Steel is produced from the iron ore through the Blast Furnace process. Now, you may wonder what is a blast furnace and it’s process. If you don’t know about it then read the next few lines to get to know. Blast furnace is a vertical shaft furnace trough which formed liquid metals by the airflow under pressure into the bottom which is mix by the metallic ore, coke, and flux pour into it from the top. Significantly the ingredient which required producing the steel or pig iron is one of them coke too. Meanwhile, coke is produced from the coal at a high temperature approximately 1000-1100°C.
Now, you know the relation between coal and steel. It is time to get to know that how coal industry changes affect the steel industry. There are limited resources of the coal. There are other industries that required coal such as Thermal Power Plants, Cement manufacturer, Plastic and Fiber, Hospitals, Liquid Fuels, etc. According the world steel organization approximate 1 billion tonnes of metallurgical coal is required to produce 1.7 billion tonnes of crude steel.
The availability of the coal resources
According to the world coal organization there are an estimated coal 1.1 trillion tonnes of proven coal which is reserved on the global level. If the coal production continues with the present rate then these resources may end in 150 years approx. Besides, the country which has the largest reserve of coals is USA, India, China, Australia, and Russia in the world. Approximate 64 countries produce the steel at worldwide and 70 countries reserved the coal. Many of the countries that produce the crude steel import coal from other countries which impact the rate of the raw steel which will affect the price of the final product.
The quality of the coke and coal
China is the largest exporter of the coke and in the past few years the country has reduced its export sharply. Besides, the quality of the coke is also the main factor that can affect the quality of the steel. Coal production industries are providing the coke from the bituminous coals through a distillation process. A high quality coke is able to endorsement of the smooth descent and a little degradation with the minimum impurity. Along with it due to high quality coke enhances the productivity and decrease the hot metal cost as well as lower the coke rate. Sometimes due to environment condition and rainy weather it absorbs the moisture and affects the steel. This is a challenge to the steel industry to keep it dry in rainy season, so there will not be compromise with the quality.