Walnut Shells as a Potential Fuel for Iron Ore Sintering

Iron ore sintering is a predominant process for fine iron ore and its concentrate to be applied in the blast furnace process. However, sintering produces a negative impact on the environment. One of the effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from iron ore sintering is to use CO2-neutral biomaterials for the fuel needs of this technology. Walnut shells (WNS) are a promising raw material for such fuel substitute. Herein, the effect of the raw and the pyrolyzed WNS with a constant fineness of 3-0 mm on the sintering process and the sinter properties were studied. The proportion of WNS in the fuel composition was set to 25 wt.%. It has been established that the use of WNS pyrolyzed up to 873 K is optimal. Additionally, the difference in the reactivity of WNS and coke breeze has provoked the studies on the influence of the pyrolyzed WNS size on the sintering process. WNS size was set to 1-0, 3-0, 5-0, and 7-0 mm. It has been found that the most optimal both for the iron ore sintering process and the sinter quality is the use of WNS with a particle size of 3-0 mm, subjected to preliminary pyrolysis up to 873 K.

Effect of Coated Cow Dung on Fluidization Reduction of Fine Iron Ore particles

The effects of reduction temperature, gas linear velocity, reduction pressure, reduction time, and reducing gas on the fluidized ironmaking process were studied for the fine iron Newman ore particles (0.154–0.178 mm) and the optimal experimental operating conditions were obtained. Under the optimal conditions, the effects of the coated cow dung on the reduction of fine iron ore particles were studied, and the inhibition mechanism of cow dung on particle adhesion in the fluidized ironmaking process was elucidated. The experimental results show that the optimal operating parameters are linear velocity of 0.6 m/s, reduction pressure of 0.2 MPa, reduction temperature of 1023 K, H2 as the reducing gas, and reduction time of 60 min. Cow dung can react with oxide in the ore powder to form a high melting point substance that can form a certain isolation layer, inhibit the growth of iron whiskers, and improve the fluidization.

Experimental Study on the Fine Iron Ore Tailing Containing Gypsum as Backfill Material

The strength of the filling body is largely affected by the properties of the binder, mineral composition, fineness, and slurry concentration of tailing. In this paper, the rheological test was conducted to determine the slurry concentration of iron ore tailing containing gypsum. Then, the samples made from slurry and three binders, Portland cement, filling plant binder, and Huazhong binder, were tested, respectively. The effects of curing time, binder-tailing ratio by mass (b/t), and slurry concentration on compression strength were investigated. The sample made from Huazhong binder and iron ore tailing presented the largest compression strength.

Design of Novel Flash Ironmaking Reactors for Greatly Reduced Energy Consumption and CO2 Emissions

The development of a novel ironmaking technology based on fine iron ore concentrate in a flash reactor is summarized. The design of potential industrial reactors for flash ironmaking based on the computational fluid dynamics technique is described. Overall, this simulation work has shown that the size of the reactor used in the novel flash ironmaking technology (FIT) can be quite reasonable vis-à-vis the blast furnaces. A flash reactor of 12 m diameter and 35 m height with a single burner operating at atmospheric pressure would produce 1.0 million tons of iron per year. The height can be further reduced by either using multiple burners, preheating the feed gas, or both. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based design of potential industrial reactors for flash ironmaking pointed to a number of features that should be incorporated. The flow field should be designed in such a way that a larger portion of the reactor is used for the reduction reaction but at the same time excessive collision of particles with the wall must be avoided. Further, a large diameter-to-height ratio that still allows a high reduction degree should be used from the viewpoint of decreased heat loss. This may require the incorporation of multiple burners and solid feeding ports.

Confined Bed Breakage of Fine Iron Ore Concentrates

High-pressure grinding rolls (HPGR) have gained great popularity in the mining industry in the last 25 years or so. One of the first successful applications of the technology has been in iron ore pressing prior to pelletization. Piston-and-die tests can provide good insights on the material response in an HPGR. This work analyzed confined bed breakage of four iron ore concentrates under different conditions. Saturation in breakage of particles contained in the top size in the tests was observed to occur at specific energies of about 2 kWh/t, whereas full saturation in breakage, with no additional increase in specific surface area of the material, occurred at energies above about 6 kWh/t. An expression was proposed to characterize the propensity of a material to break under confined bed conditions. The phenomenology involved in confined bed breakage of such materials was then analyzed in light of the results.

Experimental Investigation of the Fluidization Reduction Characteristics of Iron Particles Coated with Carbon Powder under Pressurized Conditions

The purpose of this study was to comprehensively analyze the effects of the carbon powder coating mass fraction, pressure, reduction temperature, reduction time, gas linear velocity, and particle size on fluidization reduction. Brazilian fine iron ore particles were the experimental object, and reduction experiments were performed under added carbon powder coating and pressure conditions. A six-factor, three-level orthogonal experiment method was used to obtain the optimal operating conditions and investigate the adhesion and inhibition mechanisms of fine iron ore during reduction. The experimental results show that with the addition of a carbon powder coating, an appropriate increase in pressure can increase the metallization rate, improve the fluidization state, and reduce the sticking ratio. The optimal operating conditions for pure hydrogen to reduce Brazilian fine iron ore was found to be a reduction temperature of 923–1023 K, the linear velocity of the reducing gas was 0.6 m/s, the reducing time was 30–50 min, the reducing pressure was 0.25 MPa, the mass content of the coated carbon powder was 2–6% (accounting for the mass of the mineral powder), and the particle size of the carbon powder was 4–7 µm. Iron whiskers cohesion and agglomeration were the main reasons for the adhesion of ore powder particles. It was found that carbon powder coating can effectively change the morphology of metal iron, as metal iron generates spherical particles around the carbon powder to improve the fluidization state.