The Role of Charge Materials in Alternative Routes to Steel

Abstract

New steelmaking technologies being developed presently are likely to have a significant impact on the future competitive structure of the steel industry. These technologies would not only lower costs but could greatly reduce the size requirement for efficient operations as well as eliminate several processing steps. Such technological developments always influence the structure of any industry. Development of oxygen steelmaking for example, offered lower scrap consumption compared to open hearth steelmaking, and this helped electric furnace steelmaking to grow by releasing scrap.Meanwhile, the developments of continuous billet casting allowed small steel electric furnace based plants to produce long products economically. The new technologies being developed today have the potential of causing even greater structural changes. Technologies such as smelting reduction, direct reduction, direct steelmaking from iron ore and near net shape casting are so revolutionary that they may change the complete rules of the game for steelmaking.