Sintering

Iron sintering plants are associated with the manufacture of iron and steel, often in
integrated steel mills. The sintering process is a pre-treatment step in the
production of iron, where fine particles of iron ores and in some plants, also
secondary iron oxide wastes (collected dusts, mill scale), are agglomerated by
combustion. Agglomeration of the fines is necessary to enable the passage of hot
gases during the subsequent blast furnace operation.
Sintering involves the heating of fine iron ore with flux and coke fines or coal to
produce a semi-molten mass that solidifies into porous pieces of sinter with the size
and strength characteristics necessary for feeding into the blast furnace. Moistened
feed is delivered as a layer onto a continuously moving grate or "strand." The
surface is ignited with gas burners at the start of the strand, and air is drawn
through the moving bed causing the fuel to burn. Strand velocity and gas flow are
controlled to ensure that "burn through" (i.e. the point at which the burning fuel
layer reaches the base of the strand) occurs just prior to the sinter being
discharged. The solidified sinter is then broken into pieces in a crusher and is aircooled. Product outside the required size range is screened out, oversize material is
recrushed, and undersize material is recycled back to the process. Sinter plants that
are located in a steel plant recycle iron ore fines from the raw material storage and
handling operations and from waste iron oxides from steel plant operations and
environmental control systems. Iron ore may also be processed in on-site sinter
plants.
The flexibility of the sintering process permits conversion of a variety of materials,
including iron ore fines, captured dusts, ore concentrates, and other iron-bearing
materials of small particle size (e.g., mill scale) into a clinker-like agglomerate.
Waste gases are usually treated for dust removal in a cyclone, electrostatic
precipitator, wet scrubber or fabric filter
Pelletizing
The process of pelletization enables converting Iron Ore Fines into Uniformed Sized Iron Ore Pellets
that can be charged into the blast furnaces or for Production of Direct Reduced Iron (DRI).
Pellets are uniform size, with purity of 63%- 65% contributing to faster reduction and high metallization
rates.
Pellets with their high, uniform mechanical strength and high abrasive strength increase production of
sponge iron by 25% to 30% with same amount of fuel.

Advantages of Iron Ore Pellets Over Sized Iron Ore:

Iron ore pellets are superior to iron ore lumps in the subsequent iron making processes such as
Blast furnace, DR furnace etc.

Iron ore pellets with a nominal 64- 67% Fe, uniform porosity and better size help in faster
reduction and higher metallization rates than the conventional iron ore lumps.

The inherent higher mechanical strength and abrasion resistance of pellets enhance the
production rate of sponge iron by approx. 20% under identical operating conditions.
Iron ore pellets are of spherical shape with a size range of 9-16 mm.

Iron ore pellets are not vulnerable to degradation during transportation due to their high abrasion
resistance.

Pelletizing Facility Description

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The Iron Ore Pelletisation facility can be broadly grouped into four sections as under.

Iron Ore Pellet feed and additives storage, proportioning and mixing section

Green balling section

Indurating Furnace section

Iron Ore Pellet product stacking and reclaiming section

Pellet feed is basically the iron ore concentrate with a minimum of 64% Fe, ground to 100% minus 100
mesh, with a Blaine index of ~1800.
Additives are limestone and / or dolomite, bentonite and coal / coke breeze, all ground to minus 200
mesh.
While limestone and / or dolomite are added to control the basicity as needed in the downstream iron

making processes, bentonite is used as a binder and coal / coke breeze is a solid fuel supplement.
Requirement of pellet feed and additives is as under:-

Iron Ore
Quantity required per tonne of pellets

1033 kgs

Size consist and Blaine number

100% passing 100 mesh with ?1800 Blaine

Fe %

? 63% Fe

Gangue (SiO2 + Al2O3)

3% to 5%

Loss on ignition

? 3.5%
Limestone

Quantity required per tonne of pellets

15 20 kgs

Size consist

100% passing 200 mesh

CaO

50% 1%

MgO

3%

SiO2

3% 0.5%

Al2O3

0.5%

Loss on ignition

~ 42%
Bentonite

Quantity required per tonne of pellets

6 10 kgs

Size consist

100% passing 200 mesh

SiO2

? 60%
Coal / Coke

Quantity required per tonne of pellets

15 kgs max.

Size consist

100% passing 200 mesh

Calorific value

~ 6500 kcals / kg

Moisture

? 7%

Ash

15% max.

Sulphur

1% max.

Volatile matter (coal)

10% max.

Ash fusion point

13300 C

Iron Ore in the form of ground filter cake and ground additives, are conveyed to their respective day bins.
The stored materials are transferred to mixer in the required proportion for homogenization ahead of
balling.

Iron ore mixed with the additives is fed to balling discs. Green pellets discharging from the balling discs
are conveyed to a double deck roller screen.
On-size green pellets are fed to the straight travelling type indurating machine for heat hardening.
In this process, the wet pellets are dried, preheated, indurated and cooled on a continuously moving grate
without intermediate transfers. The process air introduced for pellet cooling is circulated from the cooling
zone of the grate in a multi-pass manner to the other process zones to obtain maximum possible thermal
efficiency. Only the relatively cool and moisture laden gases are discharged to process gas cleaners and
then back into atmosphere.
Fired pellets, after separation for hearth layer recycle, are discharged onto belt conveyors for storage in
the product stockpile.
Auxiliary facility required for normal operation of the facility will be provided within the process plant
battery limits, a brief description of which is as follows.
Pellet feed and additives storage, proportioning and mixing section
Ground iron ore concentrate and additives are conveyed into individual storage bins. The raw materials
drawn from the respective bins at the desired rate are fed to the mixer for homogenization.

Additives Preparation:
There are four additives used in the pelletizing blend viz., bentonite as binder, limestone and / or dolomite
as flux, coal or coke as solid fuel.
Limestone is normally used to tailor the chemistry of pellets and to produce the desired metallurgical and
physical properties in the fired pellets. Limestone levels of 0.5% to about 2% of pelletizing mix are
common for production of DR-grade pellets. BF-grade pellets may have levels of carbonate flux addition
in the green balls exceeding 10% in some cases. Pellet chemistry is customer driven, and the pellet plant
is designed to provide the entire range of limestone addition rates necessary to meet the need of
individual customer. If the pellet chemistry calls for magnesium content, dolomite could be substituted for
the limestone and processed in the limestone handling equipment.
Fixed carbon in the form of coal / coke breeze is simply a solid fuel added to green balls to improve
furnace productivity and overall fuel economy. Coal / coke is generally a less expensive source of heat
than oil or gas. When added to green balls at proper levels, coke brings the inherent fuel value of a
hematite green ball equal to that of a magnetite pelletizing feed. This contained fuel value, when burnt
properly in the pelletizing cycle, results in lowering consumption of the more expensive burner fuel and at

the same time accelerate the pelletizing process. Both proximate analysis and CV of coal / coke breeze
dictate the quantity that can be added to mixer.
Bentonite is used as a binder in production of BF-grade pellets or DR-grade pellets, depending upon the
silica requirement of the pellets produced. Bentonite adds up to approximately 0.3 % by weight to the
silica content (SiO2 content) of fired pellets. Bentonite is generally less expensive compared to the
organic binder.

Green Balling Section:

Indurating Section:
The indurating furnace is fed continuously from the double deck roller screen feeder which lays down the
green balls across the full width of the machine on top of a protective hearth layer. Induration of green
pellets takes place on the travelling grate, having a number of wind boxes. The total bed height of hearth
layer plus the green balls is constant up to ~ 500 mm. Speed of travelling grate is variable in the range of
~ 0.5 to ~ 1.5 meter / min. and is controlled to maintain a constant bed height.
In the updraft drying zone, gas flow removes water from lower half of pellet bed and at the same time
heats this layer to a temperature where condensation will not form in the lower layers of green pellets,
when gas flow reverses for downdraft drying.
The updraft drying off-gas is discarded. The heat for updraft drying is supplied by the second cooling
zone.
Heat for downdraft drying air is supplied from firing zone wind boxes. Air for remainder of heating cycle
comes from first cooling zone via direct recuperation duct. Provision is made to temper the initial stages of
preheating with cooler air to allow better control of heat-up rate of pellets to prevent thermal shock and to
avoid damage from rapidly evolving steam or gases resulting from crystalline water in the ore,
calcinations of the flux and combustion of coal. Gas from the downdraft wind boxes is discarded until offgas reaches sufficient temperature to be useful for downdraft drying.
The gas flow scheme is designed to recuperate a significant amount of heat. High level heat is
recuperated directly from first cooling zone, while low level heat is recuperated from second cooling zone
for drying via fans at temperatures which avoid the use of exotic materials of construction.

Process parameters may be reset to optimize the induration pattern as campaigns of different types of
pellets are run. At the end of firing zone most of the bed will have reached the end temperature of about
1300C to 1350C. The lowest layers of the bed reach the end temperature by drawing the hottest
recuperation gases through the bed in the after firing zone. No burners are required in this zone. Cooling
is updraft to quickly lower the temperature of grate components and to recuperate the heat in pellets at
the highest possible temperature. Heat for induration is supplied by burners firing heavy furnace oil.
A single fuel burner design system for heavy fuel oil is envisaged in this proposal. Burner system for
combustion of low CV gaseous fuel = 2000 kcal/Nm3 is outside the scope of this design. Hence, Heavy
oil burners will have to be removed from burner ports and gaseous fuel burners installed in the event of
switching over to gaseous fuel in future. However, a dual burner system can be offered, if required.

Blast Furnace

Blast
furnace,

a
vertical shaft furnace that produces liquid metals by the reaction of a flow
of air introduced under pressure into the bottom of the furnace with a mixture of
metallic ore, coke, and flux fed into the top. Blast furnaces are used to produce pig iron
from iron ore for subsequent processing into steel, and they are also employed in

processing lead, copper, and other metals. Rapid combustion is maintained by the
current of air under pressure.

Blast furnaces
produce pig iron from iron ore by the reducing action ofcarbon (supplied as coke) at a
high temperature in the presence of a fluxing agent such as limestone. Ironmaking blast
furnaces consist of several zones: a crucible-shaped hearth at the bottom of the
furnace; an intermediate zone called a bosh between the hearth and the stack; a
vertical shaft (the stack) that extends from the bosh to the top of the furnace; and the
furnace top, which contains a mechanism for charging the furnace. The furnace charge,
or burden, of iron-bearing materials (e.g., iron-ore pellets and sinter), coke, and flux
(e.g., limestone) descends through the shaft, where it is preheated and reacts with
ascending reducing gases to produce liquid iron and slag that accumulate in the hearth.
Air that has been preheated to temperatures from 900 to 1,250 C (1,650 and 2,300
F), together with injected fuel such as oil or natural gas, is blown into the furnace
through multiple tuyeres(nozzles) located around the circumference of the furnace near
the top of the hearth; these nozzles may number from 12 to as many as 40 on large
furnaces. The preheated air is, in turn, supplied from a bustle pipe, a large-diameter
pipe encircling the furnace. The preheated air reacts vigorously with the preheated
coke, resulting in both the formation of the reducing gas (carbon monoxide) that rises

through the furnace, and a very high temperature of about 1,650 C (3,000 F) that
produces the liquid iron and slag.
The bosh is the hottest part of the furnace because of its close proximity to the reaction
between air and coke. Molten iron accumulates in the hearth, which has a taphole to
draw off the molten iron and, higher up, a slag hole to remove the mixture of impurities
and flux. The hearth and bosh are thick-walled structures lined with carbontype refractory blocks, while the stack is lined with high-quality fireclay brick to protect
the furnace shell. To keep these refractory materials from burning out, plates, staves, or
sprays for circulating cool water are built into them.
The stack is kept full with alternating layers of coke, ore, and limestone admitted at the
top during continuous operation. Coke is ignited at the bottom and burned rapidly with
the forced air from the tuyeres. The iron oxides in the ore are chemically reduced to
molten iron by carbon and carbon monoxide from the coke. The slag formed consists of
the limestone flux, ash from the coke, and substances formed by the reaction of
impurities in the ore with the flux; it floats in a molten state on the top of the molten iron.
Hot gases rise from the combustion zone, heating fresh material in the stack and then
passing out through ducts near the top of the furnace.
Blast furnaces may have the following ancillary facilities: a stock house where the
furnace burden is prepared prior to being elevated to the furnace top by skip cars or a
belt conveyor system; a top-charging system consisting of a vertical set of double bells
(cones) or rotating chutes to prevent the release of furnace gas during charging; stoves
that utilize the furnace off-gases to preheat the air delivered to the tuyeres; and a cast
house, consisting of troughs that distribute liquid iron and slag to appropriate ladles for
transfer to steelmaking furnaces and slag-reclamation areas.
In Europe, the blast furnace developed gradually over the centuries from small furnaces
operated by the Romans, in which charcoal was used for reducing ore to a semisolid
mass of iron containing a relatively small amount of carbon and slag. The iron mass
was then hammered to remove the slag, yielding wrought iron. Increases in the height
of the furnace, coupled with mechanical bellows for introducing greater amounts of air
into it, allowed the higher temperatures needed to produce a high-carbon iron known as
cast, or pig, iron. This mode of production was used in central Europe by the mid-14th
century and was introduced into England about 1500. Charcoal was the only furnace

fuel until the 17th century, when the depletion of forests that provided the charcoal in
England led to experiments with coke, which is produced from coal. Coke had been
widely adopted for use in blast furnaces by the mid-18th century, and the principle of
heating air before it entered the furnace was introduced in the early 19th century.
Modern blast furnaces range in size from 20 to 35 m (70 to 120 feet), have hearth
diameters of 6 to 14 m (20 to 45 feet), and can produce from 1,000 to almost 10,000
tons of pig iron daily.