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Enhanced Removal of Potassium, Sodium, and Lead During the Iron Ore Sintering Process

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Abstract

In this study, a mixture rich in K, Na, and Pb, composed of undesired elements rich iron ore A, sinter dust, and blast furnace dust (ore-dust mix,), is sintered along with the regular iron ore. The K, Na, and Pb compounds within the ore-dust mix are identified as alkali chlorides, alkali aluminosilicates, PbO, and PbSO4 using X-ray diffraction. The primary objective is to investigate the impact of three distinct sintering technologies: regular (pre-reduction) sintering, double-layer sintering, and hearth-layer sintering, on the removal degrees of K, Na, and Pb. In both the regular and double-layer sintering processes, the K, Na, and Pb contents within the blend of raw materials was measured approximately 0.430 wt%, 0.105 wt%, and 0.033 wt%, respectively. Moreover, the ratio of ore-dust mix to the regular ore was 0.54. In the regular sinter pot test, sinter feed was uniformly placed in the pot. In the run of the regular sinter pot test with the optimal coke breeze ratio of 20 wt%, the removal degrees of K, Na, and Pb were 79.5%, 67.5% and 92.7%, respectively. In comparison, the double-layer sintering technology resulted in a slight increase in the removal degrees for alkali metals and a similar removal degree for Pb, while utilizing a reduced coke breeze ratio of only 8.10 wt%. The removal mechanism of the hearth-layer and double-layer sintering processes are similar. However, the coke breeze ratio decreases to 6.63 wt% as the fraction of ore-dust mix within the blend of raw materials is reduced to 7 wt% during the hearth-layer sintering process.

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Acknowledgements

The research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51974371 and U1660206), the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2018YFC1900605) and the commercialization of scientific and research findings program of Hunan province (No. 2020GK4055).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Minerals Processing & Bioengineering, Central South University, 410083, Changsha, Hunan, China

    Yannan Wang, Min Gan, Xiaohui Fan, Zhiyun Ji & Wei Lv

  2. Department of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 44, 3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Yannan Wang & Ganesh Pilla

  3. State Key Laboratory of V and Ti Resources Comprehensive Utilization, Ansteel Research Institute of Vanadium & Titanium (Iron & Steel), 617000, Panzhihua, Sichuan, China

    Mingfeng Ye

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  1. Yannan Wang
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Correspondence to Min Gan or Xiaohui Fan.

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Wang, Y., Gan, M., Fan, X. et al. Enhanced Removal of Potassium, Sodium, and Lead During the Iron Ore Sintering Process. J. Sustain. Metall. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-024-00788-4

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