STEEL PRODUCTION: DOING AWAY WITH COKE

prospect of a rise of 50,000 job opportunities in manufacturing industries between 1973 and 1977.

'Since then, however, the number employed in manufacturing has actually declined while the time in which to reach the target has actually shortened.' The British Steel Corporation is looking ways of doing away coke altogether in process of making iron and steel.

But it is, notes BSC's research journal "Steelresearch 72', a long-term project aimed new methods of steelmaking in the 1980s.

The Corporation's director of research and development, Dr Robert Barnes, says:

'The use of a fully-harnessed nuclear reactor to provide both high temperature reducıng gases tor ıron-making and electricity both tor steel-makıng and following operations is under active consideration.' Preliminary experiments already under way.

Long term It is, of course, a long-term project, but as with electric arc furnaces, even on a limited scale, once it is developed the process could at least be applied to high-grade, highcost steels.

However, other developments in the iron and steel-making process threaten coke more immediately.

In coming to grips with the high price of coke because of the exceptionally strong world demand, the iron and steelmakers are turning increasingly to alternative fuels.

North Sea gas and oil have appeared like manna from heaven.

Dr Barnes notes: 'Encouraged by the oil finds around our shores, ( research into oil injection into blast furnaces has shown that a considerably greater amount of oil can be used with larger savings in coke than have been achieved before.' This method has been tested successfully in the No 2 and No 3 blast furnaces at Port Talbot, Wales.

The potential savings per cwt of coke replaced-tonne hot metal per million tons of iron produced is £200,000 on oil and a blast furnace gas credit Furthermore the use of oil to pre-heat scrap used in Basic Oxygen Smelters has raised the proportion of scrap in the total furnace charge from 30 to 40 per cent, giving an increased output of 10 per cent.

The process is being pioneered at Port Talbot and the Consett works and production trials are under way.

The conclusion to be drawn from these developments is that there is now a concerted move to oust coke as a basic iron and steel-making fuel.

Should any of them come into use in a big way, the effect would be felt on Britain's coalfields. Above: The steelworks at Port Talbot where use of oil to preheat scrap metal for steel production is being pioneered. The manufacturing trials are already underway. for export markets will be central characteristics.

At 'east 25 million tons of the annual 140 million ton output of Britain's coalfields is used for coking coal.

Already the new methods have drastically reduced the amount of coke needed per ton of iron from 30 to between 11 and 13.

The mining of coking coals is labour-intensive because it is most often found in narrow seams unworkable by large machines.

Most of these coals are found in Durham, South Yorkshire, Kent and South Wales.

Cutbacks in the use of coke is unlikely to lead to further pit closures since coke coal seams are worked in parallel with many others.

But over the next decade there could be a further drop in the number of miners as the more uneconomic seams are abandoned.