Modern blast furnace ironmaking technology: potentials to meet the demand of high hot metal production and lower energy consumption

Iron and steel making is one of the most intense energy consuming in the industrial sectors. The intensive utilization of fossil carbon in the ironmaking blast furnace (BF) is related directly to CO2 emission and global warming. Lowering the energy consumption and CO2 emission from BF comes on the top priorities from both economic and environmental aspects. The BF has undergone tremendous modifications and development to increase production and improve the overall efficiency. Both technological development and scientific research drive one another to reach optimum operation conditions, which are very close to the ideal conditions; however, further development is still required to meet the stringent environmental regulations. The present article provides a comprehensive review of recent research and development which were carried out in modern blast furnace to increase the productivity meanwhile reduce the energy consumption and CO2 emission to meet the demand of steel market and the environmental protection. The recent technological and metallurgical improvements in the BF are intensively discussed including: (i) modifications of BF design, top charging and measuring system, (ii) upgrading of conventional top charging burden and alternative agglomerates, (iii) developing of tuyeres injection system and injected materials, and (iv) potentials of waste heat recovery and usage. These topics are reviewed and discussed in some details to elucidate the potential of recent progress in BF technology in saving the energy consumption and lowering CO2 emission. In this paper, the major research and development which have been carried out in ironmaking BF technology are reviewed with an overview of the future prospects.