Making iron directly from concentrate by gaseous reduction.

The two critical issues the ironmaking industry faces today are energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions. It would therefore be advantageous to utilize concentrate directly without pelletizing and without using coke. This paper describes two such processes: (1) flash ironmaking technology (FIT) and (2) moving-bed ironmaking technology (MBIT). They take advantage of the high reactivity of the concentrate particles to reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. The results of economic analyses on the FIT are briefly described. Adopting FIT in the large-scale production of iron and MBIT on a modest scale would lower energy consumption and CO₂ emissions for the steel industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]