MAGMA is a multi-purpose smelting unit from Russia, which can replace the conventional blast furnace. MAGMA can use iron ore fines / lumps & South African / Australian thermal coal for making pig iron & there is no need for sinter feed / pellets or coke. MAGMA is the improved ‘Romelt’ process & offered by the Russian engineering company ‘Technologia Metallov LLC’.

In the process, iron ore is pre-heated to 900-1,000°C in the rotary kiln & charged into MAGMA chamber. Coal is directly burnt in oxygen inside MAGMA. The liquid-sodium cooling system adopted in MAGMA maintains the temperature of the body of smelting chamber at around 500°C. This enables reaching very high temperatures up to 1,900°C in the working space of the smelting chamber & up to 1,650°C in the molten slag zone. Under such conditions, a skull is formed in the working surface of the smelting chamber & this skull is used instead of conventional refractories.

MAGMA can utilize all the facilities of an existing pellet plant, to make pig iron. Instead of cooling the red hot pellets, they can be directly charged into MAGMA for smelting. South African / Australian thermal coal and lime stone will be directly burnt in oxygen, inside MAGMA.

After using the primary heat of coal + oxygen for melting the red hot pellets to make pig iron,  off gases coming out of MAGMA can supply the entire thermal energy needed for the pellet plant, to replace coal & furnace oil. For example, a very large MAGMA generates 100 Gcal/hour of heat, whereas the heat requirement for 1.2 million tons / year pellet plant is only 33 Gcal/hour. The remaining 67 Gcal/hour of thermal energy can make 18 MWh of electricity, to support the in-house oxygen plant.

A very large MAGMA unit can make 2,60,000 tons of pig iron per year, using the following inputs –

Red hot pellets from the rotary kiln, having 60% Fe – 4,30,000 tons

South African / Australian thermal coal                     –   2,60,000 tons

Lime stone                                                                 –   1,30,000 tons

Oxygen (99% O₂)                                                      –   27,000 Nm³/hour

The input cost of these items will be around Rs. 350-400 crores, while the value of pig iron will be Rs. 500-550 crores per year. In addition, the off gases coming out of MAGMA can be used forthe pellet plant, to save Rs. 25-50 crores per year.

The incremental investment on the MAGMA plant will be around Rs. 125 crores (without captive oxygen plant) & the pay-back period will be 1-2 years.

The cost of making pig iron in the pellet plant ranges from Rs. 14,000 to Rs. 15,000 per ton.

MAGMA is a clean and efficient iron making process, to replace the 150 year old blast furnace in small and medium-sized iron & steel mills.

At the time when the margins of the merchant pellet plants are under constant pressure, MAGMA provides greater flexibility to use a wide range of iron ore fines (55-63% Fe grades) to make pig iron; to utilize the infrastructures already created &to ensure continued viability on a long term.

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