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Microwave Steelmaking 67

Posted by timothy from the use-the-smelt-setting dept.
Makarand writes "Researchers at the Michigan Technological University are working on a low-cost steelmaking process which uses microwaves to heat iron ore instead of conventional heating. Their steelmaking facility was made of magnetrons from six household microwaves wired together and an electric arc furnace. When fed iron oxide and coal, the microwave energy could reduce the iron ore to iron within minutes and the electric arc furnace smelted the iron and coal into steel. The steel industry is taking a closer look at this new process which could cut steel production costs by upto 50%."
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Microwave Steelmaking More

Microwave Steelmaking

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  • Science can do anything! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Zemrec ( 158984 ) on Saturday January 24, 2004 @09:49PM (#8078752)
    First they find the cure for cancer is the common cold, and now they can put metal in a microwave!! Maybe next they'll find the cause of belly button lint.

  • Effect to consumers? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by oroshana ( 588230 )
    Does anyone think any of the savings will be passed down to consumers?
    • Steel is already dirt cheap with american steel plants unable to compete. Granted this partly because americans make lousy workers and the plants are hopelessly outdated but any savings would be needed to just survive.

      Oh and with lousy workers I mean that americans will keep on insisting on being paid more then a starving wage and refuse to do double shifts. The rotters.

      • Re:For america lets hope not (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 24, 2004 @10:37PM (#8079010)
        This story is yet another example of what makes the USA great.

        The inventor, Jiann-Yang (Jim) Hwang, came from Taiwan to the U.S. to pursue his graduate studies. (Here's his resume [mtu.edu].) He graduates from Purdue with a Ph.D., and 20 years later, he's a professor of materials science at Michigan Technological University, and is adding to the collective innovating efforts of our nation.

        Personally, I'm all for smart, hard-working people immigrating to the U.S. and staying here. All those temp workers in the technical industry who have come over here from India? All those people from Ecuador who are willing to work like dogs in the restaurant industry? All those people from Eastern Europe who are filled with the entrepreneurial sprit? Don't give them visas, make them citizens!

  • Good news, if it works (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ctr2sprt ( 574731 ) on Saturday January 24, 2004 @09:56PM (#8078780)
    This is great news for US steelmakers. Like all other industries that rely on unskilled labor, steel manufacturers have been in a prolonged slump while business moves overseas. If this works out, we can implement it and become competitive again.

    You see, free trade can do good things for the average worker. Though to be fair "good things" in this case means fewer steelworkers will lose their jobs instead of all of them. Still, it's improvement, and who knows? If our costs really drop by 50%, demand very well could increase enough to justify keeping all the old workers around.

    (I didn't really have anything to say, but the only other posts with scores higher than zero were... Well, if you've been on Slashdot for more than five minutes, you know what they were like.)

    • Or they can implement it in a 3rd-World country and MAKE EVEN MORE MONEY!

      • Re:Good news, if it works (Score:4, Interesting)

        by bluGill ( 862 ) on Saturday January 24, 2004 @10:21PM (#8078915)

        Not nessicarly. Most third world countries don't have reliable power. If you have molten iron, and the power goes out, you have to empty everything fast, because once it solidifies it will crack the containers when you try to remove it. (as it cools it contracts, when you melt it, it expands. think frozen water)

        Remember too that energy is cheap in the US. I doupt any third world country really has a major advantage there. Perhaps Iceland, with all their geo-thermo, they have already locked up aluminium, but are they third world?

        There are a lot of issues. If you want a custom shape from your supplier it is much easier to get it from one in your town than a third world nation. If your factory is automatied enough, labor costs aren't significant anyway, (it is all skilled labor which you would have to import to the third world country) so what is the point in moving.

        Most of the "japanese" car manufactors have factorys in the US. You can have a profitable manufactoring company in the US, if you run it right.

        • Just so you know, water expands when it freezes [physicalgeography.net]. Put a can of soda in the freezer to verify.

          As for molten iron, I'd bet that as it cools off and solidifies it will contract.

          • Re:Good news, if it works (Score:4, Interesting)

            by bluGill ( 862 ) on Saturday January 24, 2004 @11:41PM (#8079257)

            Right, unfortunatly water is a strange thing, acting very different from most other materials. It hits the minimun density at about 4 degrees C. That is it contracts as it cools until it gets 4, then it starts expanding.

            Iron does in fact contract when it solidifies. As it contracts it pulls more and more iron (okay a very tiny amount more) in. When you heat something containing solid iron, that iron needs to go someplace. Heat from the bottom of a container, and the bottom will melt first, and expand, but there is solid iron above it, so something has to give. Often that is the container.

            • I think you mean maximum density, otherwise your sentence doesn't make sense.

              Thanks for the clarification about how something contracting could blow a container... it wasn't clear in your earlier message you were talking about closed containers as such.

        • Re:Good news, if it works (Score:1, Interesting)

          by Anonymous Coward
          You are way off base. Big energy consuming operations ANYWHERE in the world supply their own power. Even Ford's assembly plants have their own on-site power plant. Also, if you knew what you were talking about, you would know that there are huge electricity consuming industries in many third world countries, such as refineries and in particular aluminum (bauxite) handling in Venezuela.

          The fact is, building a steel mill is a bigger endeavor than building a power plant. If you build a steel mill, you can
          • Not nessesarily. Assembly plants and factories don't need much energy compared to smelting/ore refining operations, and I don't think on-site generation is practical for those purposes. I know the big aluminum plants in Oregon are fed off of the grid because they were shut down during the energy crisis in Cali. a while back. All the spare energy from hydro power on the Columbia river was diverted south. Backups were not there because there were no economical way to supply the power needed. Keep in mind tha
            • Ok, a few basic principles of steel manufacture.

              In order to make iron, iron ore and coal (well, coke actually) are dropped in layers in an operating blast furnace. The coke burns in the furnace and as a consequence reduces the iron ore to iron, as well as supplying enough heat to keep the contents of the bottom of the furnace molten.

              So, you need coal to make coke to make iron... to make steel and such.

              Bad Things happen if the blast furnace runs out of coke, Very Bad Things in fact, so these pretty much r
              • Having toured an aluminum fly casting plant, I saw the gigantic magneto-constrictor melting pots that they use, and was told specifically that they relied on Wisconsin Electric for their power.

                What they do is to have a bunch of huge electromagnets and pulse them rapidly. This causes the electrons in the container to jitter producing the heat needed. It was all very interesting, and molten aluminum is one of the most beautiful thins I have aver seen.
            • Actually many of those power plants shut down because they could make more money supplying California then making their actual products.

              I remember because there were some labour unions upset that they were doing this.
              I don't know what the problem is, getting sent home full pay because the company could make an even more profit due to the NIMBY attitude of California.
        • "(as it cools it contracts, when you melt it, it expands. think frozen water)"

          Because, with water, the density of it as a solid is less than the density of it as a liquid. That's why freezing water in something will cause the little peak hill in the middle, or shatter the container from the extra pressure. It's also why ice floats.

          So, frozen water contracts when it melts and expands when it freezes -- the opposite of what you're trying to get to ;)
        • (as it cools it contracts, when you melt it, it expands. think frozen water)

          You are incorrect sir; water and it's frozen form ice are the exception to the rule in this case.

          Water is at its densest at 4 degrees Celsius; below that, the dimagnetic structure of the molecules comes into play to form six-sided crystals that are actually less dense than the energetic but non-magnetically aligned water.

          This is why ice floats in water, instead of sinking. It's also why ponds don't freeze solid in the winter, a
    • Why would they rehire american workers if they get another way to raise their profits?
      • Because most developing countries don't have the resources to deal with high-tech equipment like giant microwaves. Sometimes it's not just a matter of knowing how to do something, it's being capable, in terms of logistics, of getting it done. They would practically have to build the factory in the US and then ship it by boat. The skilled labor that's required simply isn't available elsewhere. And that's assuming it's possible to run and maintain the plant with unskilled native labor, or at least that yo
      • The bigger problem isn't that US Steel companies use offshore labor... it's that US companies buy Steel from offshore Steel companies because US Steel is so damn expensive to make as US workers demand high wages and benefits. So if US Steel can reduce the cost of manufacturing then they can keep producing steel and compete with foreign steel companies. OF course this won't last long as foreign companies will soon discover or recreate the technology and then it will once again be a wage war.

        • How much of the price of a ton of steel is attributable to labor costs? Some industrialists like to blame organized labor for all of their problems when they themselves have refused to invest in improved production techniques for decades.
    • You do know that most competitors to US steelmakers are in other heavily industrialized countries, don't you? Nothing stopping Sweden, Japan and so on from implementing the same process.
    • this is great news for 3rd World Countries, too, if it works.

      imagine if Toshiba or Honda or some other such industrial giant were to take these and make a portable steel-mill system the size of a porta-loo? feed it ore and whatever, get steel wire.

      even having low-grade steel for embedding into locally produced cement could make a world of difference to tribes of thirsty people.

      hell, i give it a year before someone takes this technique and puts a 'FAQ/How-To' style site together for the rec.hobby.steelwo
    • Well, you could have explain with you believe the US steelmakers will be the only steelmakers to benefit from that.

      Just because it was invented in Michigan doesn't limit its use to the US. Some other big steelmaking countries have also a lot of power ...

    • Bah! (Score:3, Informative)

      by deacon ( 40533 )
      Unskilled Labor my Ass.

      Do you have any idea on the multiple steps needed to make any particular alloy of steel?

      No?

      Do you know how to check the ore for sulfur?

      How about too much Phophorus?

      No again?

      Do you know when and why to add lime?

      Hmmmm????

      Lets try an easy one: What are the alloying elements in 4140 Steel? No looking it up online, after all, this is unskilled knowledge!!!!!

      How about the time and temperature schedule for heat treating 6061 alloy Aluminium to the T5 State???

      So, you have no knowledge about

      • You just made my friend list. I'm a (US) steelworker and fabricator. Double-duty sometimes as plant mechanic. Not to mention Linux-using slashdotter.
    • Though to be fair "good things" in this case means fewer steelworkers will lose their jobs instead of all of them. Still, it's improvement, and who knows? If our costs really drop by 50%, demand very well could increase enough to justify keeping all the old workers around.

      Bzzt wrong. You see, in $under-industrialized-nation the workers will work for $0.50 an hour in this Microwave Steel Foundry. Just like they do in the current foundries.

      Your assertion that reducing costs "here" will keep jobs "here..

  • My liege? (Score:5, Funny)

    by NanoGator ( 522640 ) on Saturday January 24, 2004 @10:06PM (#8078853) Homepage Journal
    " The steel industry is taking a closer look at this new process which could cut steel production costs by upto 50%"

    I'm glad somebody finally hit that research button. I can't make any more villagers.

  • since no one else jumped on this one (Score:3, Funny)

    by maddh ( 608481 ) on Saturday January 24, 2004 @10:59PM (#8079103)
    ...eliminating the need for high-cost coke.

    finished rehab?

    • Well, nobody has mentioned that you're not supposed to put steel things in the microwave yet, either.

      • Re:Hehe! (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Patrik_AKA_RedX ( 624423 )
        Why not? As long as there aren't sharp points to it, you can put spoons and such in a wave. I usualy put a spoon in a cup when I heat it in a wave. (Supposingly this prevents that parts in the liquid superheat and splash hot liquid around when disturbed.)

  • Implications for other planets? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 24, 2004 @11:00PM (#8079112)
    Since this technique is a lot more efficient than using conventional methods, how feasible would it be to make a portable steelmaking machine? Say.. that was small enough to be lifted by rocket to another planet.

    The idea being, of course, that you feed rock and electricity in one end of a smallish box and get steel out the other. Would this be useful for making a base on the moon or mars? Huh?

  • I read the article and I'm confused... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by HotNeedleOfInquiry ( 598897 ) on Saturday January 24, 2004 @11:40PM (#8079252)
    The article talks about replacing the blast furnace with this microwave-based device and using it to make steel. Well, a blast furnace doesn't make steel, it makes pig iron, a different and much less useful material. According to what I've read, another process such as a bessemer converter is needed to turn the pig iron into steel.

    I seem to recall that you have to blow hot air or oxygen through the melt to burn out excess carbon to convert the pig iron to steel. Maybe he hasn't gotten that far developing the process.

    If indeed he has found a way to go from ore straight to steel, this is a pretty valuable process. There just isn't enough information to tell.

    • He then put iron oxide and coal inside. In a matter of minutes, the microwave energy reduced the iron ore to iron, and the electric arc furnace smelted the iron and coal into steel.

      Sounds like he did, (IANAMetallurgist), although you are right, the article is really vague. Amusing how two adjacent sentences refer to adding "iron oxide" and "iron ore", which are completely different.

    • Re:I read the article and I'm confused... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Drishmung ( 458368 ) on Sunday January 25, 2004 @06:00PM (#8083406)
      Even so, steel is very cheap to manufacture. By the ton, it is one of the cheapest structural materials. And I mean mild steel here, not pig iron. By contrast, Al and it's alloys are far more expensive, and plastics even more so.

      However, most people are not very interested in mild steel by the ton. They want manufactured goods, and there things change. The hardness, toughness and high melting point of steel make it relatively expensive to manufacture. So much so that it's not really worth re-cycling iron scrap in small quantities---the raw material is so cheap that the processing and transportation costs make it uneconomic. It's easy to re-cycle beer cans though---just melt them at (relatively) low temperature and you have your raw material back for much less than it costs to process bauxite.

      Plastics, despite the high raw material cost are typically extremely cheap to manufacture (though often expensive to recycle for various reasons).

      So, if you can halve the cost of making mild steel, or even the cost of making pig iron, that's not going to add up to a lot of saving on the cost of your new car. It won't even halve the cost of the product leaving the steel factory's gates, since that product is , AFAIK, not 'raw' steel, but some form of at least partially manufactured product such as steel plate at the very least.

      • Some 14 years ago we had this huge recycling initiative called PRIDE (People Recycling in Defense of the Earth -- yeah, right). Every morning we have two garbage trucks come by -- the green recycling truck and the brown garbage truck.

        We are supposed to recycle -- under penalty of law, but the most serious penalty I have seen is that the city workers are "empowered" to slap a bright orange stickers on piles of cardboard left by students at the U during moving day if they didn't bundle such piles to the sa

        • Well, according to this [tintechnology.com], it is worthwhile, although considering the source there may be some bias there. Analysis of the article seems to indicate that most steel from tin cans is recycled back into...tin cans! Note also that it is a UK site. The economics vary quite a lot according to region I believe. Here [solidwaste.org] is an article from Spokane, which claims 28% of the tinplate is from scrap, but only 10% of this scrap is recycled cans.
    • I seem to recall that you have to blow hot air or oxygen through the melt to burn out excess carbon to convert the pig iron to steel. Maybe he hasn't gotten that far developing the process.

      Yeah, that's sort-of right (within my limited understanding of the process). One of the problems with blowing air or O2 through the tuyeres is accretion. Do you know what a pneumatic puncher is and how it works?
  • Did the professor see sparks when he turned on the microware with the iron inside?

    Mine produces sparks when I put aluminum foil in the appliance and turn it on.

    Disclaimer:
    Kids, don't try this at home!!!

  • Oh Yeah Great (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 25, 2004 @01:49AM (#8079694)
    This may be a big timesaver, but, unfortunately, this process gives the steel a rubbery texture, and the middle always comes out frozen.

  • Not Exactly New (Score:4, Interesting)

    by core plexus ( 599119 ) on Sunday January 25, 2004 @01:50AM (#8079695) Homepage
    I remember reading about using microwaves for certain refractory ores, I'm pretty sure one of them was "Microwave Heating of Chemicals and Minerals", 1995. They have also used microwaves in the treatment of gold ore, and microwaves for the embrittlement of coal. I haven't heard of it being used on any but a lab scale yet, though.

    Alaska Bugs Sweat Gold Nuggets [alaska-freegold.com]

  • another machine that goes "ping"

    I would not really call this progress; if they would run this contraption on solar power or a penlite battery, it would be worth mentioning...

    Morc

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