Indian coals for sponge iron process

In contrast to conventional two stage process of steel making via blast furnace, direct steel making with pre-reduced iron ores or agglomerates have attracted attention in recent time. This is particularly so for developing countries where there is availability of other raw materials for iron making but there is dearth of, or limited resources of coking coal and abundant supply of non-coking coals. In terms of energy equivalent, availability of solid fuel is many hundred times more than that of natural gas. Extensive attempts have therefore been made to utilize non-coking coals to produce iron by non-conventional methods such as direct reduction process. The solid iron produced by reduction technique known as ‘sponge’ can then be transformed into steel by melting. An attempt has been made in the paper to indicate the available resources of Indian coals, their nature and property which may be considered suitable for the production of sponge iron either as such or after beneficiation. Indications have also been given for the possibility of utilising char from the fluid bed carbonisation of non-coking coal where such material can be obtained from an integrated formed coke plant