A process for producing hot briquetted iron with increased solid carbonaceous material and/or flux includes: providing a shaft furnace of a direct reduction plant to reduce iron oxide with reducing gas; providing a hot briquette machine to produce hot briquetted iron; coupling a chute between a) a discharge exit of the shaft furnace for discharge of hot direct reduced iron and b) an entrance of the hot briquette machine; adding solid carbonaceous material and/or flux to the discharged hot direct reduced iron from the shaft furnace to produce a mixture of the discharged hot direct reduced iron and the solid carbonaceous material and/or flux before feeding to the hot briquette machine; and processing in the hot briquette machine to produce a product of hot briquetted iron with increased solid carbonaceous material content greater than about 3 weight percent and/or an increased flux content.

A method for producing a molten steel may provide: solid-state direct reduced iron containing 3.0% by mass or more of SiO.sub.2 and Al.sub.2O.sub.3 in total and 1.0% by mass or more of carbon, a ratio of a metallic iron to a total iron content contained in the solid-state direct reduced iron being 90% by mass or more, and an excess carbon content Cx to the carbon contained in the solid-state direct reduced iron being 0.2% by mass or more. Such methods may include: a slag separation including heating the solid-state direct reduced iron and melting it in an electric furnace without introducing oxygen to separate into a molten steel and a slag, and continuously discharging the slag, and a decarburization including blowing, in the electric furnace, a total amount of oxygen introduced into the electric furnace to the molten steel to decarburize the molten steel after the slag separation.

A method for iron making by continuous smelting reduction, including: (1) mixing iron- containing mineral powder with a reducing agent and a slag former to obtain mixed powder materials; (2) placing furnace startup materials in a reducing furnace, and heating the furnace startup materials to be in a molten state to form a furnace startup molten pool; (3) conveying the mixed powder materials into the reducing furnace, and blowing oxidizing combustibles into the reducing furnace for heating; (4) performing stirring by a stirring paddle to form a molten slag layer and a molten iron layer; and performing stirring so that a vortex is formed in the molten slag layer; and (5) adjusting a position of the stirring paddle, a stirring speed and a conveying quantity of the mixed powder materials to enable the molten iron and the reduced molten slag to be respectively continuously discharged.

A process and an apparatus for producing direct reduced iron (“DRI”) from iron ore and biomass are disclosed. The process includes heating a batch of iron ore and biomass in a batch oven (3) and reducing iron ore and forming a solid DRI product having a metallisation of 80-99% and generating an offgas. The process includes discharging the solid product at the end of the batch cycle and discharging offgas during the course of the batch cycle. The process operates the batch oven in a temperature range of 700-1100#C in a batch cycle time of 10-100 hours.

A method of introducing a metalliferous feed in an ironmaking process, the method including the steps of, pre-drying an iron containing sludge by drying means to an amount of 15 to 30% (w/w) moisture, mixing the pre-dried iron containing sludge with a binder material to obtain a granulate, having a particle size of less than 4 millimeter and drying the granulate to a maximum of 3% (w/w) moisture, thereby forming the metalliferous feed, wherein the metalliferous feed is subsequently injected into a cyclone part of a metallurgical vessel.

A compacted ‘green’ briquette between 5 cm.sup.3 and 20 cm.sup.3 including, prior to reduction in a direct reduction process, a composition including at least 30% lignocellulosic biomass material by dry weight and at least 55% iron ore fines by weight, a density of between 1.4 g/cm.sup.3 and 2.0 g/cm.sup.3, and a compaction strength of at least 500N. A direct reduced iron briquette suitable for the production of iron and/or steel including at least 85% iron by weight and at least 1% fixed carbon by weight, and a volume of between 7.5 cm.sup.3 and 30 cm.sup.3, wherein the briquette has, prior to reduction (i.e. as a ‘green’ briquette), the above composition.

A method for producing liquid pig iron comprises: i) providing a DRI product with an iron content of at least 75.0 wt. %, a carbon content of at least 0.10 wt. % and a content of acidic and basic slag components, comprising CaO, SiO.sub.2, MgO and Al.sub.2O.sub.3 of max. 15.0 wt. %; ii) supplying the DRI product, adding slag formers, into an electrically operated smelting unit; iii) optionally supplying further iron and/or carbon components into the electrically operated smelting unit; iv) smelting the DRI product and optionally the further iron and/or carbon components in the presence of the slag formers, so that a liquid pig iron phase and a liquid slag phase are formed; v) adjusting the slag phase such that it has a basicity of (CaO+MgO/SiO.sub.2) from 0.95 to 1.5; vi) tapping the liquid pig iron phase; and vii) tapping and granulating the slag phase.

A method for mitigating the buildup of direct reduced iron (DRI) clusters on the walls of a direct reduction (DR) furnace, comprising: injecting one or more of lime, dolomite, and another anti-sticking agent into a charge disposed within a reduction zone of the DR furnace, wherein the one or more of lime, dolomite, and another anti-sticking agent is injected into the charge by one or more of: (1) injecting the one or more of lime, dolomite, and another anti-sticking agent into a bustle gas stream upstream of a bustle of the DR furnace; (2) injecting the one or more of lime, dolomite, and another anti-sticking agent into the bustle gas stream in the bustle of the DR furnace; (3) injecting the one or more of lime, dolomite, and another anti-sticking agent into the bustle gas stream through a pipe collocated with a bustle gas port through which the bustle gas stream is introduced into the DR furnace; and (4) injecting the one or more of lime, dolomite, and another anti-sticking agent directly into the reduction zone of the DR furnace separate from the bustle gas stream.

In some variations, the invention provides a biocarbon pellet comprising: 35 wt % to 99 wt % of a biogenic reagent, wherein the biogenic reagent comprises, on a dry basis, at least 60 wt % carbon; 0 wt % to 35 wt % water moisture; and 1 wt % to 30 wt % of a binder, wherein the biocarbon pellet is characterized by an adjustable Hardgrove Grindability Index (HGI) from about 30 to about 120, as shown in the Examples. The pellet HGI is adjustable by controlling process conditions and the pellet binder. The binder can be an organic binder or an inorganic binder. The carbon is renewable as determined from a measurement of the .sup.14C/.sup.12C isotopic ratio. Many processes of making and using the biocarbon pellets are described. Applications of the biocarbon pellets include pulverized coal boilers, furnaces for making metals such as iron or silicon, and gasifiers for producing reducing gas.

Improved processes and systems are disclosed for producing renewable hydrogen suitable for reducing metal ores, as well as for producing activated carbon. Some variations provide a process comprising: pyrolyzing biomass to generate a biogenic reagent comprising carbon and a pyrolysis off-gas; converting the pyrolysis off-gas to additional reducing gas and/or heat; reacting at least some of the biogenic reagent with a reactant to generate a reducing gas; and chemically reducing a metal oxide in the presence of the reducing gas. Some variations provide a process for producing renewable hydrogen by biomass pyrolysis to generate a biogenic reagent, conversion of the biogenic reagent to a reducing gas, and separation and recovery of hydrogen from the reducing gas. A reducing-gas composition for reducing a metal oxide is provided, comprising renewable hydrogen according to a hydrogen-isotope analysis. Reacted biogenic reagent may also be recovered as an activated carbon product. Many variations are disclosed.