Iron extraction process of iron ore

The process of iron ore extraction mainly includes the following steps:

‌Oret dressing: First, iron ore needs to be processed to remove impurities and increase the iron content. During the ore dressing process, physical methods (such as reselection, magnetic separation, flotation, etc.) and chemical methods (such as roasting, cyanide leaching, etc.) are usually treated with iron ore. The iron ore after ore dressing usually contains about 50% to 60% of the iron element.

‌Reduction‌: Next, iron-containing iron ore is used to generate metal iron through a reduction reaction in the blast furnace. This process is usually carried out at high temperatures, using coke as a reducing agent. Iron oxide in iron ore reacts with coke to produce carbon monoxide and iron, a process called blast furnace smelting.

Smelting: Blast furnace smelting results in a furnace of mixture, including iron, carbon and other impurities. To obtain pure steel products, these mixtures need to be melted together. During smelting, the temperature inside the blast furnace is usually as high as 1500°C to 1700°C, at which iron and other impurities are converted into liquid steel water.

‌Refining: The molten steel obtained by smelting contains a large amount of impurities, such as carbon, silicon, manganese, etc. In order to obtain high-quality steel products, the molten steel needs to be refined. The refining process usually includes the following steps:

Filter mesh slag removal: This process is called quenching by adding a filter mesh to the molten steel.

Deoxygenation: Add a certain amount of oxygen to the molten steel to remove some carbon and other impurities. This process is called blown oxygen decarbonization.

Alloyization: Improve the performance of steel by adding alloy elements (such as chromium, nickel, molybdenum, etc.) to the molten steel.

Cooling: Cool the refined steel water to room temperature to form a billet or steel plate.

‌Steelmaking Process‌: Pig iron needs to be converted into steel through decarbonization and alloying. Core equipment includes converter and arc furnace. The converter steelmaking process oxidizes excess carbon elements by blowing high-pressure oxygen to form a molten steel-slag layer. Arc furnace steelmaking uses scrap steel as the main raw material, and generates high-temperature melted materials through arcs, which are suitable for small batch and special steel production.

‌Modern smelting technology‌: Modern smelting technology is constantly upgrading, including environmental protection measures such as blast furnace gas circulation, carbon capture technology to reduce carbon emissions, and intelligent control to reduce energy consumption. Direct reduction iron (DRI) technology replaces coke with natural gas, breaking through the limitations of traditional blast furnaces.