Hot briquetting of flue dust

The operation of a 5-tph, fluid bed reactor pilot plant for briquetting blast-furnace flue dust is reported. The design considerations are discussed, and the elements of the machine—fluid bed reactor, cyclone heat exchangers, and briquetting press—are described in detail. The economics of this process—which can use flue dust, millscale, oxygen-furnace slag, and ore fines as feed—are compared to those of a sintering plant.