Chemistry Project Purification Of Iron

Amandeep Tiwary XII Science

8/3/2013

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher Mr. Ravi Prakash Mishra as well as our principal Mr. Manoj Dubey who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic Purification of Iron, which also helped me in doing a lot of Research and I came to know about so many new things I am really thankful to them. Secondly I would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame

Index
Introduction Blast Furnace The main chemical reaction producing the molten iron is: Bibliography

Introduction
Industrially, iron production involves iron ores, principally hematite (nominally Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4) in a carbothermic reaction (reduction with carbon) in a blast furnace at temperatures of about 2000 C. In a blast furnace, iron ore, carbon in the form of coke, and a flux such as limestone (which is used to remove silicon dioxide impurities in the ore which would otherwise clog the furnace with solid material) are fed into the top of the furnace, while a massive blast of heated air, about 4 tons per ton of iron,[53] is forced into In a blast furnace, fuel, ore, and flux (limestone) are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air (sometimes with oxygen enrichment) is blown into the lower section of the furnace, so that the chemical reactions take place throughout the furnace as the material moves downward. The end products are usually molten metal and slag phases tapped from the bottom, and flue gases exiting from the top of the furnace. The downward flow of the ore and flux in contact with an upflow of hot, carbon monoxide-rich combustion gases is a countercurrent exchange process. In contrast, air furnaces (such as reverberatory furnaces) are naturally aspirated, usually by the convection of hot gases in a chimney flue. According to this broad definition, bloomeries for iron, blowing houses for tin, and smelt mills for lead would be classified as blast furnaces. However, the term has usually been limited to those used for smelting iron ore to produce pig iron, an intermediate material used in the production of commercial iron and steel

Blast furnaces operate on the principle of chemical

reduction whereby carbon monoxide, having a stronger affinity for the oxygen in iron ore than iron does, reduces the iron to its elemental form. Blast furnaces differ from bloomeries and reverberatory furnaces in that in a blast furnace, flue gas is in intimate contact with the ore and iron, allowing carbon monoxide to diffuse into the ore and reduce the iron oxide to elemental iron mixed with carbon. The blast furnaces operate as a countercurrent exchange process whereas a bloomery does not. Another difference is that bloomeries operate as a batch process while blast furnaces operate continuously for long periods because they are difficult to start up and shut

down. Also, the carbon in pig iron lowers the melting point below that of steel or pure iron; in contrast, iron does not melt in a bloomery.

Carbon monoxide also reduces silica which has to be removed from the pig iron. The silica is reacted with calcium oxide (burned limestone) and forms a slag which floats to the surface of the molten pig iron. The intimate contact of flue gas with the iron causes contamination with sulfur if it is present in the fuel. Historically, to prevent contamination from sulfur, the best quality iron was produced with charcoal. The downward moving column of ore, flux, coke or charcoal and reaction products must be porous enough for the flue gas to pass through. This requires the coke or charcoal to be in large enough particles to be permeable, meaning there cannot be an excess of fines. Therefore the coke must be strong enough so it will not be crushed by the weight the overhead material. Besides physical strength of the coke, it must also be low in sulfur, phosphorus and ash.

The main chemical reaction producing the molten iron is:

Fe2O3 + 3CO 2Fe + 3CO2

This reaction might be divided into multiple steps, with the first being that preheated blast air blown into the furnace reacts with the carbon in the form of coke to produce carbon monoxide and heat:
2 C(s) + O2(g) 2 CO(g)

The hot carbon monoxide is the reducing agent for the iron ore and reacts with the iron oxide to produce molten iron and carbon dioxide. Depending on the temperature in the different parts of the furnace (warmest at the bottom) the iron is reduced in several steps. At the top, where the temperature usually is in the range between 200 C and 700 C, the iron oxide is partially reduced to iron(II,III) oxide, Fe3O4.
3 Fe2O3(s) + CO(g) 2 Fe3O4(s) + CO2(g)

At temperatures around 850 C, further down in the furnace, the iron(II,III) is reduced further to iron(II) oxide:
Fe3O4(s) + CO(g) 3 FeO(s) + CO2(g)

Hot carbon dioxide, unreacted carbon monoxide, and nitrogen from the air pass up through the furnace as fresh feed material travels down into the reaction zone. As the material travels downward, the counter-current gases both preheat the feed charge and decompose the limestone to calcium oxide and carbon dioxide:
CaCO3(s) CaO(s) + CO2(g)

As the iron(II) oxide moves down to the area with higher temperatures, ranging up to 1200 C degrees, it is reduced further to iron metal:
FeO(s) + CO(g) Fe(s) + CO2(g)

The carbon dioxide formed in this process is re-reduced to carbon monoxide by the coke:
C(s) + CO2(g) 2 CO(g)

The temperature-dependent equilibrium controlling the gas atmosphere in the furnace is called the Boudouard reaction:
2CO CO2 + C

The decomposition of limestone in the middle zones of the furnace proceeds according to the following reaction:
6

CaCO3 CaO + CO2[41]

The calcium oxide formed by decomposition reacts with various acidic impurities in the iron (notably silica), to form a fayalitic slag which is essentially calcium silicate, CaSiO3:
SiO2 + CaO CaSiO3

The "pig iron" produced by the blast furnace has a relatively high carbon content of around 4 5%, making it very brittle, and of limited immediate commercial use. Some pig iron is used to make cast iron. The majority of pig iron produced by blast furnaces undergoes further processing to reduce the carbon content and produce various grades of steel used for construction materials, automobiles, ships and machinery. Since coke is becoming more regulated due to environmental concerns, alternative methods of processing iron have been developed. "Direct iron reduction" reduces iron ore to a powder called "sponge" iron or "direct" iron that is suitable for steelmaking. There are two main reactions that go on in the direct reduction process: Natural gas is partially oxidized (with heat and a catalyst):
2 CH4 + O2 2 CO + 4 H2

The iron oxides in the ores, sinters and pellets are reduced in the blast furnace and melted into pig iron. The blast furnace is characterized by its large capacity and adaptability. Besides coke, other materials like oil, coal, natural gas and carbon containing recyclables, e.g. plastics, can be used to produce the energy needed for reduction. The product, pig iron, forms separately and cleanly from the slag. However, the pig iron, once it comes out of the blast furnace, is not the final product that we know of as "steel". Tramp elements, such as carbon, phosphorous and sulfur, in the liquid pig iron must be removed. Furthermore, specific properties are set in the steel by adding alloying elements. The liquid pig iron is moved throughout the steel manufacturing facility by means of torpedo ladles or pig iron ladles. Before the pig iron is taken to the converter, it must be desulfurized. The tramp elements are combusted from the pig iron in the converter. Such a combustion process, called refining, represents a chemical oxidation, which requires oxygen. After the refining process in the converter, a treatment (secondary metallurgy) of the steel follows in the ladle. With an electric furnace, scrap is melted to crude steel in an electric arc furnace.. A modern Ultra-High Power oven can take advantage of a tap weight of around 150t. After flushing into the ladle, the melt undergoes further treatment through alloying, fine desulfurization and deoxidation. The electric arc furnace is also applied in the production of high-alloyed, stainless RSH steels.

Bibliography
1. NCERT Chemistry 2. GRB Inorganic Chemistry 3. Wikipedia 4. American Iron and Steel Institute