources. [0043] In a preferred embodiment, iron source can be chosen among sludges from electric furnaces, converters or smelters, slags from electric furnaces or from converters, DRI fines or any waste rich in iron from pig iron or steel production route.

[0044] In a preferred embodiment, silicon containing material may be injected together with the carbon containing material in the pig iron layer 14. Silicon has a strong deoxidizing power at high temperature and notably around 1600°C which is the temperature of the liquid steel in the converter. It reacts with oxygen and contributes then to the formation of the slag. The reaction is exothermic and therefore provides additional energy for scrap melting in the converter. It can also improve the performance of the desulphurization operation, if any.

[0045] Such silicon can be added under different forms. It may be metal Silicon Si, silicon carbide SiC, silicomanganese SiMn, calcium silicate SiCa or a ferro silicon alloy FeSi such as FeSi75 or FeSi65.

[0046] The use of DRI products in the smelting furnace 13 will lead to a natural amount of silicon usually below 0.2 or even below 0.1 % in weight. The final silicon content of the pig iron is preferentially set at a value of 0.1 to 0.4% in weight, preferably of 0.2 to 0.4 % in weight. Further additions of silicon in the desulphurization station 15 and/or the converter 17 may be performed if required.

[0047] In a preferred embodiment, desulphurization reagents can also be injected together with the carbon containing material, with or without silicon addition. Such reagents can notably be based on calcium compounds, such as sodium carbonate, lime, and/or calcium carbide.

[0048] The final sulphur content of the pig iron is preferentially set at a maximum value of 0.03 weight percent and preferably at a maximum value of 0.004 weight percent.

[0049] Performing desulphurization in the smelting furnace can allow suppressing the need for a desulphurizing treatment between the smelting furnace 13 and the converter 17 or at least reducing such treatment.

[0050] It has to be noted that adding calcium carbide is particularly advantageous as the calcium addition can provide a desulphurizing effect on top of adding carbon. Adding silicon carbide is also particularly advantageous as it allows increasing the silicon content of the pig iron on top of acting carbon. Adding a mix of calcium carbide and silicon carbide is even more advantageous as it provides carbon and silicon addition, while ensuring desulphurization.