Raw Material Assessment

The burdening practice for a blast furnace will be determined by a number of factors, such as location, transportation routes, availability of materials, and exisiting plant configuration. Depending on the particular circumstances of the plant, many of these decisions will largely be taken before any preferences for specific burdening practices can be discussed. The choice of burdening therefore lies within a fairly narrow range, however the variation in terms of quality and combination of the materials in this range may vary greatly. In order to design a burdening practice that will meet the ever–increasing demand on blast furnace output, the variety and the limitations of each burdening material, and its behaviour in combination with others must be understood. This understanding has been gained at Corus IJmuiden through development of sinter and pellet plant technology, burdening trials and laboratory testing. The culmination of this knowledge has been applied internationally through Danieli Corus in providing operational support to improve burdening and increase efficiency of material usage, as well as plant modifications to increase output and quality.