INTRODUCTION CHAPTER-1

Engineering Design and Research Centre provides technical support to a project.

EDRC department at MMH IC offers detailed and basic engineering solutions to clients for
Mineral and Metals processing and Bulk Material Handling Systems. EDRC has major
expertise in detailed engineering though it also provides basic engineering solutions for some
jobs. Generally L&T has consortium with other companies which provide the basic
engineering based on which EDRC team prepares detailed engineering solutions. EDRC is
divided into various units where each unit looks after a particular job.

Major sections in EDRC department are:
Blast Furnace and Coke Oven

Agglomeration

Civil and Structural

Electrical and Instrumentation

Bulk Material Handling

The role of EDRC department is to make drawings and provide it to site team and
EDRC department is continuously engaged with site execution to provide required technical
support and drawing revisions if required. EDRC job can be categorized into two parts
namely Execution jobs and Tendering jobs.

1.1 EXECUTION JOBS:
The work flow sequence for Execution jobs is provided below in sequence as
practiced by the department:
Prepare and release purchase requisition.
BU gets offers from different vendors for evaluation.
EDRC evaluates offers submitted by vendors. Evaluation is done after recieving all
the orders.
Meeting with the vendor and technical clearance or rejection is given as per the case.
BU places order to a vendor.
Kick off meeting (if required) takes place where all the involved departments discuss
the concerned issues.
Vendor submits the drawings.
EDRC comments or approves the drawings. if required drawings are also submitted to
client or its consultant for evaluation before approval to the vendor.
EDRC prepares in house drawings for interface.
All drawings are submitted to site progressively.
Civil assignments/order list is given to civil and Structural/Electrical and
instrumentation for their detailing.
Civil drawings are released.
Electrical and instrumentation drawings are released.

1.2 TENDERING JOBS:
BU sends notice, inviting tenders for a project, to EDRC.
EDRC along with technology provider for that sort of projects prepare offer. offer
includes write-ups for each unit, drawings, scope-matrix, details of erection,
supervision and commisioning.
Tender stage BOQ (bill of quantities) is prepared after finalization of offer by the
client and subsequent meeting with the client is arranged.

1.3 INTERFACE WITH TECHNOLOGY PROVIDER:
If needed, technology provider drawings to be reviewed along with the vendor/EDRC
drawings.
All relevant drawings to be sent to technology provider.






BLAST FURNACE CHAPTER-2
Blast furnace (BF) is the main technology employed in mass production of iron and
steel from iron ores. A BF is continuously supplied with coke, ore, flux continuously from the
top of the furnace and oxygen enriched air is sent from the bottom of the furnace through
tuyeres along with PCI (pulverized coal injection) initiating formation of Carbon monoxide
which is blown along with air upwards resulting in a counter current exchange process with
the ore, thus forming iron ultimately, but with impurities. The outputs of this process are
molten pig form, preferably granulated slag, top gas and flue dust.












FIG: 2.1 IRON MAKING IN BLAST FURNACE
Blast Furnace is a counter current reactor based shaft furnace. Unlike steel melting
shops, it is a continuous operating plant. Charging to BF and casting of metal & slag from BF
is a considered as a batch process. The main producing unit (i.e.BF) is continuously operating
unit.

2.1 BLAST FURNACE DESIGN:
The blast furnace has a vertical cylindrical structure externally covered with a shell of
thick steel plate and internally lined with refractories. The refractory structure is cooled by
water-cooled metal components called staves, which are embedded between the shell and the
refractories. The furnace body or profile consists of five parts.
Top or throat, which is a straight cylinder;
Shaft or stack, which tapers outward from the top;
Parallel bosh (Belly), which is a straight cylinder;
Lower bosh, which tapers inward toward its bottom;
Hearth, at the bottom of the furnace, which is a straight cylinder.
Working height is the distance from the stock line to the tuyere level. Inner height is the
distance from the stock line to the tap hole level. Total height is inner height plus the distance
between the stock line and the charging platform. Depending on the size of the furnace, the
side wall of the hearth is radially fitted with some 14 to 42 of water-cooled copper tuyeres,
which are used to inject the hot blast into the furnace from the hot stoves through the hot-
blast main and blowpipes.Tapho1es for discharging hot metal and cinder notches for
discharging slag are also installed in the hearth section.

FIG: 2.2 BLAST FURNACE SHAPE WITH TEMPERATURE RANGE AND PROCESS IN THAT PART

2.1.1 BLAST FURNACE STRUCTURE:
The blast furnace design has eventually evolved from a "mantle supported/Lintel
supported design" in the mid -twentieth century to a ''free standing design. The 'free standing
design with tower structure provides many benefits above the 'mantle supported type and can
be summarised as below:
For the same hearth diameter more no. of tuyeres are possible.
Provides an expanded working platform at the tuyere Level allowing better access for
furnace monitoring and more space for mechanised maintenance in this area.
The stack platforms are wider and safe working areas, giving the access for Long Life
maintenance practices.
2.1.2 BLAST FURNACE TOP CHARGING SYSTEM:
The furnace top charging system also has developed with time. The evolution of the
top charging has taken place as follows:
Two bell top
Two bell top with Variable throat armour
Bell less top








FIG: 2.3 BLAST FURNACE TOP CHARGING SYSTEMS
The BELL-LESS TOP charging system is the third generation of charging system. It
is the only system which is able to direct material to any point on the stock-line surface and
can be used to create any burden profile. The burden can be charged to profiles independent
of the angle of repose of the material. The first industrial bell-Less prototype went into
operation in August 1971 at Thyssen and gained immediate acceptance. Today this system is
used for more than 60% of the pig iron production in the world.
The well proven advantages offered by the Bell Less Top are :
Total fuel consumption savings o Higher productivity
Higher top pressure (compared to McKee type top)
Extended blast furnace campaign
Improved and consistent hot metal quality
Optimal gas flow at high coal injection rates
Increased availability because of lower maintenance downtime

2.1.3 BF COOLING SYSTEM:
To meet cooling necessity of areas with high heat flux, cooling plates and staves were
developed. These provided intense cooling without subjecting the shell to risk. Both systems
developed in parallel and have the cooling medium in a cooling system placed inside the
furnace. Besides the shell, the under hearth also requires cooling in large BFs. Generally
water through pipelines is used in under hearth cooling.
Plate cooling was developed for cooling above tuyere level. The plates extend inside the
furnace and support the refractory lining besides cooling it. This is not applied in the hearth.
The plates can be changed easily from outside in case of damage. To vary the cooling
intensity, the pitch distance is varied.
Stave cooling developed in parallel to plate cooling. These are flat cooling members parallel
to the shell embedded between the refractory &shell. Staves provided a good stable surface
for better charging control. Initial staves were all cast iron based. The development of cast
iron staves can be categorised in 4 clear generations.
1
st
generation staves: These were grey cast iron based, capable of evaporative cooling. These
staves lacked edge cooling. Due to evaporative cooling capability these were huge in size.
They were ideal as it could continue to function for a long time even when the water
recirculation systems failed.
2
nd
generation staves: To cool edges 90 deg turn in pipes were introduced. They were also
provided with shelf cooling pipe. Along with this forced circulation systems became essential
and evaporative cooling was not possible. These were made of ductile cast iron.
3
rd
generation staves: These were designed to provide for very high cooling capabilities. They
had increased number of cooling pipes like - additional cooling pipes in the comers,
additional cooling pipes in the refractory supporting ledge, additional serpentine pipe behind
the main pipe
4
th
generation staves: Along with the 4th generation staves, concept of cast in bricks was
introduced in place of conventional refractory lining. As a result the ledge was no longer
required. They used lower furnace volume and hence more furnace volume was available.
They were faster to install and underwent lower damage and hence provided more stable
inner profile.
Development of Copper staves: Cast iron staves were suitable only for areas of low heat flux
for multi campaign use. In high heat load areas, these generally gave a life of about 6 to 12
years. Within the furnace campaign they could suffer extensive damage. To meet cooling
requirement after damage of stave, water pipes, small size cooling plates etc. had to be
installed. To overcome these limitations, cast copper stave were tried out in Japan early 70's.
Copper staves had very low wear - 3 mm in 9 years. In the same period the adjacent cast iron
staves had seen much higher wear & suffered damages. They exhibited much lower stave
temperature compared to cast iron. They did not exhibit higher heat flux. Temperature
fluctuations were seen to be lower in copper staves.

FIG: 2.4 VARIOUS STAVE SHAPES



BF PROCESS CHAPTER-3
Coke in BF fulfils different functions. Besides supplying heat and reductant for
processing the burden into finished products, it supports the entire burden column. It provides
permeability to the burden, especially in the region where the iron bearing material starts to
soften and melts (becomes a psty mass). This region in a BF is called cohesive zone. Being
the only material to remain in solid form in the hearth, it provides passage for flow of liquids
in the hearth. It also acts as carburization agent for the pig iron.
Sinter is agglomerate of iron ore fines (-6.3mm). Sinter feed is the most common
burden for blast furnaces. Sinter being friable, cannot be transported far thus sinter plants are
close to steel plants. Pellets is the only method for creating a blast furnace charge from fine
grained iron ores (ultra fines or concentrate; < 150 m). They are highly variable in their
specific content, as individual steel plants request specific characteristics and composition
required to adjust BF operation. Many mining sites have pelletizing plants at the mine site or
near its terminal port. Japanese steel mills have pelletizing plants on site, but also import
pellets with very specific composition. In the recent past high cost of pellet production had
caused closure of several pelletizing plants. Lower iron content in ore leading to reduced
quality of sinter feed and the lower availability of quality lump ores have renewed the
expectation that pellets will begin to take market share.
BF process can be divided into different temperature zones. Corresponding to each
temperature interval typical reactions take place.

FIG: 3.1 DIFFERENT ZONES AND REACTIONS IN BF
Cohesive zone forms in the temperature zone of 900-1350C. In the cohesive zone,
the iron bearing burden starts to soften and then melts. This is the region where the first liquid
appears and formation of primary slag takes place that contains high amount of wustite (FeO)
and molten iron drop downwards through the coke bed. During this process wustite is
reduced to metallic iron and a carburization takes place. The carburization leads to a
decreasing melting point and makes a tapping at lower temperatures possible. At temperature
below 900C the iron oxides hematite (

and magnetite (

are reduced to wustite.

3.1 BLAST FURNCAE TOP GAS:
Top gas or BF gas leaves the furnace with at a temperature of 150-250C and at a
pressure equal to the top gas pressure of the furnace. Typical composition range is CO: 22 -
28 %, CO
2
: 24 - 29%, H
2
: 3-8%& N2 40-45%. BF gas also has a huge dust content which
needs to be removed before it can be put to use. The primary cleaning system at all BF's is a
dry system where about 75% of the dust is removed. This is typically a dust catcher. This
dust is called Flue Dust and is typically recycled through sinter plants or Rotary Hearth
Furnaces.
After the dust catcher, different plants have different systems. Quite a few (especially
all large BF's) have a wet system for faster cooling & simplicity of plant design. The clean
BF gas may first be used to drive a turbine (TRT - Top gas Recovery Turbine) to generate
substantial amount of power.
BF gas also has a calorific value of about 800 - 900 Kcal/Nm3. This calorific value is
quite low compared to coke oven gas CV of 4200 Kcal/Nm3. Due to low CV; BF gas does
not have a self-supporting flame. However in view of its quantity and the fact that it is
available at high pressure, BF gas is the ideal fuel for reheating furnaces & power houses in
BF. It is also necessarily used for heating the stoves which heat the cold blast for the BF.

3.2 BLAST FURNACE AUXILLIARIES:
Typical blast furnace auxiliaries include:

Raw material handling system
Raw material feeding system to stock house
Stock house
Charging system
Batching system consisting of screening system, weighing system
Transporting system to transport the burden material to furnace top - skip,
conveyor
Discharging system to discharge burden material inside BF - PW top, bell top
Hot blast system
Blowers to deliver cold blast
Flow regulating system
Hot blast heating plant
Gas cleaning plant
Dry dust removal
Wet scrubber
Top gas recovery turbine
Cast House
Fuel Injection


PLANT FACILITIES CHAPTER-4
The BF requires various inputs to run such as supply of ore forms, hot blast supply, cooling
of refractory, cast house, effluent treatment etc. All these facilities have to be provided in
order to run a BF.

Stock house &charging system:
The stock house is complete with screening facilities for coke, sinter and ore and
suitable batching and weighing facilities with a minimum of 30% force filling factor over
7850 t/d hot metal production. The various raw materials are screened, weighed and
transported by the main charging conveyors to the blast furnace top. The raw materials used
include Sinter, Sinter Fines, Coke, Coke Fines, Ore and Ore Fines.

Blower House:
The blower house is used to generate cold blast at 5 bar (g) and 160 C temperature.
The blower cooling system consists of heat exchangers and cooling tower.
Hot Blast Stoves:
The hot blast stoves are internal combustion chamber. There are 3 stoves working,
either 2 on gas and 1 on blast mode or in 1 on gas, 1 bottled up and 1 on blast mode. Fuel Gas
(BF Gas + LD Gas) is burned inside the stoves and the heat generated is used to heat the cold
blast to generate hot blast which is then fed into the blast furnace through bustle main and
tuyeres. The on-off valves of the stove are hydraulically operated by hydraulic power pack.
The control valves are pneumatically actuated.
Gas Cleaning Plant:
The gas generated in the blast furnace is cleaned in a dust catcher. The dust settles
down and the gas is then taken to a venturi scrubber, wherein, the gas is washed and
subsequently dried in a demister. The inlet gas has a maximum dust load of 20 g/Nm
3
. The
dust catcher has an efficiency of 45 60%. The clean gas coming out of the scrubber will
have a dust content of 5 mg/Nm
3
. The scrubber consists of Annular Gap Elements (AGE) and
these along with the valves are hydraulically operated. A hydraulic power pack is installed
for this purpose. The dust collected in the dust catcher is taken out through a pug mill and
then disposed.
Effluent Treatment Plant:
The slurry produced in the scrubber is taken to a thickener.The clear water is cooled
in a cooling tower and pumped back to the scrubber. The sludge settled down in the thickener
is taken to a filter press, where it is squeezed to get dry cakes. These cakes are disposed. The
remaining water is pumped back to the thickener for further cleaning. The suspended solids at
the inlet of the thickener are around 3500 mg/l and the thickener overflow is with a clean
water with 50 mg/l of suspended solids. The pH of the water is also corrected from an inlet
range of 6.2 6.4 to 7 8.5.
Top Recovery Turbine:
The clean gas coming from the demister is fed into the TRT in order to extract its
energy so that power can be generated. The gas is then connected to the plant BF Gas
network.
Cast House:
The molten metal and slag flows through runners and are collected in torpedo ladle
cars and INBA/slag pits respectively. The tapholes and the runners along with other related
equipment are installed in the cast house. The cast house consists of taphole opener, mud gun
and cover traverser. These are operated by a hydraulic power pack.
Pulverised Coal Injection Plant:
Pulverised coal injection plant is installed, where raw coal is ground and dried and
stored in a fine coal silo. Raw coal is transported to the raw coal silo from a coal storage bin
by a conveyor. The coal is fed into the mill form the raw coal silo through a drag chain
conveyor. A hot gas generator is used to generate hot gas. BF Gas is used as a fuel in the hot
gas and the waste gas produced by the combustion of BF Gas is sent to the mill. This gas
dries the coal and carries the ground and dried coal from the mill via a classifier to a bag
filter. The coal is separated in the bag filter and collected in a fine coal silo. The clean gas is
discharged to the atmosphere through a stack. An ID Fan is used to circulate the gas for this
purpose. The coal is then pneumatically conveyed to the blast furnace using nitrogen as the
conveying medium. The fineness of the pulverised coal is 100% below 500 m and 80%
below 90 m. The final surface moisture is <1%.

Slag Granulation Plant:
The slag granulation is done by the INBA system. One INBA is provided for each
cast house. The average glass content of the granulated slag will be minimum 95%. The slag
is cooled by water spray in the granulation tank. The slag sand is then dewatered and the
dried out slag is conveyed by conveyors.
Air Conditioning System:
The chiller plant houses the chillers, chilled water pumps, cooling water pumps, FRP
cooling tower (at roof top) for the air conditioning system.. The chilled water is recirculated
throughout the plant by the chilled water pumps and as per requirement in different building,
to the Air Handling Units. Air is circulated by means of a centrifugal fan housed in the AHU
and distributed through GI duct, diffuser / grilles inside the conditioned premises.
Ventilation System:
Dry ventilation is used throughout the plant. Tube Axial Flow Fans are used for either
supply or exhaust ventilation systems. In such cases, louvers are used for exhaust or air inlet
respectively. In cable tunnels, push pull system have been used with supply and exhaust fans
housed inventilation shafts. For toilet / pantries, propeller type exhaust ventilation fans are
used.
Compressor House:
This building houses the air compressor and dryer for the plant grade compressed air
and dry instrument quality air to be used in the blast furnace.
Pump House:
The pump house contains the pumps, filters and heat exchangers to be used in the
furnace cooling circuit.
Electrical Buildings:
These buildings house the electrical equipment and control rooms as the case may be.
The electrical buildings used are Main Electrical Building, TRT Electrical Building, WT
Electrical Building, Blower Electrical Building, Stock House Electrical Building and SGP
Electrical Building.
Stock House Dedusting System:
The area covered by the system extends from the discharging points of the belt
conveyors that feed the stock house to the feeding points of the main charging conveyor of
the blast furnace including the extraction and storage bins of produced fines. Dusty air
collected from the several suction hoods reaches, through a duct network, the bag filter, the
I.D. fan and clean air is discharged to the atmosphere by means of the stack.
Cast House Dedusting System:
The dedusting plant has been designed to suck and clean the dusty air coming from
the iron notch area, skimmer, iron runner, tilting runner and slag runner. The top charging
belt shall be dedusted too. The dusty air collected from the various suction hoods, reaches,
through a duct network, the filter, the ID fans and the clean air is discharged to the
atmosphere by means of a stack.

LEARNING AND OBSERVATIONS


This orientation in blast furnace section of EDRC department for two weeks was very
helpful in understanding the working of EDRC department and technology of a Blast Furnace
and other plant facilities and auxiliaries used in a steel plants. I learned about the drawing
nomenclature used by L&T MMH IC. EDRC department is involved in execution as well as
tendering stage in any project. All the Purchase Requisitions are issued by the EDRC
department and it also provide the estimate for cost and man-hours required for engineering
for any project during project tendering stage. It closely works with the Technology Supplier
and reviews the drawings provided by the Technology provider. EDRC has expertise in
detailed engineering but it also does Basic Engineering for Stock house, Dedusting Plant, PCI
grinder and effluent treatment plants.