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Enhancing Rotary Kiln-Electric Furnace Process of Saprolitic Laterite from the Viewpoint of Slag Optimization to Minimize Energy Consumption

  • Thematic Section: New Approaches for Sustainable Steel Production and Processing
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Abstract

How to reduce the energy consumption of the rotary kiln-electric furnace (RKEF) process has become an important issue for the stainless steel industry. The aim of this study is to reduce the energy consumption of ferronickel production from saprolite nickel laterite in the RKEF process. The effects of the slag binary basicity, FeO content, and Cr2O3 content on the melting temperature and electric conductivity of the slag as well as the effects of coal dosage, smelting temperature, smelting time, and binary basicity on the smelting process, within the new slag system of CaO–MgO–SiO2–Al2O3–FeO–Cr2O3, have been systematically investigated. It was found that properly increasing the binary basicity and FeO content of slag tends to lower smelting temperature and higher electrical conductivity, while decreasing the Cr2O3 content is beneficial to decreasing the melting temperature of slags as well as the electrical conductivity. Through the optimization of slag composition and smelting parameters, ferronickel with 22.11% Ni, 77.24% Fe, and 0.08% Cr can be obtained at corresponding recovery rates of 99.17%, 28.01%, and 0.54%, respectively, under the conditions of 0.2 binary basicity, coal dosage of 14% at 1550 °C for 30 min based on the guidance of 9.4% CaO-18.2% MgO-47% SiO2-3.4% Al2O3-20% FeO-2.0% Cr2O3 slag system. In addition, the main phase composition of slags obtained is mainly composed of forsterite, hortonolite, enstatite, diopside, and melilite, which have a lower melting point than contrast the slag from industrial production site with the main phase of pyroxene and magnesioferrite olivine. So, the new slag system is helpful for reducing the temperature and time of smelting, and reducing the energy consumption of the RKEF process.

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely appreciate the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52004339) and the Hunan Provincial Key Research and Development Project (Nos. 2022SK2075).

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Deqing Zhu, Xiaofeng Xu, Jian Pan, Xin Wang, Congcong Yang, Zhengqi Guo, Siwei Li & Hongyu Tian

  2. Low-Carbon and Hydrogen Metallurgy Research Center, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Deqing Zhu, Jian Pan, Congcong Yang & Zhengqi Guo

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  1. Deqing Zhu
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  2. Xiaofeng Xu
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  4. Xin Wang
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Correspondence to Xin Wang or Congcong Yang.

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Zhu, D., Xu, X., Pan, J. et al. Enhancing Rotary Kiln-Electric Furnace Process of Saprolitic Laterite from the Viewpoint of Slag Optimization to Minimize Energy Consumption. J. Sustain. Metall. 9, 1417–1428 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-023-00769-z

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