A comparison of blast furnace and Corex routes for iron-making on the basis of costs

Iron-making provides a vital engineering input in the process of steel production. This requires huge investment and hence, selection of an appropriate iron-making technology is very crucial in a capital scarce country like India. However, in this arena blast furnace (BF) technology is considered as proven and the dominant one. Meanwhile, a new technology named Corex has emerged in this field. In this paper an attempt is made towards a comparative assessment of BF vis-à-vis Corex technology based on the principle of cost-minimization. It is found that BF-technology is still a better option for India.