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SECTION A [4X 20 marks]

(a)Raw materials for steel making

It is estimated that the global steel industry used about 2.1 billion tonnes of iron ore, 1.1 billion tonnes of
metallurgical coal and 560 million tonnes of recycled steel to produce about 1.7 billion tonnes of crude steel.

Recycled steel (sometimes called scrap steel) is one of the industry’s most important raw materials. It comes
from demolished structures and end of life vehicles and machinery as well as from the yield losses in the
steelmaking process. It is estimated that around 630 million tonnes of scrap were recycled in 2017. Of this,
approximately 560 million tonnes were used by the global steel industry and about 70 million tonnes were
used in foundries.

Iron ore and metallurgical coal are used mainly in the blast furnace process of iron making. For this process,
coking coal is turned into coke, an almost pure form of carbon, which is used as the main fuel and reductant in
a blast furnace.

(b)Modern steelmaking can be broken down into six steps:

Iron making, the first step, involves the raw inputs of iron ore, coke and lime being melted in a blast furnace.
The resulting molten iron also referred to as hot metal still contains 4-4.5 percent carbon and other impurities
that make it brittle.

Primary steelmaking has two primary methods: BOS (Basic Oxygen Furnace) and the more modern EAF
(Electric Arc Furnace) methods. BOS methods add recycled scrap steel to the molten iron in a converter.
At high temperatures, oxygen is blown through the metal, which reduces the carbon content to between 0-1.5
percent. EAF methods, however, feed recycled steel scrap through use high-power electric arcs (temperatures
up to 1650 C) to melt the metal and convert it into high-quality steel.

Secondary steelmaking involves treating the molten steel produced from both BOS and EAF routes to adjust
the steel composition. This is done by adding or removing certain elements and/or manipulating the
temperature and production environment. Depending on the types of steel required, the following secondary
steelmaking processes can be used:

 Stirring
 Ladle furnace
 Ladle injection
 Degassing
 CAS-OB (composition adjustment by sealed argon bubbling with oxygen blowing)

Continuous casting sees the molten steel cast into a cooled mold causing a thin steel shell to solidify. The shell
strand is withdrawn using guided rolls and fully cooled and solidified. The strand is cut into desired lengths
depending on application; slabs for flat products (plate and strip), blooms for sections (beams), billets for long
products (wires) or thin strips.

In primary forming, the steel that is cast is then formed into various shapes, often by hot rolling, a process that
eliminates cast defects and achieves the required shape and surface quality. Hot rolled products are divided
into flat products, long products, seamless tubes, and specialty products.

Finally, it's time for manufacturing, fabrication and finishing. Secondary forming techniques give the steel its
final shape and properties. These techniques include:

Shaping (cold rolling), which is done below the metal's recrystallization point, meaning mechanical stress—not
heat—affects change.

 Machining (drilling)
 Joining (welding)
 Coating (galvanizing)
 Heat treatment (tempering)
 Surface treatment (carburizing)

Q3. (a) What is Environmental Audit?


Environmental audit is defined as basic management tool which comprises a systematic, documented, periodic
and objective evaluation of how well organization, management systems and equipments are performing.

A good environment management policy requires that there should be a constant effort to analyze and
monitor various industrial working system and processes to generate and transmit this information for the
inspecting authority such as exercise which generates necessary information on analysis of pollution being
generated or will be generated and completion of annual estimate has been termed as environmental audit.

Generally following are the 3 phases when an environmental audit is taken up for an industry:

Phase: Pre-audit activity- pertaining to collection of information.


Phase: Activity at site pertaining to evaluation of information collected.

Phase: Post audit activity pertaining to drawing conclusion and identifying areas of improvement if any.

Objectives:

Environment audit needs for an industry are internal as well as external value

External needs serve to achieve compliance standards and establish a report with regulatory bodies for
implementation of environment management policies.

Internal need serves the industry as well as self evaluation tool for the process and technology.

It helps in pollution control, improves production safety and health conservations of nocturnal resources by
the way of ensuring waste prevention and reduction, assessing compliance with regulatory requirement,
placing environmental information to the public.

(b)Discuss different steps involved in Environmental audit with the sketch diagram for the process involved
in Environmental audit and discuss them briefly.

Pre-audit steps include the administrative issues associated with planning the audit, selecting the personnel
for the audit team (often from different parts of the company or from a specialized unit), preparing the audit
protocol used by the organization and obtaining background information about the facility.

If auditing is new, the need for education of those involved in the audit process (the auditors or those being
audited) should not be underestimated.

Onsite steps

· Understanding the internal controls. As a first step, it is necessary to develop an understanding of the
controls that are in place or are thought to be in place. These will include assessing formal procedures and
practices; record keeping and monitoring; inspection and maintenance programmes and physical controls for
containing spills. The audit team gathers information on the various controls by observation, interviewing staff
and the use of detailed questionnaires.

· Assessing strengths and weaknesses of internal controls. Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of
internal controls provides the rationale for conducting subsequent audit steps. Auditors will look for indicators
such as clearly defined responsibilities, competence of personnel, appropriate documentation and records and
systems of authorization. It is more important to determine whether the system is effective than whether it is
sophisticated.

· Gathering audit evidence. The audit team attempts to verify that the steps and controls work as intended.
Evidence may be collected through inquiry (e.g., asking a plant operator what he or she would do if there were
a major chemical spill), observation (e.g., watching specific activities and operations in progress) and testing
(checking records to confirm compliance with regulations).

· Recording audit findings. All the information obtained is recorded (usually on the audit protocol document
and as working papers), and a comprehensive record of the audit and the state of the facility at the time is
thus produced. Where a deficiency is found, it is noted as an audit “finding”.

· Evaluating the audit findings. The audit team integrates and evaluates the findings of the individual team
members. There may also be common findings. For some observations, an informal discussion with the plant
manager may be sufficient; for others, inclusion in the formal report will be appropriate.
Reporting the audit findings. This usually is done at a meeting with the plant management at the end of the
team’s visit. Each finding and its significance can be discussed with the plant personnel. Prior to leaving the
site, the audit team will often provide a written summary of findings for the plant management, to ensure that
there are no surprises in the final report.

Post-audit steps

Following the onsite work, the next step is to prepare a draft report, which is reviewed by the plant
management to confirm its accuracy. It is then distributed to senior management according to the
requirements of the company.
SECTION B [4x 5 marks]
Q1. Zero Liquid Discharge
Zero Liquid discharge refers to installation of facilities and system which will enable industrial
effluent for absolute recycling of permeate and converting solute (dissolved organic and in-organic
compounds/salts) into residue in the solid form by adopting method of concentration and thermal
evaporation. ZLD will be recognized and certified based on two broad parameters that is, water
consumption versus waste water re-used or recycled (permeate) and corresponding solids recovered
(percent total dissolved / suspended solids in effluents). ZLD can be achieved by adopting
conventional primary, secondary and tertiary effluent treatment and polishing by filtration and using
clean water back into process / or domestic use. In some case, Reverse Osmosis, Micro/Nano
Filtration and concentrating with Multiple Effect Evaporators (MEE) can be employed. It has been
quite often debated that employing ZLD route is energy intensive and having exorbitant cost /
financial burden. But, it cannot be denied that in the present circumstances when ground water
table is getting depleted and there is diminishing flow in rivers, permitting industries to discharge
even treated effluents, does not seems to be environmentally acceptable proposition. However,
industries will be at their technical wisdom and expertise to search for better ZLD achieving practice
but with a caution that there will stern actions if, on the name of ZLD, un-acceptable practices are
adopted. In some cases, if any industry feels that a given process needs modification, stopped or
substituted, they can do so but, in longer run, treated effluents cannot be disposed. It is also to be
understood that in absence of ZLD, industry has to meet compliance with standards and the results
through on-line effluent monitoring devices will be available with regulatory authorities and also in
public domain.

Q2. SO2 and NOx pollution control equipments.


Sulphur dioxide Control Technology

Flue Gas Desulfurization Systems: Flue gas desulfurization, FGD, involves the use of scrubbers that chemically
react with the SO2 to form other compounds. There are two methods, regenerable FGD and non-regenerable
FGD that vary in how much and what kind of waste is produced. This method is very effective and can reduce
sulphur oxide emissions by up to 90%. Two commercially available Flue Gas Desulfurization technology options
for removing the SO2 produced by coal-fired power plants are: Limestone Forced Oxidation (LSFO) — a wet
FGD technology — and Lime Spray Dryer (LSD) — a semi-dry FGD technology which employs a spray dryer
absorber (SDA). In wet FGD systems, the polluted gas stream is brought into contact with a liquid alkaline
sorbent (typically limestone) by forcing it through a pool of the liquid slurry or by spraying it with the liquid. In
dry FGD systems the polluted gas stream is brought into contact with the alkaline sorbent in a semi-dry state
through use of a spray dryer. The removal efficiency for SDA drops steadily for coals whose SO2 content
exceeds 3lb SO2/MMBtu, so this technology is provided only to plants which have the option to burn coals
with sulphur content no greater than 3 lbs SO2/MMBtu.

Nitrogen Oxides Control Technology

Two categories of NOx reduction technologies: combustion and post-combustion controls.


Combustion controls reduce NOx emissions during the combustion process by regulating flame characteristics
such as temperature and fuel-air mixing. Post-combustion controls operate downstream of the combustion
process and remove NOx emissions from the flue gas.

Combustion controls:

Flue Gas Recirculation: Flue Gas Recirculation, FGR, is a method of NOx reduction that lowers the temperature
of the flame, and therefore reduces thermal NOx. Flue Gas Recirculation may also minimize CO levels while
reducing NOx levels.

Water or steam injection reduces the amount of NOx produced by lowering the temperature of the flame
during combustion. The lower temperature allows for the decrease of thermal NOx.

Reducing O2 levels: By reducing the amount of O2 that is available to react with the nitrogen, NOx is reduced.
This is achieved through the use of oxygen trim controls. To minimize the O2 levels, a combustion analyzer is
used to adjust the fuel and air mixture. This method can reduce the level of NOx produced by up to 10%, but it
may increase the emissions of Carbon Monoxide (CO) very significantly.

Low NOx Burners: By changing the shape and formation of the flame by using plates to control airflow, a more
elongated flame is created in the burner. The temperature is decreased due to the extended flame and surface
area, and the lower temperature reduces the amount of thermal NOx. CO levels may be elevated when using
low NOx burners. It is important to monitor CO and True NOx levels to better control Low NOx burners.

Post-combustion Controls:

Two post-combustion retrofit control technologies for existing coal units:

Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR): NOx reduction in an SCR system takes place by injecting ammonia (NH3)
vapour into the flue gas stream where the NOx is reduced to nitrogen (N2) and water H2O abetted by passing
over a catalyst bed typically containing titanium, vanadium oxides, molybdenum, and/or tungsten. This
process may take place at anywhere between 500°F and 1200°F depending on the catalyst used. SCR may
reduce NOx emissions by up to 90%.

Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR): As its name implies, SNCR operates without a catalyst. In SNCR a
nitrogenous reducing agent (reagent), typically ammonia or urea, is injected into, and mixed with, hot flue gas
where it reacts with the NOx in the gas stream reducing it to nitrogen gas and water vapour. It can reduce
NOx emissions by 70%.

Due to the presence of a catalyst, SCR can achieve greater NOx reductions than SNCR. However, SCR costs are
higher.
Q3. WWTP sketch diagram.

Q4. IRON & STEEL INDUSTRY


The iron and steel industry is the fundamental or basic manufacturing industry. The sturdy structure of modern
industrial world is made of steel. Most of the subsidiary industries, such as automobiles, locomotive, ship-
building, machine-tools, engineering, etc., are directly linked with iron and steel industry. The quality and
quantity of the iron and steel industry of a country, greatly influences the nature and type of the industrial
development. Iron and steel industry truly forms the basis not only of the industrial structure but of the very
way of life in the modern world.

The economic growth of both developed and developing country is largely dependent on its steel-making
capacity.

The usefulness of iron and steel as a metal is because of its certain qualities such as:

(i) Great strength and toughness,

(ii) Great elasticity,

(iii) Relatively high ductility,

(iv) Low cost and ease of production,

(v) Alloy-ability, etc.

Iron can be alloyed with many other metals to produce special steels for diverse and specific needs. Small
amounts of chromium in steel improve hardening qualities. When alloyed with nickel it has increased
toughness and ductility, and becomes highly resistant to corrosion, so it is used for armour planting. The
addition of 12 per cent manganese to steel imparts great toughness and resistance to abrasion. Similarly
addition of cobalt, molybdenum, tungsten, vanadium, etc., produces special type of steel useful for various
purposes.
The main types of plants involved in iron and steel industry are sintering plants, blast furnaces and steel works,
direct reduction plants, ferroalloy production, rolling, scarfing, pickling, iron and steel foundry, and other
technologies, such as argon - oxygen decarburization, ladle metallurgy vacuum degassing. Coking plants are
considered here as part of this sector, since coke is produced practically exclusively for the iron and steel
industry. The iron and steel industry causes significant effects on environmental media: air - emissions of SO2,
NO x, CO, H2S, PAH, lead, Ni, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Zn, Se, Hg, PM, etc.; water - process water with organic matter, oil,
metals, suspended solids, benzene, phenol, acids, sulfides, sulfates, ammonia, cyanides, thiocyanates,
thiosulfates, fluorides (scrubber effluent); soil - slag, sludge, sulphur compounds, heavy metals, oil and grease
residues, salts. The environmental sustainability of the blast furnace with its upstream stages coking and
sintering plants is of great significance if existing capacities are to be retained or new ones are to be built. The
blast furnaces built over the past years thus have a similar standard of environmental protection, independent
of the location. From the standpoint of the new millennium there must be realized a change from a technology
for fulfilling primary requirements only, to the development of modern, sustainable iron and steel technology
within human activity in coexistence with environment on a global scale.

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