Ironmaking is a mature technology that has reached over the last decades a high degree of excellence. It has proven its ability to adapt to the changing conditions regarding raw materials availability, energy resources and hot metal demand. The large development of coal injection practice has allowed reducing the dependency towards coke, while achieving total reductant rates close to the theoretical limit. New challenges, especially with respect to environment and CO2 emissions, will be strong drivers for technological progress. To meet these requirements, further improvements of performance are needed in the short term. Increased use of scraps will be an efficient solution. In the mid-long term, innovative and breakthrough solutions must be invented. An example is given by the concept of nitrogen-free blast furnace, involving recycling of decarbonated top gas and sequestration of CO2.

The coke plant/blast furnace will remain dominant for the production route from iron ores to crude steel.There exists a community of fate for the coke plant and the blast furnace as blast furnaces cannot be operated without coke for physical reasons. For cost optimization, it was and is important to minimize the coke rate in the blast furnace and to utilize the by-products of the blast furnace and of the coking plant. The paper discusses, for an interconnecting network of an integrated iron and steelworks, the potentials of the use of coke oven gas and blast furnace gas. The coke oven gas can be utilized for electric power and heat production, for conversion into hydrogen and methanol as well as reducing gas in the blast furnace or in a DRI plant. Blast furnace gas can be used conventionally for blast heating, coke plant underfiring and power production, or it can be recycled to the blast furnace in the nitrogen-free blast furnace process and in the plasma heated blast furnace process. A critical comprehensive assessment is also given for these potentials with respect to CO2 emissions.

The operation of blast furnace No. 2 started in July 1998, raising the CST yearly hot metal production from 3.6 Mt to the present level of 5.0 Mt. In July 2004, after a 6 years long operation, blast furnace No. 2 cumulated a production of 8.16 Mt, moreover ensuring good performance. The paper presents the actions that have been taken to control hearth wear, while sustaining high productivity and low fuel consumption. The results obtained are submitted to a detailed analysis with appropriate reference to the approach that has been followed and the controls that have been implemented.

Innovative blast furnace operations with top gas recycling after CO2 scrubbing were numerically examined. The fully kinetic mathematical model was applied to the operations with recycled gas injections into the tuyere and stack parts of the furnace, and the top gas recycling combined with waste plastics injection. The simulation results showed that the top gas recycling decreased the reducing agent rate and increased the productivity.

Considerable changes of the blast furnace have occurred during the last 250 years including technology changes (dimensions, ancillaries, charging, casting) as well as operating parameters (fuels, ores, blast temperatures, productivity). Such evolutions have led to a better description of the reactor through internal measurements and more and more precise heat and mass balances and to the formulation of the final blast furnace theory in the late fifties. From the 17th to the 20th century, a number of Scientists have brought their contributions to the blast furnace theory up until the final paradigm shift in the fifties. This paper highlights French contributions to this scientific history, in relation with the advances of blast furnace theory in other countries.

The 4th Daughter Directive to the Air Quality Directive sets, for year 2012, a target value of 1 ng/m3 for the concentration of benzo(a)pyrene in ambient air. This target cannot be met at present in the ambient air of numerous coke plants. Operators are thus requested to take every reasonable measure in order to come closest to the desired air quality standard. Technical measures for minimizing benzo(a)pyrene emissions will focus on optimizing the pressure conditions in the oven chamber as well as on improving the sealing capabilities of coke oven closure facilities. The techniques for reduction of benzo(a)pyrene emissions, developed by Deutsche Montan Technologie GmbH, are presented.

Capacity of the ladles is in way to be increased in several steelplants for flat carbon steel products (Dunkirk, Florange). The new steel ladles have been designed, taking into account several key points: the stiffness and the service temperature of the steel shell, which is controlled by the geometry of shell reinforcements and by the efficiency of the thermal insulation layer; the stiffness of the lip-rings, which can be greatly improved by using steel plates protected by refractory concrete; the wear of the slag line in MgO-C bricks, which can limit the ladle campaign if vacuum tank degassing process is used for ULC steels production. Slag control is required. Numerous trials are also in way to limit the wear of the bottom impact zone of the steel ladle, including pre-shaped alumina-spinel cast bottom, in Arcelor Dunkirk.

The DSR (Dynamic Shape Roll), a powerful flatness actuator developed by VAI Clecim, has been installed and commissioned on the No. 1 tandem cold rolling mill of Baoshan Iron and Steel in 1997 and more than 4 million tons have been rolled with this equipment. This long operation period allows us to quantify the first operational results in terms of performance, capacity and operation of this actuator on a wide range of products. This also allows us to confirm the potential gains induced by this innovative technology with regard to the market changes and requirements.

Thanks to many technological developments, modern Steckel mills are not only characterized by increased capacities and extended product ranges, but can also deliver plates in addition to hot-rolled strip. Some recent examples of supplies by VOEST-ALPINE Industrieanalgenbau (VAI) show possible Steckel configurations and introduce the innovative solutions developed at these occasions. These examples demonstrate the flexibility and economical efficiency of this technology.

Today, newly developed 9% Cr-steels, such as T/P911 and T/P92, are used for power plants with advanced steam parameters, thanks to their high creep rupture strength values. They show an increase of creep values by around 10 to 25 %, compared with T/P91. Nevertheless, their range of use is limited for high temperature because their oxidation resistance is lower than that of the classical 12%Cr-steels, such as X20CrMoV12-1 or the austenitic steels. In order to meet higher design parameters, a new steel, named VM12, has been developed by Vallourec and Mannesmann Tubes (V&M). The aim was to keep the high creep level of the T/P92 together with improvement of the steam oxidation resistance to fit with design steam temperature up to 650°C.