{"id":21419,"date":"2024-03-11T09:28:55","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T03:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=21419"},"modified":"2025-04-06T12:06:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T06:36:21","slug":"sponge-iron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/sponge-iron\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Sponge Iron?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>About Sponge Iron<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Direct-reduced iron (DRI), also called sponge iron, is\u00a0produced from the direct reduction of iron ore\u00a0(in the form of lumps, pellets, or fines)\u00a0by a reducing gas produced from natural gas or coal.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0reducing gas is a mixture,\u00a0the\u00a0majority of which is hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide\u00a0(CO), which act as reducing agents.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>This process of reducing the iron ore in solid form by reducing gases is called\u00a0direct reduction.<\/li>\n<li>Why is it called Sponge Iron?\n<ul>\n<li>The process of\u00a0sponge iron manufacturing involves the removal of oxygen from iron ore.<\/li>\n<li>When that happens, the\u00a0departing oxygen causes micropores in the ore body,\u00a0turning it porous.<\/li>\n<li>When the\u00a0eventual product is observed under a microscope, it\u00a0resembles a honeycomb structure, which looks spongy in texture. Hence the name sponge iron.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Significance:\n<ul>\n<li>Its significance in the steel industry ranges from an\u00a0alternative to scrap to boosting furnace efficiency.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>It is used as a\u00a0substitute for scrap in induction and electrical furnaces.<\/li>\n<li>The reason for this is that melting scrap is expensive\u00a0and\u00a0also in short supply, so\u00a0sponge iron is the perfect alternative when it comes to using it in the\u00a0production of high-quality steel.<\/li>\n<li>It is an iron source that is relatively uniform in composition, and virtually\u00a0free from tramp elements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>India is the world&#8217;s largest producer of sponge iron, most of which is produced primarily through the coal-based method of production. India produces\u00a020% of the world\u2019s sponge iron\u00a0with over 200 plants<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1) What is Steel?<\/h3>\n<p>It is an alloy of iron and carbon in which the carbon content ranges up to 2 percent (with a higher carbon content, the material is defined as cast iron). By far the most widely used material for building the world\u2019s infrastructure and industries, it is used to fabricate everything from sewing needles to oil tankers.The main reasons for the popularity of steel are the relatively low cost of making, forming, and processing it, the abundance of its two raw materials (iron ore and scrap), and its unparalleled range of mechanical properties.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.financialexpress.com\/business\/industry-ore-shortage-hitting-steel-production-says-sponge-iron-industry-seeks-ban-on-exports-3420528\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>\u2018Ore shortage\u2019 hitting steel production, says sponge iron industry, seeks ban on exports<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Direct-reduced iron (DRI), also called sponge iron, is produced from the direct reduction of iron ore by a reducing gas produced from natural gas or coal. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21419","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}