Research Projects

In India, injecting biomass as a partial substitute of pulverised coal in making pig iron has not been tried so far but with a generation of around 750 million tonnes of biomass per year, providing 32% of country’s primary energy, it is high time that the underlying leverages are best utilised. The kinetics and thermodynamics aspects of using bio-char as a promising reductant in iron and steel industry has not been studied extensively which this project aims to establish. Being a source of hydrocarbon, the gases evolving and participating in the smelting reduction of metal oxides will be best established in this proposed project work. Also, the possibility of bio-reductant replacing coke breeze during sinter preparation by 40-60 % and replacing coke by 20% in blast furnace will be studied. The parameters will be optimised in laboratory scale with a quick bench scale trials and testing for repeatability before industry intervention is sought. Additionally, the developed bio-reductant/s will be used for targeting extraction of critical metals (Ni, Co, etc.) from secondary resources, evincing a sustainable approach. The novelty of this project work is as follows: - Eco-friendly (~43% reduction in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) with CO2 reduction by ~25% emission to be monitored over a period of years) and low-cost based - Potential to replace coke (by 40-60% in sinter and maximum 20% in BF in the form of coke blend to satisfy the strength of the burden and bed permeability) The main experiments are: (1) Preparation of bio-carbon mix through co-pyrolysis (2) Thermal degradation behaviour study of bio-carbon and bio-carbon mix (3) Study of gas evolution kinetics (4) Use of individual bio-carbon and bio-carbon mix in smelting reduction of metal oxides with optimisation of process parameters in lab and bench scale The two key outcomes of this proposed research work, namely flow sheet for production of pure metals from oxides by using bio-reductants in laboratory scale, flow sheet for production of pure metals from oxides by using bio-reductants in bench scale along with understanding of thermodynamics and process kinetics and techno-economic feasibility will assist iron and steel industries to further test the process in semi-pilot or pilot scale. The pilot scale trials will indicate a clear path towards industrial acceptance of the process though a detailed modelling and simulation for ease in design and engineering.