Zhixiong You

Consolidation Behavior of High-Fe Manganese Ore Sinters with Natural Basicity

ABSTRACT High-iron content manganese ore resources are becoming the mainstream raw ores for manganese extraction due to the depletion of high-grade manganese ores. Our previous research has reported the optimization parameters for the sintering of high-Fe manganese ore (abbr. high-Fe Mn-ore) fines. This study further investigated the consolidation behavior of high-Fe Mn-ore sinters with natural basicity. Sintering pot tests showed that the high-Fe Mn-ore sintering required high coke breeze dosage (about 9.9 wt.%). The CO content of the outlet flue gas (7.5 vol.%~8.0 vol.%) in the high-Fe Mn-ore sintering was higher than that in the ordinary iron ore sintering (1.0 vol.%~2.2 vol.%). XRD and SEM-EDS analyses indicated that the major mineral phases in the sinters included Fe-Mn oxides (FexMn3-xO4), ferrotephroite ((Fe,Mn)2SiO4), Ca-,Al-,Mn-,Fe- bearing silicate melts, and a small quantity of hausmannite (Mn3O4) and free quartz (SiO2). Optical microstructure and SEM images showed that the Fe-Mn oxides, Ca-, Al-, Mn-, Fe- bearing silicate melts and ferrotephroite particles are closely interconnected with one another. The formation of Fe-Mn oxides and ferrotephroite were beneficial to the sinter strength. Thermodynamic and phase diagram analyses further demonstrated that the major bonding phases of Fe-Mn oxides and ferrotephroite were easily formed under the strong reductive sintering atmosphere of high-Fe Mn-ores.

Improving the property of calcium ferrite using a sonochemical method

Power ultrasonic vibration was applied to the solidification of calcium ferrite (CF) melt in this study. The results indicated that power ultrasound can promote the formation of CF by accelerating the solidification process. Ultrasonic vibration greatly refined the CF grains, resulting the grain size decreased from 1893 to 437 μm. Meanwhile, ultrasonic vibration significantly enhanced the compressive strength, reduced the reduction time and improved the reducibility of CF slags. With ultrasonic treatment, the ultimate compressive strength of samples increased from 37.5 to 67.8 MPa, and the reduction time decreased from 225 to 136 min.

Characterization of Sulfidation Roasting of an Iron-Rich Manganese Oxide ore with Elemental Sulfur

Low-grade manganese oxide ore is generally characterized by high iron content. In this work, sulfidation roasting of an iron-rich manganese oxide ore with elemental sulfur was characterized. The experimental results indicated that manganese dioxide can be selectively reduced over iron oxide by using elemental sulfur. The manganese phases in roasted product included low-valence manganese oxide, manganese sulfide and manganese sulfate, while those of iron mainly depended on the sulfur addition. Iron oxide would only be reduced or sulfidized at larger sulfur additions. The effect of roasting temperature and S/Mn mole ratio on the phase transformations was also investigated; extractions of Mn/Fe by sulfuric acid were evaluated. An extraction of Mn greater than 95% was obtained while that of Fe was controlled less than 10% under the optimal conditions.

Effect of Cooling Rate on the Acidolysis of Titania Slag

Electro-titania slag is generally used as the raw material for titanium dioxide production by sulfate process. The phase composition of titanium as well as their disseminated grain size have significant effect on the acidolysis of titanium. Anosovite is considered as the most favorable Ti-bearing phase due to its high acidolysis efficiency, while silicates and rutile are not soluble in concentrated sulfuric acid. Different cooling rates will play a significant effect on the phase structure and particle size, which directly affects the acidolysis ratio of titania slag. In this paper, the influence on acidolysis ratio of titania slag at different cooling rates was studied. The results revealed that slower cooling rate resulted in the formation of larger particle size and a comparatively higher acidolysis ratio was obtained. On the contrast, rapid cooling was disadvantageous to the leaching of titanium as the smaller particle size anosovite was wrapped by glass phases.

Preparation of Ferronickel from Nickel Laterite Ore via Semi-molten Reduction Followed by Magnetic Separation

The rotary kiln-electric furnace (RKEF) process is the main method for producing ferronickel from nickel laterite ore. However, this process is energy intensive as it involves several high temperature steps. Therefore, a novel process is proposed to directly produce ferronickel from nickel laterite ore by semi-molten reduction, which is expected to be realized in a rotary hearth furnace (RHF). The RHF process is able to shorten the flow sheet, decrease the reaction temperature as well as reduce energy consumption. In this study, the influence of basicity on reduction of nickel laterite ore was investigated. The results showed that it is possible to produce the ferronickel nugget directly at 1400 °C when the quaternary basicity [(mCaO + mMgO)/(mSiO2 + mAl2O3)] was fixed at 0.60. Under this experimental condition, the grade and the recovery ratio of nickel reached 11.53% and 98.59%, and the grade and recovery ratio of Fe were 84.16% and 68.72%, respectively.

Solidification of Calcium Ferrite Melt Using Ultrasonic Vibration: Effect and Mechanism

Calcium ferrite (CF) is a very important binder phase in iron ore sintering processes. To improve the microstructure of CF, power ultrasound was introduced during its solidification process, and the effect of immersion depth of ultrasonic probe (IDUP) on the properties of CF was investigated in detail. The results indicated that the microstructure of CF was greatly refined; the grain size decreased from 2864 μm without ultrasonic vibration to 841 μm with ultrasonic vibration at an immersion depth of 30 mm. Without ultrasonic vibration, the density and compressive strength of CF slag were 3904 kg/m3 and 38.3 MPa, respectively. When the IDUP was increased from 10 to 30 mm, the density and compressive strength of CF increased from 4049 to 4452 kg/m3 and 52.5 to 87.3 MPa, respectively. Further, the reducibility of CF was examined. The reduction time, at the same reduction rate, decreased from 347 minutes without ultrasonic vibration to 200 minutes with ultrasonic vibration at an IDUP of 30 mm. The rate-limiting step was obviously improved, which may be attributable to the grain refinement of CF and composition segregation in the slag. In general, the properties of CF were greatly improved due to the cavitation and acoustic streaming of ultrasonic waves.

Preparation of ferronickel from nickel laterite via coal-based reduction followed by magnetic separation

The sticking phenomenon between molten slag and refractory is one of the crucial problems when preparing ferronickel from laterite ore using rotary hearth furnace or rotary kiln processes. This study aims to ameliorate sticking problems by using silicon dioxide (SiO2) to adjust the melting degree of the briquette during reduction roasting. Thermodynamic analysis indicates that the melting temperature of the slag gradually increases with an increase in the SiO2 proportion (SiO2/(SiO2 + Al2O3 + MgO) mass ratio). Experimental validations also prove that the briquette retains its original shape when the SiO2 proportion is greater than 75wt%, and sticking problems are avoided during reduction. A ferronickel product with 8.33wt% Ni and 84.71wt% Fe was prepared via reductive roasting at 1500°C for 90 min with a SiO2 proportion of 75wt% and a C/O molar ratio of 1.0 followed by dry magnetic separation; the corresponding recoveries of Ni and Fe reached 75.70% and 77.97%, respectively. The microstructure and phase transformation of reduced briquette reveals that the aggregation and growth of ferronickel particles were not significantly affected after adding SiO2 to the reduction process.

Reduction Behavior of Multi‐Nonferrous Metals‐Bearing Iron Concentrate Pellet by Mixed CO/H2 Gas

Sn-bearing iron ore containing small amount of Zn, Pb and As is one of the typical complex polymetallic ores in China. This kind of ore is not extensively utilized due to the complicated relationships between iron and other associated nonferrous metal minerals. Excessive contents of these elements would adversely affect the metallurgical operation as well as the quality of steel products. In this study, reduction behavior of Sn was detailedly investigated using H2 or mixed H2/CO as reductant. The results revealed Sn volatilization was improved in the presence of H2 than individual CO/CO2 atmosphere. Simultaneous volatilization of these elements was realized by roasting under weak H2/CO reducing potential, and metallization reduction was advantageous for further Zn volitilization. A metallic pellet (DRI) with Fe metallization greater than 90%, residual Sn, Zn, Pb and As content of 0.054%, 0.012%, 0.0045% and 0.09% was prepared via a simulated reducing gas of coal gasification.

Study on Reduction Disintegration of Sinter from Titanomagnetite Concentrate

Reduction disintegration of sinter significantly affects the coke consumption and productivity of blast furnace smelting. As we know, the reduction disintegration index (RDI+3.15) of sinter obtained from titanomagnetite concentrate is relatively worse than those from ordinary iron ores. In this study, the effect of sintering parameters, mainly involving coke breeze dosage and basicity on sintering indexes was investigated using titanomagnetite concentrate as raw material in an experimental-scale pot. Subsequently, RDI+3.15 of the sinter was detected according to the Chinese standard of GB/T13242-91. The results show that RDI+3.15 rises with the increase of coke breeze dosage, while it decreases with increasing basicity from 0.5 to 2.0 and then increases in the basicity range of 2.0–3.0. Finally, the microstructure of sinter before and after reduction was studied. And the mechanism of reduction disintegration was preliminary revealed by analyzing the morphologies and distributions of minerals in the sinter.