1. TIME TO ADOPT ITmk3 TECHNOLOGY FOR LOW COST STEEL MAKING
- Subrat Kumar Kar
GM, Corporate Affairs, SSL, May 2015
Fig- 1 Operational region of iron making
3min ---- 5min -------- 6min ----- 9min
Steel Industry in India passing through a bad phase
due to lack of demand and high input cost. The input
materials account for 60-70% of cost of steel. Out of
this, iron ore and coal together constitute around 72% of
cost of input materials. Hence, these two are the most
important input materials for steel plants and need
focused attention.
It is obvious that iron ore is the principal input material
as it supplies the fundamental element iron, which is the
major constituent of steel. Superior quality iron input
has good impact on blast furnace productivity e.g. 1%
increase in iron content improves the blast furnace
productivity by 2% and reduces coke consumption by
1%.
Beside the mainstream first generation iron making
process known as BF (Blast furnace) and MIDREX
the second generation (DRI) direct reduction iron ore
making process need to adopt the third generation iron
making process known as ITmk3 (Iron –making
Technology Mark “3”) process which is more cheaper.
History of ITmk3 Process.
Development of direct iron reduction process based
on coal, called ITmk3® (Iron-Making Technology
Mark “3”), has been started by Japanese company
Kobe Steel, Ltd in 1996. The objective was to create
a modern technology to produce high quality
products for metallurgical industry with successive
significant reduction in production costs and lower
environmental hazard. During year 2002 – 2004 it
was demonstrated and proven its efficiency through
pilot project and in year 2010 finally 1st
commercial
production plant commissioned at Minnesota, USA
by Koby Steel.
Technology.
ITmk® technology is a simple process with a
single-step furnace operation. It uses rotary
hearth furnace (RHF) to transform iron fines
and pulverized coal into iron nuggets.
Reduction, melting and slag separation
completes within ten minute at process
temperature is 1350-1450°C while the same
took place at 15000
C in BF process.
.
Fe xOy +y Co = x Fe + yCO2 --------------- (1)
CO2 +C = CO ---------------- (2)
C(s) = C (carburized)-------------- (3)
Fe (s) = Fe (I) (melt)----------------- (4)
The first two reaction (1) & (2) occur in the
FASTMET process but in the ITmk3 process
there are additional two reaction (3) & (4)
takes place, which separate metallic iron from
slag. The process / series of reactions are
completed in around 10minutes. To begin with
(after approximate 3 minutes), pellets are
converted into DRI with un reacted core which
later (after 5 minutes) converted into dance
metallic iron shell containing molten slag and
large void space then immediately the metallic
iron melts and starts separating out from slag and
by around 9 minutes the complete separation
taken place.
KNOWLEDGE BANK

2. Process flow
The process is very simple comprises with four stages processes known as :
1) Agglomerating iron-ore and coal (blue),
2) Reducing and melting the agglomerates (red),
3) Separating metallic iron from slag (green), and
4) Treating exhaust and recovering heat (yellow) as shown in process flow chart
According to Kobe, the ITmk3 Process, with its lower carbon-dioxide emissions and capital investment, is
highly suitable for developing countries that are growing their steel industries. In addition, the ITmk3
Process can use relatively low-grade iron ore and coal, which are difficult to use in blast furnace iron
making, to keep raw material costs down.
Specific Consumption values for ITmk 3 process.
The specific consumption figures per ton of nuggets for the ITmk 3 process are as follows:
Inputs Outputs
Iron ore fines – 1.5 tons > 60% Fe
Non Coking coal – 0.5 ton
Fuel gas – 4.6 Giga Joules
Electric power – 200 kWh
Water – 2 Cum
Air – 85 Cum
Nitrogen – 12 Cum
Metallic iron (Fe) - 96 -97 %
Carbon (C) - 2.5 -3%
Sulphur (S) - 0.05 – 0.07%
Phosphorus (P) - 0.01 - 0.02 %
Bulk Density - 4.4t/m3
Size - 5-25mm
continued from page 1
RHF (Outside view) - Inside view of RHF - Cooling zone inside RHF -- Iron nugget

3. Declaration :
The facts brought in to knowledge bank is based on published
documents in print and electronic media. No experiment or any
investigation conducted to quantify the result of such process. I
am only narrated the facts in simple language. For more details
may refer the given references . – Subrat Kumar Kar
Reference:
1 ITmk3 Process:-
-Shoichi KIKUCHI＊1, Shuzo ITO＊1, Dr. Isao KOBAYASHI＊1, Osamu
TSUGE＊2, Koji TOKUDA.
＊1 Research & Development Department, Iron Unit Division, Natural
Resources & Engineering Business, ＊2 Midrex Technologies, Inc
2. Industrial Efficiency Technology
:http://ietd.iipnetwork.org/content/itmk3%C2%AE-process
3. Business Standard:
- News on Jan 31, 2012
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Subrat Kumar Kar,
39, Shakespeare Sarani, 3rd Floor, Premlata , Kolkata- 700017,
Contact:+91-9163310445, 9437037349, mail: kar19692003@yahoo.com
Advantages of the ITmk3 Process
The advantages of ITmk3 Process are:
 The process is simple.
 It allows direct reduction of iron ore fines
with non coking coals.
 The process is energy efficient. It consumes
approximately 30% less energy than BF.
 The process results into lower carbon-
dioxide emissions
 The process is having low capital investment
since it eliminates sinter/pellets plant and
coke oven battery
 Use of cheaper raw materials such as iron
ore fines and non coking coals.
 The process produces high-grade iron
nuggets with better meltability than pig iron
during the steel making stage.
 The process eliminates necessity of handling
molten iron.
 The iron nuggets are slag free and are also
free from re oxidation. It does not generate
fines and is easy to transport. Nuggets are
also free from tramp elements
 Operation and adjustment of the process is
simple. The process also facilitates the
production adjustment by starting and
stopping.
 The equipment used in the process are
simple and with proven reliability.
 Unlike other reduced iron and hot briquette
iron (HBI), the iron is completely reduced.
 Unlike other reduced iron and hot briquette
iron (HBI), it does not re-oxidize and ignite a
fire.
 Unlike other reduced iron and hot briquette
iron (HBI), it does not contain a gangue
constituent.
Future Prospect .
Granular iron manufacturing is a process,
suitable for location adjacent to iron ore
mines as it need small area to install. The
process converts even low grade iron ore
and for fuel need low grade non cocking
coal .
On the other hand, due to the rise in costs
for iron and steel production,
considerable development chances are
created for the small and medium sized
iron ore mines and steel mills.
Feasibilities could be created even for
these sizes by adopting efficient
production systems and an advanced iron
making technology based on the
sustainable development.
In India, SAIL and Kobe Steel of Japan
have signed a MOU for setting a 0.5
mtpa iron nugget making plant at
SAIL’s Alloy Steels Plant in Durgapur,
West Bengal and prior to this another
Indian company M/s Mukund steel
signed an agreement in 2007 with Kobe
to setting up all plants based on Kobe's
exclusive ITmk3 technology,will be built
by Mukand Ltd.
The application of ITmk3 has just begun. In the
same manner as other conventional steel
making process have evolved for over hundred
years back. ITmk3 is expected to expand its
applicability from granular iron ore making to
more advance low cost iron making under low
temperatures and will reduce the toxic gases from
environment
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5. TIME TO ADOPT ITmk3 5