Weathering Behavior of Newly Developed Highly Fluxed DRI

Abstract

The weathering behavior of highly fluxed and reduced iron ore pellet (DRI-Direct Reduced Iron) having 4, 6, and 8 basicity and 65–98% R (R-reduction) are given in this paper. The primary objective has been to solve weathering issues related to DRI and fresh lime used in the secondary steelmaking process. Experimental studies indicated that the addition of lime during pellet making and its subsequent reduction in coal bed yielded weather-resistant fluxed DRI with lime present in combined state. Such fluxed DRI exposed to 10 days open air (85% humidity) resulted in only 2 wt% moisture adsorption. The 30 days of air exposure caused 6 wt% moisture adsorption within acceptable limits for industrial acceptance. This low moisture adsorption by fluxed DRI was perhaps due to the presence of lime in combined form.