Sponge Iron From Magnetite – A Novel Process Developed In India

With India eyeing record Steel exports in FY22, the Indian Steel Industry is quickly becoming hot property. Along with it, Sponge Iron, one of the essential raw materials used in steel productions, is bound to have a growing domestic demand. Accompanied by rising coal prices, there is tremendous room for technological and market development to satisfy the expected demand adequately.

 At such a stage, a novel process to produce high-quality sponge iron that matches international standards have been developed by Subhanjan Mohanty, Founder of Involute Metal Powders. With 40 years of experience as a Chief Consultant in the Indian metallurgical industry and numerous patents, he has pioneered the technological development of various ferrous and non-ferrous metal powders.

 Sponge Iron production usually employs the DRI Process, undertaking solid-state reduction of hematite ores with equal proportions of coal. The use of coal brings this about fired Rotary Kiln, with the environmental impact of the entire process putting Sponge Iron plants under ‘Red Category’ industries. These industries generally have a high pollution potential, alongside a risk of numerous health hazards. The use of Electrostatic Precipitators can subdue the environmental effect, although not to the required extent.

 Involute Metal Powders, in their latest technological development, have created a process that reduces coal usage, subsequently reducing the environmental impact. This is done by using a tunnel kiln instead of the usual rotary kiln, making it a one of its kind static bed process in India. The coal usage drops by 85% for each cycle, resulting in a smokeless, eco-friendly operation.

 The process also switches over the raw material from hematite to magnetite, which contains a much higher amount of pure iron at 72.4%. Magnetite ores comprise more than 30% of India’s iron ore deposits, which are heavily underutilized. Offering the highest iron recovery, magnetite  sponge iron can be a revolutionary turn in the Indian metallurgical industry, said Soumitra Mohanty, the executor of the successful trials of the above project.

 India has been the largest producer of sponge iron globally since 2003. Since 2014, India’s contribution to sponge iron has crossed 25%. With this strong global performance and the massive effect of the Steel Industry on the Indian and global economies, the powder metallurgical industry is gaining ground. Novel processes such as this one by Involute Metal Powders will continue to support and strengthen the industry.

 Highlights of the Process are:-

1. Utilizing Magnetite Iron comprises 36% of our countries Iron ore deposits and has not been able to find quantitative usages so far.

2. Using only 10-15 % coal against an equal Proportion of Iron ore and Coal.

3. Complete smokeless operation.

4. Eco-friendly Process.

5. The highest degree of Iron recovery.

6. The minimum cost of production.

7. Lower investment compared to Rotary Kiln Process.

8. Return of Investment within one year compared to 3 to 4 years of Rotary kiln process.

---