Current status and future tasks of the ironmaking process technology

Current ironmaking technologies have been confronted with a difficult task of providing solutions for global scale problems including the exhaustion of high quality raw materials and the environmental regulations stipulated by the Kyoto Protocol. Although the energy efficiency of the conventional blast furnace process is relatively high, the production scale and necessity of coke and sinter results in excessive environmental emissions. Diversification of raw materials and legislation to reduce environmental pollution and improve energy efficiency will have perhaps the biggest impact on the ironmaking process technology and ultimately stimulate research on alternative ironmaking processes. This review discusses the current technological challenges for various ironmaking processes.