Recent collaborative researches between Japanese universities and steel industry on the iron ore agglomeration process

The properties of iron ores used in ironmaking process have been drastically changed in the past couple of decades.Especially,the change has become significant in the last few years because of the considerable increase in the world steel production.The property change of the iron ore is mainly caused by the depletion of the hard and high-grade lump hematite ores.It has led to the increasing use of ores containing a larger amount of goethite/limonite,i.e.,hydro-oxides of iron.Typically,the proportion of pisolitic ores,which are course limonitic ores,has remarkably increased by several times in Japan.Further,large deposits of the fine goethite ores called Marra Mamba have been developed in Australia and exported to Asian countries.Such trends will be continued in future.Since the change of the ore properties affects not only to the productivity and yield of the sinter but also its metallurgical properties in the blast furnace,further improvement in the sintering technology/ process is required including the preliminary treatment process of raw materials.In order to make wide researches concerning the above issues,the research project 'New Sintering Process through Designing of Composite Granulation & Bed Structure' was formed in the ISIJ,which was the collaborative project between Japanese steel companies and several universities.The project was started in 2005 and carried on the wide range of studies for three and half years.Its main objects are the characterization of pisolitic/goethitic ores and the understanding the behavior during the iron ore sintering process.Further,considering the ore characteristics,some basic researches on the optimum designs of raw material blending,granulation,bed structure,and the metallurgical properties of the produced sinter were performed.The project have invented the technical principle of a new sintering process, namely MEBIOS(Mosaic EmBedding Iron Ore Sintering Process),characterized by the composite granulation and bed-structure,aiming to cope with the drastic shift of the ore properties.Another big issue fallen on the steel industry is the global warming.CO,emission from steelmaking industry occupies about 15%of the total value of the artificial emissions in Japan and therefore its reduction is urgently required.In order examine the possibility to minimize or to reduce further the CO_2 emission from the iron ore sintering process,the research project 'Technological Principle for Low-Carbon Sintering' has been formed since 2009 in the ISIJ.In this project,the analyses of the combustion rates of carbonaceous materials and heat transfer in the sintering bed are first examined by referring the previous studies.Further,experimental works will be conducted on the combustion/oxidation characteristics of biomass charcoal,some organic wastes,steel can scraps,mill scale and partially reduced iron ores as alternative agglomeration reagents of coke and anthracite coal.The effect of their use on the sintering process will be evaluated systematically.It is expected that the structural changes of the sintering bed is considerably different between carbonaceous materials,which disappear during combustion leaving a little amount of ash components and metallic iron bearing materials,which increase the mass and volume during its oxidation. Previous studies showed that the use of metallic iron bearing materials such as steel can scrap and mill scale led to significant decreases in the production rate.This project examines the characteristics of such changes of the sintering bed structure and mineral phases and main process parameters,which govern such phenomena.Further, it searches for a new process principle to overcome the demerits and realize the significant reduction of CO_2 emissions from the iron ore sintering process.In the symposium,summary of activities and the major results and progresses of the above two research projects will be introduced.

Preparation of blast furnace burdens by composite agglomeration process: effect of distribution of magnetite and hematite concentrates in pelletized and matrix feed

Effect of distribution of iron concentrates between pelletized and matrix feed on the preparation of blast furnace burdens from two different kinds of fine iron concentrates (magnetite and hematite) by composite agglomeration process (CAP) was explored. It was found that when the mass ratio of iron concentrate A (magnetite) to iron concentrate B (hematite) in the mixed feed was constant, the proportion of iron concentrate A in the pelletized and matrix feed significantly affected the quality of CAP products. Particularly, as the proportion of iron concentrate A in the pelletized feed increased from 0 to 100%, the yield decreased from 82.11% to 79.19% and the tumbler index decreased from 71.33% to 68.27%. The mineralization characterization results indicated that when 100% iron concentrate A was used as the pelletized feed, the crystallization styles of the outer layer and the inner layer of the pellet were different, and a lot of pores exist around hematite and magnetite phases in the pelletized part, with the weak connection of pelletized and matrix part, resulting in poor strength of agglomeration product.

Mechanisms of composite agglomeration of fluoric iron concentrate

The effect of composite agglomeration process(CAP) on fluoric iron concentrates sintering was investigated.The yield and quality of the sinter are greatly improved when using CAP assisted with heat airflow and enhancing magnesium oxide(MgO) contents.For conventional sintering of fluoric iron concentrate,due to lower viscosity of binding phase and higher fluidity of liquid phase,the sinter is formed with large thin-walled holes and the strength of the sinter is deteriorated consequently.The novel process forms composite agglomerate in which acid pellets are embedded in basic sinter.The pellets are solid with interconnecting crystals of hematite(Fe2O3) and magnetic(Fe3O4).For basic sintering,after adding MgO,the viscosity of the melting phase increases and the fluidity decreases;and calcium and aluminum silico-ferrites and magnesium ferrite are formed with perfect crystals and good sintering microstructure.

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE HYDROPHOBIC AGGLOMERATION CHARACTERISTICS OF EASY DEGRADATION COAL FINES IN WATER

The separation of ultrafine coal from three Chinese coal samples of easy degradation coal fines in water has been investigated by the application of a hydrophobic agglomeration process. In addition to yielding clean coal with high recovery, this process requires significantly less oil concentration for agglomeration (less than 0.4% in oil-water weight ratio) and produces stabler agglomerates than general oil agglomeration process, the cost of the oil would no longer be an important consideration for its commercial application. Neutral diesel oil was used to make oleophilic coal particles agglomerated with good rejection of clay minerals under little oil consumption and certain agitation speed at 2000 r/min. An important advantage of this process compared with other cleaning fine coal methods is that it can extremely reduce or eliminate the effects of coal degradation and some clay minerals on coal preparation.

Advances in scalable gas-phase manufacturing and processing of nanostructured solids： A review

Although the gas-phase production of nanostructured solids has already been carried out in industry for decades, only in recentyears has research interest in this topic begun to increase. Nevertheless, despite the remarkable scientific progress made recently, many long-established processes are still used in industry. Scientific advancements can potentially lead to the improvement of existing industrial processes, but also to the development of completely new routes. This paper aims to review state-of-the-art synthesis and processing technologies, as well as the recent developments in academic research. Flame reactors that produce inorganic nanoparticles on industrial- and lab-scales are described, alongside a detailed overview of the different systems used for the production of carbon nanotubes and graphene. We discuss the problems of agglomeration and mixing of nanoparticles, which are strongly related to synthesis and processing. Finally, we focus on two promising processing techniques, namely nanoparticle fluidization and atomic layer deposition.