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Characterization of Colemanite and Its Effect on Cold Compressive Strength and Swelling Index of Iron Ore Pellets

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Abstract

In this study, the effect of colemanite and calcined colemanite (CC) addition on the properties of iron ore pellets is studied. The pellets are prepared in a lab without and with 0.2% colemanite and varying amounts of CC from 0 to 1.0 wt% in steps of 0.2%. A reference pellet is prepared under typical plant conditions, and the properties of the reference pellet are considered as the base value for improving the cold compressive strength (CCS) while maintaining the other parameters at an acceptable limit without altering the pellet. The study also aims to provide a detailed characterization of colemanite and calcined colemanite to better understand their behaviour during firing. The lab-scale results show that the CCS of pellets made with 0.2% colemanite was reduced by 222 points (60%) as compared to the reference pellets due to crack formation during firing. The results show an improvement in the CCS of the indurated pellets with CC dosage up to 0.4%, and decreasing strength is noted thereafter. It is observed that the swelling index increases with the increase in calcined colemanite dosage. To simulate plant conditions, reference pellets and pellets with optimized CC dosage were fired in a plant furnace.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Dr Sanjay Chandra (Chief, R&D) for his encouragement, support and permission to publish this paper. Thanks are also due to Mr Uttam Singh (VP, Iron Making), Mr Indrajit Paul (Chief, Pellet Plant), Mr Brati Shankar Bandyopadhya (Head Operations, Pellet plant), Abhijeet Moon (Principal Researcher, R&D), Sista Kameshwara Srikar (Principal Researcher, R&D) Tanay Roy (Sr. Manager, Operations, Pellet Plant) and Dhiraj Kadhe (Principal Researcher, R&D) for their valuable input.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. R&D, Tata Steel Ltd, Jharkhand, 831001, Jamshedpur, India

    Mahaboob Basha Shaik, Chandra Sekhar, Srinivas Dwarapudi & Neha Gupta

  2. Pellet Plant, Tata Steel Ltd, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, 831001, India

    Indrajit Paul

  3. Tata steel Ltd, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, 831001, India

    Arvind Kumar Patel & Amit Kumar

  4. Scientific services, Tata Steel Ltd, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, 831001, India

    Shakuntala Tudu

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  1. Mahaboob Basha Shaik
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Shaik, M.B., Sekhar, C., Dwarapudi, S. et al. Characterization of Colemanite and Its Effect on Cold Compressive Strength and Swelling Index of Iron Ore Pellets. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 38, 217–231 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-020-00331-5

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