Patent ID: 8690986

Claim:
A process for simultaneously producing reduced iron from iron rich wastes and metallurgical coke from metallurgical coal, said process comprising the steps of: placing a layer of feedstock containing iron oxides on a top surface of a bed of metallurgical coal; placing said bed of coal containing iron oxides into a coke oven selected from the group consisting of non-recovery coke ovens and heat recovery coke ovens; maintaining said coke oven at a reduction temperature for a selected cycle time, said reduction temperature being a temperature sufficient to reduce said iron oxides into reduced iron and to devolatilize said coal in said bed into coke; providing a reducing gas in said coke oven during said selected cycle time, said reducing gas being a gas that causes said iron oxides to reduce to reduced iron at said reduction temperature; heating said coke oven to a melting temperature greater than the melting point of said reduced iron and below the melting temperature of iron oxide so that the melted iron flows down into the coke bed a matter of inches to a point wherein the reduced iron solidifies, which point protects the reduced iron from reoxidation and wherein the reduced iron is not in contact with underlying refractory materials; removing said bed and said reduced iron from said coke oven while keeping said bed substantially intact; cooling said bed and said reduced iron to a temperature sufficient to solidify said reduced iron; and recovering a metallurgical coke product and a reduced iron product from the coke ovens, wherein the reduced iron product has a metallization of greater than 95 wt. %.