New research work for the production of iron and steel must be oriented towards compact, flexible and economic technologies while supplying a quality at least as high as the existing ones. Compact technologies reduce the steps between the raw material and the crude ready-to-cast steel. Flexibility allows smaller batches, a more diversified range and fast charge variations. The economic goals aim at reducing both fixed costs (invested capital) and variable costs (energy, consumables, personnel). Five areas are touched upon: steel production from liquid iron, steel production from scrap or pre-reduced ore, new technologies for scrap melting, direct reduction, new technologies for the production of iron. The classical process with blast furnace + oxygen converter and ladle metallurgy makes it possible to have an adjusted regular product, but it lacks flexibility, requires heavy investment costs and its environmental constraints are large. The electric arc furnace is currently conquering parts of the market, reaching 30 %. Its future is based on scrap availability, price and quality. The author thinks that these elements will not be a problem in the long term, that prices will decrease and the quality improve little by little. In addition, for steels with high purity, charging can be done partially with pre-reduced ore. If electricity is expensive, primary energy may be used (coal or gas + oxygen). Scrap may be added to the converter if liquid iron is rare. Use of the EOF process (energy optimization furnace) is currently being developed. We may also examine charging scrap collected in a hot blast cupola furnace, and the liquid iron transferred to a converter or an EOF furnace. Three direct reduction processes (Midrex, HyL and Fior) use natural gas as reducing element. They are non polluting, rather flexible and give a highly metallized iron with adjusted carbon content. The variable cost is very dependent on local natural gas, ore and electric energy prices. The fixed costs, very high, make it competitive in only a few countries. Improved versions (Arex and Fior II) are more economical in investment and in energy. Other processes (Iron Carbide and FastMet) are in the demonstration phase. In the new iron production technologies, improvements of the existing blast furnaces are being sought using pulverized coal injection, the goal being to reduce coke consumption and even to suppress it. Actual constraints push towards not creating new coke capacities. We can go even further with the Char-Din process, a project for a blast furnace blown with pure, cold oxygen (less coal, investment costs and emissions). A fusion-reduction process (Corex), already exploited at Iscor, is still being developed. It leads to a gas surplus that we are trying to valorize. This process is more flexible and less polluting that the blast furnace route. Other fusion-reduction processes are still in the study phase (Dios, Hismelt, AISI, CCF). They raise the problem of gas valorization, but they will not be industrially applicable for five years. In conclusion, in these new processes, only Corex may be recommended industrially when the gasification of coal could be highly valorized (in particular in the field of chemistry), Arex and Fior II where natural gas is practically free and EOF where scrap is abundant and electricity rare and expensive. For twenty more years, the integrated divisions of iron and steel will remain the basis for world production, so much so as the electric arc furnace could profit from converter technologies. Finally, we must improve our knowledge and use of scrap and, of course, pursue patiently the development of fusion-reduction studies.
