Environment and Risks of Iron Production

Iron production is one of the production processes that create a large number of negative externalities towards their surroundings. Iron production is based on the use of a wide range of production operations, which include not only the blast furnace process but also the treatment and processing of ores, sintering, pelletizing and processing of metallurgical waste and its possible storage. All parts of the blast furnace process can have a negative impact on the environment. Within the individual parts of the blast furnace plant, a number of pollutants are produced which negatively affect the environment. They can have both solid and gaseous states. In the case of solid emissions, it is airborne dust, and the gaseous form represents pollutants in the form of sulphur, nitrogen or carbon oxides. From the point of view of the blast furnace plant structure itself, blast furnace, agglomeration processes, palletization processes or the processing of waste from production can be classified as emission points. The article deals with the classification of basic impacts of blast furnace production on the environment. It analyses in detail the negative externalities in ore sintering. It also deals with the analysis of research, which was focused on the degree of reduction of iron oxides ore. The efficiency of the reduction process is crucial in terms of resource use, but also the overall amount of negative externalities. The research was carried out in the environment of a selected iron producer in the Czech Republic.