Environmental and Technological Aspects of Converter Slag Utilization in Sintering and Blast-Furnace Production

Abstract

The paper presents calculation results for predictive conditions of blast furnace operation with the use of converter slag in the iron ore portion of the blast furnace burden. It shows that addition of converter slag in the sinter and blast-furnace burden without correction of the operating conditions is not reasonable as it significantly worsens parameters of blast furnace operation. Long-term operation of blast furnaces with addition of converter slag in the burden will be accompanied by gradual accumulation of phosphorus in metal and will lead to increasing problems regarding phosphorus removal at the converter production stage. The use of converter slag makes it possible to increase the consumption of non-fluxed pellets without changing the sinter basicity and improve parameters of blast-furnace smelting. The problem of efficient and continuous use of converter slag in blast furnaces can be solved by the complex analysis of this problem: evaluation of economic feasibility of its use as a fluxing agent; feasibility study of this issue for the “blast-furnace production – converter production” complex; analysis of environmental problems during operation at the factory and in the region.